Hynes v. Jacquelin

SEAWELL, J.

This appeal was taken from a judgment decreeing a deed purporting to convey valuable property, wherein appellant was the grantee and his wife, Jean Way Jaequelin, since deceased, was the grantor, to be a forged instrument, for an accounting of rents, issues, and profits, and quieting title to said property described in said forged instrument.

Decedent, Jean Way Jaequelin, a resident of the city of Los Angeles, died in the city of Paris, France, on August 30, 1920. By her last will and testament, executed February 16, 1918, she disposed of an estate of considerable

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value, consisting of real and personal property, situate in this state and in the state of Illinois. Appellant was the husband of said decedent and respondent Wilma J. Hynes was an adopted daughter of decedent. Said will was admitted to probate in the superior court of the county of Los Angeles on October 20, 1920, and by its provisions the property which is the subject of this proceeding, known as the home property of decedent, and located at 1019 Beacon Street, and which comprised the bulk of said estate and was estimated to exceed fifty thousand dollars in value and yielded five thousand dollars per annum in rentals, was devised to said Sydney S. Jacquelin, appellant, for and during the term of his natural life, with remainder to said Wilma J. Hynes, respondent. Numerous other bequests and legacies were made by the testatrix which are not material to any isssue involved in the action. By a codicil to said will executed February 7, 1919, more than four months after the signing and delivery of the deed found by the court to be a forged instrument, the testatrix referred to the specific devise and bequest made to her adopted daughter and ratified and confirmed her will, which devised the fee of the property described in said forged deed to respondent, her daughter. All the rest, residue, and remainder of her said estate, including her real estate situate in the state of Illinois, was devised and bequeathed to her executor and trustee with full power to sell, transfer, and convert the same into money as he might be advised and with instructions to distribute the net proceeds to those certain persons named by said testatrix in her will. Her brother-in-law, Robert A. Burton, of Chicago, Illinois, was appointed by her as executor and trustee of her said will and estate, with the provision that in case of his death, the Chicago Title and Trust Company, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Illinois, should succeed to said trust. Robert A. Burton died pending the administration of his trust, and said corporation was, by an order subsequently made by the superior court of the county of Los Angeles, appointed to succeed as executor and trustee of said trust. Subsequent to the death of said Robert A. Burton the California Trust Company was appointed special administrator of the estate of said decedent with general powers to prosecute and defend