In Fairfax's Executor v. Ann Fairfax, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a case involving an executor’s attempt to recover money from his deceased father’s estate. The executor argued that he was entitled to receive funds from his father's will in order to pay off debts incurred by his father prior to death. However, Ann Fairfax, who had been named as one of the residuary legatees in her late husband’s will and was also a creditor of her late husband, contested this claim on grounds that she should be paid first before any other creditors were satisfied. Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of Ann Fairfax and held that she must be paid out first before any other creditors could collect their due payments from the estate. This decision established precedent for future cases regarding how estates are distributed after death and set forth guidelines for determining which parties have priority when it comes time to settle accounts with an estate or trust fund upon its dissolution or termination.

In Fairfax's Executor v. Ann Fairfax, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a deed of gift executed by William Fairfax in 1798 was valid and binding on his estate after he passed away in 1802. The majority opinion held that the deed was not valid because it had been made without consideration and did not comply with Virginia law at the time. However, Justice Story dissented from this decision, arguing that although there may have been some technical defects in the execution of the deed, its intent should be honored as it would be unjust for William’s estate to benefit from such an inequitable situation when he clearly intended to make a gift during his lifetime. He further argued that if Virginia law required additional formalities for deeds of gifts then those requirements should have been fulfilled before William’s death rather than afterwards since they could no longer be satisfied once he had passed away.