Untangled?
Here is where I am going to attempt to
untangle the legal jargon and process. It has become obvious that I need to make a
chronological list of events. This should highlight the reasons why things went
back to court when they did, and why they were argued about.
29th July 1809 - William Stevenson
wrote his will.
6th August 1824 - he added a
codicil to his will.
27th July 1839 - William
Stevenson died. Mr Robert Jameson was the agent for the trust.
January 1840 - His daughter
Mrs Margaret Stevenson or Dumbreck
died.
8th November 1844 -
William's widow, Mrs Helen Grindlay or
Stevenson, died.
Beginning of 1847 - Mr Jameson
Died.
On or about July 1847 -
Mrs Mary Stevenson or Christie (one of William
Stevenson's daughters) and her husband, Andrew Christie, manager of
Townhill Colliery, Dunfermline; raised an action.
12th July 1848 - Lord Ordinary
suggested an action of Multiplepoinding.
‘Multiplepoinding,
(pronounced multiplepinding) in Scots
law, the technical term for a form of action by which conflicting claims
to the same fund or property are determined.
The action is brought either by
the holder or by a claimant in his name. All who have any claims in the
fund or property in question are ordered to appear and give in their
claims; the court then prefers them according to their respective
rights, and the holder of the fund or property in dispute on payment or
delivery is absolved from any further claim in regard to it. It
corresponds to the process of inter-pleader in English law.’
Trust
Fund set-up.
William's will created a trust fund for
his heirs. He wished that a sum of money be paid twice annually to his widow.
One quarter of his funds to be shared by his daughters and three quarters to be
shared between his sons. He made it clear that this was between however many
sons and daughters he eventually had who were lawfully his. His heirs were only
able to inherit when they reached the age of 25 years.
However, he did not make any note what
should happen to the funds if any of his children should die without without
issue. (i.e. having children of their own.)
The
Codicil
The codicil was added because William
purchased a farm in Canada for his son John Stevenson.
It had been set up in William's name and this had worried him as it this had
been an error he wanted to put right and to make sure that it was put right
after his death.
Margaret Stevenson or Dumbreck
A problem arose when William's daughter
died about 6 months after he himself died. She was married and had two surviving
sons. These sons became legally entitled to their mother's share of the trust
fund but they were not old enough to make a claim. Their father was paid their
share, which was to cloth, feed and educate these two sons.
Mary
Stevenson or Christie
In 1844, William's wife died and she
had being living with her daughter Mary. Since Mary had reached the age of 25 in
1844, Mary's husband, on her behalf, wanted
to know exactly how much Mary should be paid. From what I gather, none of the money had been paid out because the
youngest daughter was not yet 25 years of age. The Lord Ordinary suggested that
all the heirs should bring an action of Muliplepoinding. This was, in effect,
getting hold of all the heirs, with an interest in the fund, together and take
the claim to court in one action rather than each of them all taking different
actions. The legal fees were to be paid for from the trust fund so this was to
save money.
To sum
up the above
William died, then a daughter, then his
wife. One daughter, whom his wife had lived with, wanted to know when she was
going to have her share and how much. It was taken to court and the can of worms
duly opened.
This is how the legal wrangling
began. I shall try to explain what followed! I will try to manage the various
parts on different pages in order to make it into understandable chunks. Forgive
me if I make an error in my understanding of the legal process. This is an
extremely complex case.
