## Facts

- During his lifetime, William Patterson took a mortgage from William G. Patterson that obligated the mortgagor to pay $1,200 to William’s executrix upon William’s death.
- After William Patterson died, Jane Patterson, as executrix, brought an action to foreclose the mortgage to collect the amount due.
- The mortgagor had paid $184.30 for the decedent’s funeral expenses after the decedent’s death.
- The mortgagor asserted that the funeral-expense payment created a claim against the estate and sought to set it off against the mortgage debt.
- The trial court disallowed the set-off and entered judgment for the executrix; the mortgagor appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a defendant may set off a claim arising after the decedent’s death (reimbursement for funeral expenses) against a debt created in the decedent’s lifetime in an action brought by the executrix on behalf of the estate.
2. Whether such a post-death claim satisfies statutory “mutual debts” requirements when the plaintiff sues in a representative capacity.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment disallowing the set-off.
- The court held that the funeral-expense claim, arising after death, was not a statutory “mutual debt” eligible for set-off against the mortgage debt created during the decedent’s lifetime.
- The defendant remained liable for the full mortgage amount sought in foreclosure, without credit for the funeral-expense payment.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory set-off is limited to “mutual debts” and is construed according to the statute’s terms and settled judicial interpretations.
- In actions involving executors or administrators, mutuality requires that cross-demands be between the same parties in the same right or capacity, and within the statutory category applicable to personal representatives.
- A claim against an estate that arises only after the decedent’s death, even if the estate may be liable for it (such as reasonable funeral expenses), is not automatically available as a defensive set-off against a debt owed to the estate that was created during the decedent’s lifetime.
- Claims for funeral expenses are obligations chargeable to the estate, but their enforcement must proceed through appropriate estate-claim channels rather than by set-off when statutory mutuality is absent.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that a mortgagor could not reduce an estate’s foreclosure claim by setting off funeral expenses paid after the mortgagor’s creditor died, because the post-death claim lacked the statutory mutuality required for set-off in an action brought by an executrix in a representative capacity.


Patterson v. Patterson, 59 N.Y. 574 (N.Y. 1875)