Horton v. Upham

In Horton v. Upham, 72 Conn. 29, 43 A. 492 (1899), a testator's grandson brought an action to determine the appropriate construction of the testator's will. The will contained a "residuary clause [that] created an estate tail by implication in the testator's grandson [the appellant], both as to the real and personal estate, and gave the Congregational Society [the appellee] a contingent remainder in the real estate, dependent upon the decease of the first taker [the grandson] without leaving surviving issue . . . ." Horton v. Upham, 72 Conn. at 30-31. After the testator died, several buildings that the testator had owned at the time of his death were destroyed by fire. Those buildings were insured, and the administrator collected the amount of the policy. The will did not account for that exigency, and litigation ensued. The Court concluded, inter alia, that the grandson was entitled to the possession and management of the insurance proceeds during his lifetime and that the proceeds would pass upon his death, as the buildings would have, had they not been destroyed. Id., 31-32. In so doing, the Court stated: "The insurance money which has been collected goes as the land goes, and is to be treated as real estate." Id., 31.