Byars v. Byars

178 S.W.2d 582, 1944 Tex. App. LEXIS 610
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 18, 1944
DocketNo. 2571.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 178 S.W.2d 582 (Byars v. Byars) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Byars v. Byars, 178 S.W.2d 582, 1944 Tex. App. LEXIS 610 (Tex. Ct. App. 1944).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This is a suit (nonjury) to construe the will of Geo. E. Byars, deceased. The suit was brought by his widow, Lucille E. Byars, individually and as one of the executors, against E. C. Byars, individually and as joint executor, and Ii. E. Byars and T. B. Byars, all brothers of the deceased and claimants under the will. The court found substantially (1) “ * * * that the testator intended to bequeath under his will only his own interest in insurance covering his life at the time of his death, to-wit, one-half of $5,000.00, * * * and that he intended * * * to bequeath such portion * * * to his wife”; and (2) that the clause in the fourth paragraph of the will, wherein the testator “expressed a request that in the event his insurance at the time of his death exceeded $7,500.00, his wife •* * * would divide such excess between herself and his living brothers, share and share alike, was preca-tory only and not mandatory and that the testator did not by such provision * * * intend to create a compulsory requirement of his legal representatives but only intended to and did in such provision express to his surviving wife a desire.” The decree followed such construction, and the defendants have appealed.

Point 1 is: “The court erred in holding that the provisions of the will with reference to insurance were not mandatory, and that under its terms, the defendants were not bequeathed each one-fourth of the excess of the insurance above $7,500.00.”

*583 The pertinent provisions of the will are:

“I. It is my will and desire that all my just debts be paid by my executors hereinafter named.
“II. It is my wish and desire that upon my death, my body be buried in a decent and Christianlike manner, suitable to my circumstances and conditions in life, and a suitable marker be placed on my grave by my executors hereinafter named.
“III. I do hereby give and bequeath to my nephew, George P. Byars, my technical library and all books and data, circulars and pamphlets pertaining to technical matters.
“It is my wish that upon my death, my said executors deliver to the said George P. Byars such library within a reasonable time after my death.
“IV.. I have certain life insurance policies, a part of which are payable to my wife, Lucille E. Byars, and the balance payable to my estate.
“I do hereby give and bequeath all of my insurance of every kind and nature that I may have at the time of my death, to my beloved wife, Lucille E. Byars, and I do hereby direct her and my brother, E. C. Byars, executors hereinafter named, to take the necessary steps after my death to collect all of such insurance on the several policies that I may hold at the time of my death.
“After said insurance h'as been collected, I request my beloved wife, Lucille E. Byars, in the event the total collections from my several insurance policies should exceed the sum of Seventy-Five Hundred and No/100 ($7500.00) Dollars, then and in that event I request that the remaining) balance, after the payment to her of the/ $7500.00, to be divided among herself and" any of my brothers who may be living at said time, share and share alike.
“In the event, however, the total amount jf the insurance collected does not amount to the sum of $7500.00 net, then and in that event, no such distribution as herein provided is requested.
“V. All properties, both real and personal, of which I may die seized and possessed, I do hereby bequeath the same to my beloved wife, Lucille E. Byars.
“VI. Having full faith and confidence in my beloved wife, Lucille E. Byars, and my brother, E. C. Byars, I do hereby appoint them Independent Executors of my estate without bond and ask that no action be taken in the County Court, except to probate this will and return an inventory and appraisement, as provided by law,”

It was stipulated that “the deceased left surviving him his widow, Lucille E. Byars, and three brothers, T. B. Byars, H. F. Byars and E. C. Byars, defendants in this suit. Lucille E. Byars and E. C. Byars, named as executors in the will, were duly appointed and qualified, and are the acting executors of the will and estate of said deceased. At the time of the death of the deceased, there were two life insurance policies on the life of the deceased payable to the said Lucille E. Byars, one in the sum of $2,500.00 and the other in the sum of $3,000.00. After the death of the deceased the proceeds of these policies were collected and appropriated by the said Lucille E. Byars. In addition to the above named policies, there was also a policy of life insurance on the life of the deceased in the amount of $5,000.00 payable to the estate for a fixed and definite term, that is to say, said policy provided by its terms that it terminated and expired on the date named in the policy in the year 1946, and that if the deceased had lived beyond such named date, such policy would have been of no value and nothing would have been paid thereon by virtue of the death of the deceased subsequent to such fixed date. That no children were born of the marriage of George E. Byars, the decedent, and Lucille E. Byars, and the said George E. Byars left no children surviving him. That all of the premiums on said policies were paid out of the earnings of the said George E. Byars, which were community funds, which said earnings were and constituted community funds of the said George E. Byars and the said Lucille E. Byars.”

The rule in Texas is: “In construing the will, all its provisions should be looked to, for the purpose of ascertaining what the real intention of the (testator) was; and, if this can be ascertained from the language of the instrument, then any particular paragraph of the will which, considered alone, would indicate a contrary intent,, must yield to' the intentior manifested by the whole instrument.” McMurray v. Stanley, 69 Tex. 227, 6 S.W. 412, 413. See also Norton v. Smith, Tex.Civ.App., 227 S.W. 542; Darragh v. Barmore, Tex.Com.App., 242 S.W. 714; Arrington v. McDaniel, Tex.Com.App., 14 S.W.2d *584 1009; Colton v. Colton, 127 U.S. 300, 8 S.Ct. 1164, 32 L.Ed. 138. Applying the foregoing rule to this will, we think the real intention of the testator is manifest and that there is no ambiguity in the will. Item 3 devises the technical library to his nephew without any reference to whether it is community or separate property. Item 4 devises all of the testator’s life insurance and states that some policies are payable to his wife and the balance are payable to his estate. At the time of his death the testator had two policies payable to his wife, one in the sum of $2,500, and the other in the sum of $3,000, and one policy in the amount of $5,000 payable to his estate, which policy, by its terms, expired in 1946, and if the testator had lived beyond such date such policy would have been of no value. It is true that the second paragraph in item 4 gives and bequeaths all of testator’s insurance at the time of his death to his wife and directs her and his brother as executors to make collection of the same.

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Related

Pinkston v. Pinkston
254 S.W.2d 196 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)
Williams v. Bartlett
254 S.W.2d 559 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)
Byars v. Byars
182 S.W.2d 363 (Texas Supreme Court, 1944)

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Bluebook (online)
178 S.W.2d 582, 1944 Tex. App. LEXIS 610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/byars-v-byars-texapp-1944.