Estes v. Nicholson - 39 Fla. 759, 23 So. 490 (1897)

Rule:

In the cases before mentioned, where the inheritance is directed to pass to the ascending and collateral kindred of the intestate if part of such collaterals is of the whole blood to the intestate, and other parts of the half-blood only, those of the half-blood shall inherit only half as much as those of the entire blood, but if all be of the half-blood, they shall have whole portions, only giving to the ascendants if any there be double portions. Fla. Rev. Stat. § 1823.

Facts:

Decedent Thomas M. White, Jr., who died intestate, was an owner of lands. He left, surviving him neither wife, child, brother, sister, father or mother, nor any descendants. The grandfather of a said decedent who died before the decease of his grandson, the said Thomas M., Jr. That the said grandfather at the time of the death of decedent had no surviving children, nor any descendants thereof, except the appellant, Annie Estes, who is her and sister of the half-blood to the father of the decedent. The defendant, Charlotte H. Nicholson, is the grandmother of the decedent, that at the time of the death of a decedent, had no children, nor descendants of any children, surviving, except the defendant Josie M. Winter, who is her daughter and a sister of the whole blood to the mother of the decedent. Appellant was adjudged a one-fifth interest in the decedent's land, and defendants were each adjudged a two-fifths interest. Appellant now alleged that the trial court erred in granting her only a one-fifth interest. As the sole surviving heir at law of the intestate on the paternal side, she inherited and was entitled to one moiety, or one-half, of the estate under the statute of descents. The complainant then challenged a judgment of the Circuit Court.

Issue:

Did the trial court err in constructing the statute of descents when it adjudged the appellant only one-fifth of interest?

Answer:

Yes. The court reversed the judgment, adjudged the complainant a one-half interest in the land, and adjudged the defendants a one-fourth interest.

Conclusion:

The court held that under Fla. Rev. Stat. § 1823, so long as there were any kindred, however remote, on the one side or the other, he, she, or they took one of the moieties to the exclusion of the kindred on the other side, who were entitled to the other. The court ruled that the appellant, as the only surviving relative of the intestate in the line of descent marked out by the law on the paternal side, was entitled to one-half of all the estate in the controversy that the law cast upon the paternal kindred to the exclusion of all of the intestate's maternal relatives, even though she was the paternal aunt only of the half-blood to the intestate.