White v. Chellew

Citations

• 108 Wash. 526
• 185 P. 619
• 1919 Wash. LEXIS 930

Syllabus

<p>Deeds (15)—Delivery—Deed to Property Devised—Effect. To be valid, a deed by a testator to a devisee must have been delivered in his lifetime; and passes title to the estate at the date of delivery, leaving nothing for the will to operate upon.</p> <p>Wills (70-1)—Construction—Conditions — Forfeiture Through Contest. Where title to land devised had passed under a deed to the devisee, delivered during the testator’s lifetime, it would not be forfeited by the grantee’s contest of the will, under the forfeiture clause in the will in case of contests by beneficiaries.</p> <p>Estoppel (33)—Grounds—Inconsistent Claim in Prior Litigation. Where, on a contested claim, the executor asserted that the claim was satisfied by a deed to the claimant, who was also the devisee, and that title passed by the deed rather than by the will, the executor is estopped, in a subsequent will contest by the devisee, from asserting that title passed by the will rather than the deed and that the devise was forfeited by the will contest, under the forfeiture clause in the will.</p> <p>Judgment (222)—Conclusiveness—Bar—Matters Actually Litigated. A judgment on a contested claim against an estate that the claim had been satisfied by a deed of property also devised to claimant, is res judicata in a subsequent will contest, and conclusive that the deed was delivered and that the title passed to the devisee at the time of the delivery of the deed, rather than by the will at the date of testator’s death.</p>