Hale v. Neilson

72 So. 1011, 112 Miss. 291
Mississippi Supreme Court·Decided October 15, 1916·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

SteveNS, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The complainants in the court below, bearing the burden of their bill, must necessarily prevail upon the strength of their own title, and not upon "the weakness of the title of their adversary. To maintain this suit they must be regarded as having inherited the lands in question from Mrs. Julia A. Neilson, the widow of the testator, whose will is here brought under review. Did then Mrs. Julia A. Neilson own an estate of inheritance. We think not. Before entering the mystic maze of authorities on wills similar to the one in‘question, we read this will from first to last in an endeavor to find and to appreciate the intent and purpose of the testator, to gather from the whole will what he meant to say and do. Looking to the whole instrument, including the codicil, and giving due regard to every. expression, we are convinced beyond doubt that Mr. Neilson intended to give his wife the full use and enjoyment of his estate so long as she remained his widow, and that is to say, so long as she remained unmarried, and, at most, for her natural life. So long as she bore the name of Neilson she was to enjoy the estate of Neilson, but at all times, her estate was a qualified and limited estate. If she should remarry, then it is clear from the express language of the will that her life estate in the whole was cut down to a life estate in one-half. The will as a whole convinces us that the testator regarded his brothers and sisters, close blood relatives of his, as objects of his bounty; and the codicil shows clearly that the minor, who was living with him as a member of his household, [297]*297was to be the recipient of his gracious favor. Mr. Neilson was evidently attempting to dispose of his entire estate; he thought he was effectually doing so. He had no children. If he provided for his beloved wife during the balance of her natural life, he evidently felt that he would be discharging toward her his full moral and legal obligations. She was, accordingly, to have the full and unrestricted use and enjoyment of his estate so long as she remained unmarried, but upon remarrying, and thereby acquiring a new and independent source of income, her life estate would be cut down. If she did not remarry, she was to use the entire property until her death. And from a practical and business viewpoint, what higher estate can one have in a plantation than the full and complete use, the entire usufruct, for one’s natural life? The only additional privileges would be the right of devising or passing on the title to others, and in this case would mean the right of the widow to bestow the title upon those who were not regarded by the testator as special objects of his favor and bounty. There is some conflict in the authorities, but the weight of authority fully sustains the view that the widow in this case did not take a conditional fee, but at best a mere life estate. These authorities are sufficiently referred to in the briefs of counsel; most of them are collated in the note to Fidelity Trust Co. v. Bobloski (Pa.), 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1099.

In so holding, we are not unmindful of our statute, but this view is in full accord with previous expressions of our own court, and the disposition of our own cases to look to the entire will and give effect, if possible, to every clause therein. See Selig v. Trost et al., 70 So. 699. In the early case of Pringle v. Dunkley, 14 Smedes & M. 16, 53 Am. Dec. 110, our court, by Chief Justice Sharkey, interpreted the words “so long as the said Elizabeth shall continue my widow,” and reached the conclusion that:

[298]*298“This is strictly a limitation, a gift to tlie wife during her widowhood, and such limitations have been uniformly sustained as valid.”

It is stated in the note to Maddox v. Yoe (Md.), Ann. Cas. 1915B, 1238, that:

“According to the weight of authority a devise to a person so long as he or she remains unmarried, with the limitation over in the case of marriage, gives, in the absence of language clearly indicating a contrary intent, a determinable life estate” — citing abundant authorities.

There are many adjudicated cases holding that the expressions “so long as she remains my widow” “while she remains-my widow,” and “during widowhood,” manifest an intention to create a life estate subject to be defeated by remarriage when the will so provides. The first impression, then, which we get, and which we think any layman would get from reading the will as a whole, to the effect that the widow’s estate in this instance is a life estate, is fully in accord with the authorities, and we accordingly hold with confidence that Mrs. Neilson took under the will an estate which would not pass by inheritance to her heirs.

Our interpretation of this will is strengthened by the last clause of the codicil where the testator says, “I also give to my wife,. Julia A. Neilson, in addition to the provisions made in' my will,” certain live stock specifically mentioned. This indicates that the testator regarded “the provisions” in the will as not carrying the entire fee, but a qualified interest.

It is argued, however, and that with some degree, of persuasion, that the devise of the remainder was by the express provisions of the will made to depend upon a contingency that never happened, to wit, the remarriage of the widow; that, -the contingency ’ not having arisen, the remainder in fee was not effectually devolved by the will but as to it the testator died intestate. If we should be governed by the literal terms of the [299]*299will, this view might obtain; hut looking* again to the whole will, the relation of the parties one to another, the purposes to be accomplished, and, as it were, the setting of this important and solemn act of the testator, we are again convinced that the will devolves title upon appellants, or, at least some of them, and that Mr. Neilson did not intend to, and did not in fact, die intestate as to any portion of this property. Every expression in this will manifests an intention to dispose of all the estate. The testator says himself, “all of my estate both real and personal,” and when this language is employed in the introductory clause of a will Mr. Underhill (volume 1, p. 617) says that:

“The presumption arises that, having the disposition of his whole estate in view, he did not intend to die intestate as to any part of it. If his subsequent language may be construed in either of two ways, by one of which a complete disposition will be made of his whole estate, and by the other only a partial disposition . will be- made, resulting in a partial intestacy, the introductory statement, pointing to a complete disposition, ought to be considered, and that sense adopted which will result in a disposition of the whole estate.”

It is true that thé language employed in the will does not expressly declare that the devises in favor of appellants were to take effect upon the death of the widow, but there is a clear and unmistakable devise over on the marriage of the widow. This brings the case within a well-recognized class of cases discussed by Mr. Jar-man and Mr. Underhill in their splendid works on wills, and simply adds another to the long line of cases construing similar provisions and holding that the devisee in remainder takes the estate. As stated by Underhill (volume 1, p. 625):

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Hale v. Neilson, 72 So. 1011, 112 Miss. 291 (Mich. 1916).

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