Will

Transcription of the will (2024)

Today, of sound mind and by my free will, I make the following disposition of all my movable and immovable property in the event of my death.

1. To my wife Nastasija (Naka) I leave my country estate on Topčider Hill with all buildings thereon, on condition that she must set aside from that estate six thousand square metres of meadow at the corner toward Topčider and transfer them into the ownership of my nephew Nikola S. Spasić.

2. All my household goods, as well as the carriage and horses, I leave to my wife in ownership.

3. To my wife I leave, for her use until her death or remarriage, the rent-free apartment in which we now live, and the right to keep the stable and shed without rent at Jugovića Street No. 6 until her death or remarriage.

4. As widow’s maintenance I leave my wife 24,000 (twenty-four thousand) dinars, to be paid to her every three months at 6,000 dinars, it being understood that this includes the 10,000 dinars to which she is entitled under the marriage contract concluded between us before the undisputed judge and confirmed on 2 April 1904, which I enclose here.

5. To my nephew Nikola S. Spasić I leave the house in Vuka Karadžića Street in which the Đukanović & Co. shop is located, on condition that from the income of that house he must give two thousand dinars a year to my niece Vidosava, and that he shall also live in that house, provided he may neither encumber nor sell it, but leave it to his heirs.

(Written across this text is also the following:)

I leave my nephew nothing under this seventh clause … 17. N. Spasić

8. To my brother Blagoje I leave ten thousand dinars once and for all, and he has no right to claim anything further from the estate.

9. To my niece Anka I leave my property at Jugovića Street No. 6 for her use, and after her death it passes by inheritance to my niece Vidosava and her children, provided they may neither sell nor encumber it.

10. To my brother-in-law Živko M. Jovanović (former) I leave 3,000 (three thousand) dinars, and to the sister of my late wife, Caja Nasti T. Mitrović, two thousand dinars.

11. To my sisters Katarina Savić, Ruža Đokić and Cana A. Jovanović I leave two thousand dinars each.

12. For the upkeep of my chapel on Topčider Hill, the executors of my will shall spend from the income of my estate up to four hundred dinars a year to keep it in good order, and they shall be obliged each year to hold divine service on the day of St. Trifun, my patron saint’s day, and a memorial for my dead.

13. When the Church of St. Sava is built, the largest possible bell shall be purchased and presented to that church as my gift.

14. The executors of my will shall set aside from my movable property three hundred and fifty thousand dinars, with which a hospital shall be built on municipal land, for such diseases as the health authorities determine, and when finished it shall be handed over to the Municipality of Belgrade.

15. Besides this it is my wish that a further two hundred thousand dinars be set aside for the building of two more hospitals in the interior where most needed — eighty thousand dinars for each — and forty thousand dinars to build a home for poor and infirm Serbian citizens. Built by N. Spasić.

16. On the house I bought from Mr. Roksanda Lazarević there remains a debt of about 96,000; if I do not repay it in my lifetime, the trustees shall be bound to repay it as soon as possible to the Fund Administration.

17. All my movables, such as securities and cash, and immovables, I leave for general economic purposes, on condition that only the income may be spent for those purposes and the principal may not be consumed, and that immovable property may neither be encumbered nor sold.

18. The executors of my will, who shall also be members of the board of this endowment of mine named in this will, shall administer this endowment independently of all civil authorities, and according to their conscience and judgment, and according to the spirit of the times and needs, they shall determine how much and when shall be spent from the income on each branch of the country’s economy.

19. If any member’s place falls vacant, the remaining members shall elect another in place of the one who has died or resigned.

20. I charge the board members carefully to maintain the immovable property from the income, and to spend the rest of the income on the endowment’s purposes; all valuable papers shall be sold gradually at a favourable rate, and after deducting legacies and other costs the remainder of the proceeds shall be given to the Fund Administration to bear interest.

21. All my immovable property shall be let by tender for three years. All buildings erected from my endowment shall bear an inscription of my name. They shall engage, at the endowment’s expense, a capable person as attorney of my endowment, who shall keep permanent oversight of my immovable property, collect income, conduct all legal business of the endowment, keep proper accounts of income and expenditure, publish each year on St. Trifun’s day in the official newspapers the state of my endowment, and hold a session every month or every other month to conduct endowment business; as remuneration each member shall receive twenty dinars per session. Income from immovable property shall be accumulated until there is enough to add another storey to Sloga, if I have not already done so in my lifetime.

22. They shall duly and in good time pay the municipality the prescribed fee for my grave. As executors of my will and at the same time members of the board of my endowment I appoint Messrs. Tihomir Marković, Governor of the National Bank; Ilija Marić, merchant; Voja Veljković; Mika Dragičević; Todor Mihailović.

23. If I should live longer, and if in the course of that time I should feel moved to change this will, which I have written and signed with my own hand and which shall be kept at the National Bank, I may replace it only in one of these two ways: by another will written and signed by my own hand and again kept at the National Bank, or by a will before a judge kept at the City Court of Belgrade. In either case I shall take this will from the National Bank and destroy it. If after my death it is still found in the keeping of the National Bank, that shall be conclusive proof that I did not wish to change it and that it stands in full force; any other will appearing after my death beside this one shall be regarded as a mere forgery.

24. This will has three pages of text, and I have signed each page with my own hand at the foot of the text; I have also affixed my seal. This will is sewn with a cord whose ends are likewise secured with my seal.

25. If my wife should wish to remarry, she is entitled to all the household goods, and I leave her thirty thousand dinars as a legacy to be received once and for all from my estate. I have written and signed this will with my own hand.

The second of February 1912 (one thousand nine hundred and twelve) in Belgrade.

N. Spasić (seal)

THAT THIS TRANSCRIPT IS TRUE TO ITS ORIGINAL IS AFFIRMED AND CERTIFIED BY THE AUTHORISED MEMBER OF THE BOARD AND ATTORNEY OF THE NIKOLA SPASIĆ ENDOWMENT

Belgrade, 19 December 2001

Attorney Vojin Đekić