Davis v. Waldron

463 S.W.2d 458, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2665
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 21, 1971
DocketNo. 7201
StatusPublished

This text of 463 S.W.2d 458 (Davis v. Waldron) 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
Davis v. Waldron, 463 S.W.2d 458, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2665 (Tex. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

PARKER, Chief Justice.

Suit was brought by and on behalf of George Leslie Waldron, a minor, to construe the will of Terry Waldron, Sr., who died on December 19, 1967. The minor plaintiff is the adopted son of Terry Wal-dron, Jr., a son of the Testator, who died January 7, 1969. The defendants were the Executor and Trustee under the will and the Administratrix of the Estate of Junior Waldron, who had been married twice. To the first marriage were born two children, Dannette G. Waldron and Terry Freddie Waldron, both of whom are adults. The minor plaintiff was the natural son of Junior’s second wife, and had been adopted by Junior Waldron in 1960, during the existence of his second marriage.

The will, after making several specific bequests, contained a residuary clause creating a trust for the benefit of Testator’s two children, which provided for the distribution of the corpus thereof in this language:

“On January 1, 1970, the total residue of my estate existing on that date, including principal and accumulated dividends, interest and all other income, is to be paid and delivered in fee simple by the executor-trustee one-half to my son, Terry Waldron, Jr., (or per stirpes to his’ bodily heirs should he have predeceased me) and one-half to my daughter, Omega Waldron Essary, (or per stirpes to her bodily heirs should she have predeceased me).”

Both parties moved for summary judgment, and that of the minor plaintiff was granted. There are no disputed facts and there is no claim of ambiguity in the will.

We note in our consideration of the will that Testator used the same phrase “bodily heirs” twelve other times in speaking of the persons who would take in the event his children either predeceased him or died before the expiration of the trust.

The narrow question presented is whether the adopted child will share with the two natural children of Junior Waldron the portion of Testator’s property which would have gone to Junior Waldron had he not died before the termination of the trust.

In the recent case of Vaughn v. Gunter, 458 S.W.2d 523, 527 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas, 1970), Justice Bateman had under consideration the 1951 amendment to the Adoption Statute (Article 46a, § 9, Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St.). The Supreme Court entered a per curiam order approving the construction placed thereon by Justice Bateman, saying:

“We approve the holding of the court of civil appeals that under the 1951 amendment of Section 9 of Article 46a, Vernon’s Ann.Tex.Civ.St., in the absence of words indicating a contrary intention the unqualified words ‘children’ and ‘child’ include an adopted child.” [461 S.W.2d 599 (Tex., 1970).]

We note particularly that there was no modification of the word “children” appearing in the instrument being construed in Vaughn and, under the plain language of the adoption statute, the adopted child was included within such term.

We turn, therefore, to a consideration of whether the words “bodily heirs”, used by the Testator in our case, are such as indicate “contrary intention” or serve to exclude the adopted child. In construing the terms of the will, we seek to determine the intent of the Testator and may consider the provisions of the will as a whole and the surrounding circumstances, [460]*460rather than a particular or isolated provision. Haile v. Holtzclaw, 414 S.W.2d 916, 922 (Tex.Sup., 1967); Guilliams v. Koonsman, 154 Tex. 401, 279 S.W.2d 579, 57 A.L.R.2d 97 (1955).

In Cutrer v. Cutrer, 162 Tex. 166, 345 S. W.2d 513, 517 (1961), the court was construing an inter vivos trust but it was the 1931 adoption act which was involved. Nevertheless, Justice Walker referred to the fact that under the language used in Restatement of the Law of Property, § 287, Comment e, the designation of children of the conveyor, settlor, or Testator presumptively meant the inclusion in such class of persons theretofore or thereafter adopted. Such a holding is now clearly the law in Texas under the recent opinion in Vaughn v. Gunter, supra.

Nevertheless, in Cutrer, supra, Justice Walker pointed out that the parties declared that the share would belong to the “heirs of his body”, and continued:

“Here the intention to exclude adopted children is quite plain, because the quoted expression ordinarily embraces only lineal blood descendants of the designated person. See Restatement of the Law of Property, § 306 and Comment g thereunder.” (345 S.W.2d at p. 517.)

The same authority (Restatement of the Law of Property, § 306, Comment b) reads:

“The words ‘heirs of the body’ are the words most frequently employed to describe the lineal descendants of a designated ancestor who succeed to his interest in his property on his death intestate. Other words, however, may be used with the same meaning and, when they are so used, they are ‘words of similar import.’ Thus the words ‘bodily heirs’ * * * are, tinless a contrary intent of the conveyor is found from additional language or circumstances, construed to refer to the same persons as are described by the words ‘heirs of the body.’ ” (Emphasis supplied.)

In his disposition of certain land located in the State of Arkansas, not involved as a part of the residuary estate in this suit, Testator specifically excluded an adopted child of one of his own children, the provision being quoted in the margin.

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Related

Vaughn v. Gunter
458 S.W.2d 523 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1970)
Cutrer v. Cutrer
345 S.W.2d 513 (Texas Supreme Court, 1961)
Vaughn v. Gunter
461 S.W.2d 599 (Texas Supreme Court, 1970)
Guilliams v. Koonsman
279 S.W.2d 579 (Texas Supreme Court, 1955)
Haile v. Holtzclaw
414 S.W.2d 916 (Texas Supreme Court, 1967)
Huffman v. Huffman
339 S.W.2d 885 (Texas Supreme Court, 1960)
Power v. Landram
464 S.W.2d 99 (Texas Supreme Court, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
463 S.W.2d 458, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-waldron-texapp-1971.