Burr v. Bloomsburg

138 A. 876 (1927)

Facts

P filed a bill to recovery from D a diamond ring, which came into D’s possession on the death of her husband. D claimed the ring by virtue of her husband’s will, and P claimed that the ring was her property because it was a gift from her mother. P also claimed that the ring carried great sentimental value. The ring was bought by P’s father to give to P’s mother, but the mother refused to wear it and set it in a ring for P’s father. On his deathbed, he gave the ring to P’s mother, and if she did not use it for food, then it was to go to Mary, then to P, then to P’s daughter. P’s mother wore the ring until her death and then gave the ring to P. P retained the ring until she loaned it in writing to her brother in 1909. At the death of P’s father, he left a will. The ring was inventoried and appraised at $250. The estate was not formally settled through the courts, but P and her brother made their own agreements as to the estate. When the ring was delivered to P’s brother, he insisted that if she desired to keep it that she would have to pay him $400. P gave her brother a $400 note, and the note was finally paid off in 1910 for $416. The payment was made over a year after the ring was delivered by P to her brother. George, D’s husband, retained possession until he died and then left all his property to his D A codicil even acknowledged the prior disposition of the ring but still left it to D.