In re Estate of Miller

The opinion of the court was delivered by This case involves a claim made by a remainderman against the estate of a life tenant in which the remainderman seeks an accounting and delivery of assets. Simply stated, the basic question presented is this: When a life tenant with a power of disposition commingles funds of the estate with his own funds and thereafter the commingled funds are partially expended, is there a presumption that the life tenant first expended his own funds or first expended those funds received by him as a life tenant? The facts in the case are not in dispute and were stipulated by the parties to be as follows: H.S.B. (Bert) Miller and Hilda C. Miller were husband and wife. Each of them had been married before and had children by the previous marriage. Hilda died on April 29, 1970. Her will was admitted to probate on August 21, 1970. It provided in part as follows: