Rotenbach v. Young

Headnote

Real property — title — descent — relatives of half blood excluded where inheritance came from ancestor of whose blood they were not.

Rotenbach v. Young, 206 App. Div. 775 , affirmed.

Appeal, by permission, from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, entered June 29, 1923, which unanimously affirmed a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon an order of Special Term granting a motion for judgment upon the pleadings. The action was brought to determine a claim -to real property . under sections 500-512 of the Real Property Law. The answer denied plaintiff's title to the real property described, in the complaint, alleged title to such real property in the defendants and counterclaimed in partition. The reply controverted the material allegations of the counterclaim and asked for

judgment of dismissal. The question was as to the right to inherit under the Statute of Descent. In 1902 the property in question was owned by Joseph Short, Jr. By his will it was devised to his daughter, Stella.- Stella married Louis 0. Rotenbach, the plaintiff in this action. In 1918 Stella Rotenbach died intestate seized of the premises, leaving no descendant, nor had any child ever been born to her, and she was not survived by either father or mother or brother or sister or descendants of them of the whole blood. After her father’s death her mother had remarried and had children, who thus became the half-brothers and sister of Stella Rotenbach. At the time of the latter’s death her half-brothers and sisters were not alive, but had left descendants, who were her nieces and nephews of the half-blood. Stella Rotenbach also left cousins. They were children of the deceased sister of Joseph Short, Jr., the father of Stella. The plaintiff claimed title under deeds from' these cousins of Stella. The defendants, who are the nieces and nephews of the half-blood of Stella, claim title as her heirs.