john dorrance estate

. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. The property was taken in the joint names of Doctor and Mrs. Dorrance, and, including subsequent additions of surrounding acreage and furnishing of the mansion, the cost was approximately a million dollars. ., we would have little doubt in adjudging that he never lost his legal residence in Tennessee and only had an actual residence in Paducah for the purpose of conducting the business in which he was there engaged, all the while having it in mind to return to Tennessee when the objects of his sojourn in Paducah had been accomplished. [169-70], 8. . While they were there, he reserved quarters for himself and his family. Under the circumstances, was the decedent domiciled in Pennsylvania, notwithstanding the decedents expressed intention on his domicile of choice? In those cases neither the presence of an ulterior motive nor the task of attempting to reconcile declarations which were inconsistent with conduct interfered with the New York court in determining that there was no intention on the part of the persons involved to change their true home, or to make a new residence their principal establishment and "technically preminent headquarters." The sumptuous residence in Pennsylvania was consistently chosen by Dorrance himself, as well as his wife and children, for all the outstanding events of their social life. The burden of proving the abandonment of an established domicile and the acquisition of a new one is upon the person asserting the change: Price v. Price, 156 Pa. 617, 626; Barclay's Est., 259 Pa. 401. The determination of decedent's domicile in this appeal is a conclusion of law, based upon facts, most of which are undisputed. There was a corresponding difference in the running expenses of the two properties. Much of the vast amount of testimony and exhibits introduced by both appellant and appellees is immaterial to the issue, but there are a number of facts which, in our opinion, establish beyond question that continuously since 1925 the true home of Dorrance and his family was in Pennsylvania, and that the New Jersey residence was retained by him merely to lend weight to the fiction that he was domiciled there. ", The celebrated English author, A. V. Dicey, whose statements concerning the law of domicile are frequently quoted with approval in this country (see Williamson v. Osenton, 232 U.S. 619), in his book "Conflict of Laws," 4th edition, page 133, says: "Direct expressions, however, of intention may be worth little as evidence. would be nearer my associates." There were several smaller buildings on the grounds which were used as living quarters by employees. Although he spent considerable time at the country place and in deeds and formal documents expressed his intention to fix his legal residence there, from the facts as to his mode of living, the court decided he was domiciled in Lexington. That he was unaware that such action would result in a change of domicile is irrelevant to the issue. denied, 288 U.S. 617 (1933); see also, In re Estate of Dorrance, 115 N.J. Eq. [165-6], 4. When either he or the members of his family went away on vacations they started from "Woodcrest" and returned there afterwards. The kitchen is quite modern with contemporary styling. . It was there where he invented the formula for condensing soup. "More weight will be given to a person's acts than to his declarations, and when they are inconsistent, the acts will control": 19 C. J. For Sale - 39 John St, Southington, CT - $145,000. He maintained his church affiliations in New Jersey and continued to act as senior warden of the church at Riverton in that state, which office under the church law he could hold only if he was domiciled in the parish. He and his wife voted at Cinnaminson whenever they did vote and he never voted in Pennsylvania. Read more. As regards the determination of domicile, a person's expression of desire may not supersede the effect of his conduct. Excerpt: What Dr. John Thompson Dorrance did was developed a way to reduce the water content in soup while retaining the nutrient. In our opinion this contention is unsound, for the intention to make one's home in a new place necessarily includes the abandonment of the former home. At the time of his death Dorrance had amassed an immense fortune, which both parties agree is to be estimated at a figure exceeding one hundred fifteen million dollars. The general rule, however, is that recitals in deeds and wills are not given particular weight in determining domicile in comparison with the evidence supplied by the daily life of the individual and his acts and conduct. By When he came to Radnor to live in 1925 he was not only resuming his domicile of origin, but was purposely making his home in a neighborhood more congenial to his family and more suitable to his position in life than the New Jersey location which he left. In his will and in all the codicils, he recited himself as domiciled in the State of New Jersey. Inside the main living room, we begin to get an idea of the kind of massive wealth that comes with being the creator of perhaps the biggest canned soup company on Earth. The estate was purchased by Samuel Phillip Curtis, who owned the house until 1935, when it was lost to foreclosure during the Great Depression. On page 684 of the opinion the court states: "The spending of a short time each summer in the country under conditions less comfortable than those under which he lived in the city, the voting from the Tod Hunter place, a few times, and the refraining from registering and voting in Lexington were all acts performed by him with the view of manifesting what he doubtless conceived to be conclusive evidence of the establishment and maintenance of a residence at the Tod Hunter place. DISSENTING OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE KEPHART: In disagreeing with the majority opinion, which I do reluctantly, it is only because a careful consideration of the entire record convinces me that the Commonwealth has not met the burden of proof imposed by the circumstances of this case. As well as the main house it comes with a caretakers property and guest cottage as well as a House with a 10 car garage and aviary. An attempt was made by counsel for appellees during the argument and in the briefs to show that Dorrance at no time intended to make his Radnor Estate a permanent home and that he contemplated returning to Cinnaminson at an indefinite future time. We come now to an examination of the law applicable in determining the domicile of decedent. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that he was domiciled in Pennsylvania, and the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that he was domiciled in New Jersey, and his estate was required to pay estate tax to both states. (267) 350-5555. Read Dorrance's Estate, 333 Pa. 162, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext's comprehensive legal . 434. I would affirm the judgment of the court below. His family owned the property for more than fifty years. 143; Matter of Martin, 173 N.Y. App. In Price v. Price, 156 Pa. 617, 626, we said: "Domicile of origin must be presumed to continue until another sole domicile has been acquired by actual residence, coupled with the intention of abandoning the domicile of origin." memorial page for Charlotte Kelsey Dorrance Wright (10 Nov 1911-4 Oct 1977), Find a Grave Memorial ID 71754933, citing West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County . The evidence is not convincing that Dorrance used the Cinnaminson residence for any extended period after removal of his family to Radnor. . It is true the burden of showing a change from a former domicile is upon the party asserting it, but the fact of residence in a particular place is prima facie evidence of domicile. The court concluded that Dorrances frequent expressions of retaining the former domicile, colored by tax considerations and post-mortem planning, could not prevail over his actual conduct. His real motive and the reasons which prompted this course of conduct are apparent. OPINION BY MR. CHIEF JUSTICE FRAZER, September 26, 1932: This case comes before us on appeal by the Commonwealth from a decree of the Orphans' Court of Delaware County setting aside an appraisement of the estate of John T. Dorrance for transfer inheritance tax purposes. His relatives are still the company's largest shareholders, but he sold his stake in the mid-1990's and emigrated to Ireland. Undoubtedly he made occasional visits to the place, but these can be accounted for on several grounds: his mother and sister were both living there and eventually developed fatal illnesses; the Cinnaminson place was in the midst of the experimental farms of the soup company; above all, in addition to a claimed sentimental attachment to Cinnaminson, he was anxious to give color to his asserted intention to retain New Jersey as the place of his domicile. Dorrance and his wife made their home at the Robeson Apartments until 1908, at which time they moved to Philadelphia and remained in that city until 1911. The decree of the court below is reversed and the appraisement, subject to modifications indicated by the Commonwealth's stipulation as to the value of the estate, is reinstated; the costs to be paid by appellees. v. City of Lexington, 193 Ky. 679, 683, as follows: "The location of one's legal residence is, as we have seen, a question of fact and intention, and the fact as exhibited and the intention as inferred or expressed must coincide in the conclusion. The majority opinion speaks rather censuringly of Dr. Dorrance because he desired to retain New Jersey as his residence rather than Pennsylvania. 70 W Boston Blvd, Detroit, Michigan, 48202. A. Schnader, Attorney General, with him Francis T. Anderson, Wm. Her accounts with merchants and department stores indicated only the address at Radnor. In commenting on this statement in a footnote on the same page, the learned editor of the fourth edition adds the following: "Can an Englishman, i. e., one domiciled in England, live permanently in Scotland and retain his English domicile, because he does not wish to subject himself to limitation of his testamentary capacity? In the Frick Case, Surrogate Foley said: "Counsel for the tax commission gives full credit to Mr. Frick's honest belief that he was a resident of Pennsylvania. john dorrance ivwvu mechanical engineering research. John Dorrance - we found 74 people search records: 10 CVs and social profiles with photos, 46 addresses & phone numbers, 1 real estate objects, 5 John Dorrance's cars, 1 companies. [12] Where a finding of fact is simply a deduction from other facts reported by the tribunal under review, and the ultimate fact in question is purely the result of reasoning, the appellate court is competent to judge of its correctness, and will draw its own conclusions from the facts as reported. In 1925 the children comprised four daughters aged respectively, 18, 16, 14 and 10, and one son in his sixth year. By 1914, he had started the Campbell Soup Company and ran it until his death in 1930, at which time it was passed down to his son. ACTION ALLOWS APPEAL Reargurnent Still to Be Heard on Executors' Claim of New Jersey Residence.. John lived in USA. Rep. 488, 190 N.Y. Supp. Memorial John Thompson Dorrance Jr. '41 . At the time of his death Dorrance had amassed an immense fortune, which both parties agree is to be estimated at a figure exceeding one hundred fifteen million dollars. He oversaw the company's development into frozen dinners and was in charge when Andy Warhol painted his first Campbell's soup can. In 1925, Dorrance purchased a large and attractive estate known as "Woodcrest" located in Radnor, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. John Dorrance is an heir to the Campbell's Soup fortune; his grandfather invented the Campbell's formula for condensed soup. They are not controlling when contradicted by other facts and circumstances": Dalrymple's Est., 215 Pa. 367, 371, quoting Jacobs on Domicile. The Commonwealth presented an air view of the Radnor Estate, but no pictures showing the property in greater detail. "Nor are the recitals in his will and some of his deeds sufficient to fix his domicile. He always kept the Cinnaminson house heated, in repair, with servants there, fully maintained as a residence. 268, 170 A. In Barclay's Est., 259 Pa. 401, decedent was held domiciled in Pennsylvania because there was no clear evidence of the establishment of a permanent residence in Ohio. 284. The paintings hang at his Gladwyne estate, a French-style house built in 1930 on 40 acres of prime. He further held that an existing domicile may be retained, although residence is given up entirely and a new residence taken up at a new place, simply because there was no intention to acquire a new domicile at the new place of residence. The other two are Campbell directors: Bennett, a Phoenix real estate developer who is active in local philanthropy; and Mary Alice Malone, who owns a horse farm, Iron Spring, in Coatesville, Pa. She is known for competing in dressage." Dorrance became the head of the company and from 1915 until his death was the owner of all its capital stock. He served as the general manager of the Campbell Preserve Company and later became the president of Campbell Soup. It is unknown if this connection was the reason for Dorrance Jr's love of art but when he died he passed on a vast collection of works. His efforts in that direction are styled as "a claimed sentimental attachment," "to give color to his assertion," "to bolster his assertion that he retained domicile in New Jersey." We are of opinion that such is not the law and that John T. Dorrance was domiciled in Pennsylvania at the time of his death. Exceptions to appraisement by the executors dismissed. He always paid his personal tax in Cinnaminson Township and never paid personal taxes in Pennsylvania, making an affidavit on a Pennsylvania property tax return sent to him in 1926 that he was a resident of New Jersey. It makes the determination of that question more concerned with the length of time one may spend in the places claimed as residences or domiciles than with the intent to establish a domicile or retain a status already acquired. Stephanie Dorrance's in laws: Stephanie Dorrance's father in law is John Dorrance III Stephanie Dorrance's grandfather in law was John T Dorrance Jr Stephanie Dorrance's grandmother in law is Mary Alice Dorrance Stephanie Dorrance's husband John Dorrance IV's uncle in law is Bennett Dorrance Stephanie Dorrance's husband John Dorrance IV's aunt in law is Mary Alice Malone Dorrance refused to accept a directorship in the Pennsylvania Railroad until assured by the president of the company that it was not necessary for more than a majority of the directors of that corporation to be residents of Pennsylvania. It also demonstrates to my mind the efficacy of the rule that the findings and conclusions of the trial court should be accepted unless they are unsupported by evidence or are at direct variance with established law. If we turn to the English decisions, the law is the same. The Commonwealth contends that from this date until his death, almost five years later, Dorrance was domiciled in Pennsylvania. For questions about content, please contact Sue Kellerman, Judith O. Sieg Librarian for Preservation and former PI of the PA Newspaper Project and the PA Digital Newspaper Project.For technical or other issues, please contact Andrew Gearhart or Jeff Knapp, Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian.. Site created using open-oni software, built off the . It is situated on a one quarter acre lot bounded to the north and west by Radcliffe and Mulberry Streets, respectively, to the south by the Delaware River, and . The house was an imposing stone residence of modern construction with six rooms and two lavatories on the first floor, and a large center hall which extended to the third floor. He expressed a dislike for the place at Radnor and affection for the place at Cinnaminson. Neither this case nor In re Lyon's Est., 191 N.Y. S. 260 (which is even stronger but not cited in the briefs) is an appellate court opinion and for that reason they are not entitled to much weight here, but particular circumstances in the present case distinguish it clearly from those just cited. "A declaration [as to domicile] that is self-serving and not followed by acts in accordance with the declaration will not be regarded as conclusive, but will yield to the intent which the acts and conduct of the person clearly indicate": In re Paris's Est., 176 N.Y. S. 879, 882. The testimony as to the time Dorrance spent with his family at Cinnaminson after 1925 is extremely vague and uncertain. This he would be able to do under the laws of New Jersey by the accumulation of income for the payment of inheritance and estate taxes, and with the assurance that his wife could not elect to take personalty against his will, which would not be possible under the laws of Pennsylvania.