Goddard v. Whitney

3 N.E. 30, 140 Mass. 92, 1885 Mass. LEXIS 288
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedSeptember 4, 1885
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 3 N.E. 30 (Goddard v. Whitney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goddard v. Whitney, 3 N.E. 30, 140 Mass. 92, 1885 Mass. LEXIS 288 (Mass. 1885).

Opinion

Deyens, J.

The will concerning which instructions are asked has been once before this court. Goddard v. May, 109 Mass. 468. William D. Goddard having died during the lifetime of his father, it was necessary then to determine whether the legacies of principal and income of the share directed to be set apart for him had lapsed by his death without issue and intes - tote in the lifetime of the testator, there being in that event an unconditional gift over. It was there decided that the words “ his share,” and “ his portion,” found in the will, referred to the share of the estate set apart for him, but did not show any intent to make the vesting of an interest in him a condition of [97]*97the gift over; that the sixth clause was not inserted with a view to the limitation over; and that the share of William D. Goddard should be retained undivided, except for the purpose of distributing the income to the surviving brother and sisters, until the expiration, of five years from the testator’s death, during which time the principal of the estate was to remain undivided. It was further said that, when the distribution shall take place, one third of this share will be added to each of the shares of the brother and sisters.

When this decision was made, the five years had not expired, and it was not necessary to decide, nor was it by this language decided, whether the portion of the estate coming to Mrs. Whitney by reason of the death of her brother should be taken by her absolutely, or whether it should be added to the trust estate created on her behalf and that of her children, and be thus held and administered.

The fourth clause, which relates to the disposition of the income, provides that Mrs. Whitney’s share, in case of her death, together with all that may have accrued, is to be paid to her daughters, whom it names. The fifth clause places her share of the principal in trust, and provides for the division of it between her daughters at her decease, the income being paid to them during life. The sixth directs that, if either child shall decease during the five years, that portion of his estate bequeathed to such child “ shall be added ” in equal shares to the portions of such of my immediate children who may be living at the expiration of the “ five years aforesaid.” The fourth and fifth clauses show fully an intention that the husband shall not participate in the income or principal of the estate which Mrs. Whitney received. By the sixth clause, if the death of William D. Goddard had occurred after that of his father, as such share of his interest as Mrs. Whitney might have received was to be added, by the terms of the clause, to her portion, this addition would have been to the portion described in the fifth clause, which was a portion in trust. By the first clause, also, had Mrs. Whitney died subsequently to the death of her mother, such share as she might have received from her mother’s estate would not have been received absolutely, but added to that portion which was held in trust. The language, that, at the mother’s death, her said [98]*98estate shall he divided equally among her immediate surviving children, according to the provisions hereinafter named with regard to their portions of the rest of my estate,” allows no other interpretation.

When, therefore, the testator, in the fifth clause, referring to the portion of William D. Goddard, and to the contingency of his dying intestate and without issue, provides “that his said portion of my estate shall be equally divided among his immediate surviving brother and sisters,” the intention of the testator, revealed throughout the will, compels us to hold that this division is to be made by addition to the portions elsewhere given to such surviving children, and upon the same terms as those upon which such portions are given. Where a testator, in the entire structure of his will, has revealed an intention, the language of individual clauses is always to be construed with reference to that intention, even if, in another instance or another connection, it might properly receive a different construction. Weston v. Weston, 125 Mass. 268. Metcalf v. Framingham Parish, 128 Mass. 370, 374. Bradlee v. Andrews, 137 Mass. 50.

Assuming that the property derived from the share of William D. Goddard is to be added to and form a part of the share of Mrs. Whitney, we are to consider what disposition is now to be made of it, and who is entitled thereto, Mrs. Whitney having deceased after the expiration of the five years, and her daughter, Mrs. Allen (spoken of in the will as Eleanor G. Whitney), having died subsequently to the decease of her mother, leaving herself a daughter, Eleanor G. Allen. Mrs. Allen’s husband, Thomas Allen, was also living at her decease, and is still living.

The part of the fifth clause relating to the final disposition of the trust property held for the benefit of Mrs. Whitney during her life, and of which she was to have the income, provides that at her death “her said portion of my estate shall be equally divided between her two children, Annie Louisa Field and Eleanor G. Whitney, the same to be held in trust for them by the said Josiah Bard well, and the income thereof to he paid them semiannually during their life; and should either or both of the said children decease without legal issue, then it is my will that the said portion of my estate above bequeathed to such child or [99]*99children shall he divided in equal shares among my immediate surviving children.”

This clause certainly attempts to provide for all contingencies, and to make a complete disposition of the portion of the testator’s estate appropriated to Mrs. Whitney. The final vesting of personal property (and Mrs. Whitney’s portion consisted both of personal and real estate) may, by means of an express trust, be postponed, as in executory devises of real estate; and there can be no objection, if the ultimate disposition of the property is not postponed, in any contingency, for a period beyond lives in being, and twenty-one years thereafter. Sears v. Russell, 8 Gray, 86. Fosdick v. Fosdick, 6 Allen, 41. Loring v. Blake, 98 Mass. 253. Otis v. McLellan, 13 Allen, 339. Hooper v. Bradbury, 133 Mass. 303.

Mrs. Whitney had only an equitable estate for life. She had no power to say who should take after her, and those who were thus to take are distinctly named. Had there been, at the time the will became operative, other children, or had there been such subsequently born, they could have had no benefit under this clause. The rights of Mrs. Field and Mrs. Allen are directly derived from the will, and they take thereunder as purchasers.

The remaining questions raised by the bill for instructions will be determined by considering what was the character of the estate taken by the two daughters of Mrs. Whitney, respectively. Did they have equitable estates for life only in the trust property, or such estates of inheritance therein that, when Eleanor G. Whitney (Mrs. Allen) deceased leaving lawful issue, the trust was terminated as to one half the property, and is such portion now to be treated as her intestate property, to be disposed of according to the rules of descent and distribution ? The language of the will immediately relating to this point we have already quoted.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 N.E. 30, 140 Mass. 92, 1885 Mass. LEXIS 288, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goddard-v-whitney-mass-1885.