Wheeler

Two appeals are presented by the records in the cases above entitled. No. 7778 is an appeal by Helen Beryl Whitney Wheeler from an order denying her petition for partial distribution of the estate of Joel Parker Whitney, deceased. No. 7834 is an appeal by Parker Whitney from an order denying his separate petition for a partial distribution of said estate.

The questions involved in the two appeals are substantially the same, and they may as well be considered together. The two appellants are children of the testator. Each claims a right to partial distribution before final settlement on the ground that the time for presenting claims has expired, that the estate is but little indebted, that a large part of the assets is in condition for distribution, and that said decedent, although he left a will which has been duly admitted to probate, made no valid or lawful disposition of his estate thereby. All these grounds are conceded, except the asserted invalidity of the will, and that is the only question presented for consideration.

Joel Parker Whitney died on January 17, 1913. He left surviving, as his only heirs at law, his widow, Lucy Whitney, and his three children, namely; Parker…