McHan v. McHan

149 S.E. 198, 168 Ga. 798, 1929 Ga. LEXIS 248
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJuly 19, 1929
DocketNo. 6967
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 149 S.E. 198 (McHan v. McHan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McHan v. McHan, 149 S.E. 198, 168 Ga. 798, 1929 Ga. LEXIS 248 (Ga. 1929).

Opinion

Beck, P. J.

Laura McHan, as the widow of J. T. McHan, presented to the judge of the superior court her application for dower. To this application B. C. McHan, executor,- and others filed a demurrer and objections, which the court overruled, and the objectors excepted to that judgment.

The last will and testament of J. T. McHan reads as follows:

“Marion Co. I, J. T. McHan, make this my last will and testament.

I desire that my honest debts be paid, and a respectable monument be put at our graves at the Jarrett Grave Yard,

[799]*799“Second. That as Clement, Doris, Margaret, Ora has got one thousand dollars, that Lanra, J. T., Clarie, Essie, Eifie, Myrtle, all get one thousand dollars each, to make them equal; and that H. D. Walter pay Eifie two hundred on her one thousand dollars that he due me on board and interest. Laura McHan and J. T. McHan to have one thousand dollars for twelve-months support, and there be fifteen hundred dollars out of my estate for the schooling of J. T. Laura and J. T. to have my East Ellijay property, house and lot No. 1, known as the Ponce house and lot, and house No. 2 that Kay now lives in, and if he pays for it her to make him a deed, house and lot No. 3, also the land up the road joining the Foster lot running to the Buffing Branch. Laura, and J. T. to have the furnishing of the house, also one cow, five head of hogs, chickens. Laura McHan shall act for J. T. as I would if I were alive, and if she should die, that K. C. McHan shall act for him as I would if I were alive; and the remainder of the proceeds of my estate to be equally divided among all the heirs, and that K. C. McHan to wind up my estate as I would if I were alive, in any way he sees proper, giving himself all the time necessary to make all out of it he can, and that he be paid a reasonable sum for his services, and all the heirs to assist him in any way they can.”

It appears from the record that Laura McHan is the second wife of J. T. McHan, deceased, and that there is one minor, J. T. McHan Jr., the issue of the second marriage; and the plaintiffs in error are the executor and the children of J. T. McHan by his first wife, eight in number. The demurrer to the application is based upon the contention that the applicant is not entitled to dower, for the reason that it is shown by the terms of the will that it was the “plain and manifest intention” of the testator that the beqxxest and legacies left to the widow 'should be in lieu of dower; that the applicant is called upon.to elect whether she will take under the provisions of the will, or renounce them and elect to take dower out of the estate of her deceased husband; and that to permit the applicant to take dower would destroy the testamentary scheme manifested in the will by the testator. The will, after reciting that certain named children of the testator have received $1,000 each, provides that Laura McHan, the widow, and J. T. McHan Jr., the minor, and certain other heirs shall all receive $1,000 each, thus placing all of the children and the widow upon an equal foot[800]*800ing as to these special cash bequests; and then the will provides that the testator’s widow and the minor shall have $1,000 for twelve-months support, and that $1500 be paid out of his estate for the schooling of the minor. To summarize the provisions of the will, the testator provides that the widow and the minor are to have the East Ellijay property, giving a description of it, and also the furnishings of the house, and one cow and five head of hogs- and chickens; and, as the last provision in his will, he directs that the remainder of the proceeds of his estate be equally divided among all of the heirs, and names R. C. Mellan as the executor, and specifically provides that he shall have all of the time necessary to dispose of the property and to realize out of it as much as possible, and that the executor shall be paid a reasonable sum for his services.

In subsection 2 of section 521-9 of the Civil Code it is provided that dower may be barred: “By a provision made by deed or will, and accepted by the wife after the husband’s death, expressly in lieu of dower, or where the intention of the husband is plain and manifest that it shall be in lieu of dower.” Here there was no express provision made by the will that the bequests made to the wife should be in lieu of dower; and that leaves for determination the question whether, under the language of the will, “the intention of the husband is plain and manifest” that the bequests to the wife should be '“in lieu of dower.” To hold that it was the intention of the testator that the bequests made should be in lieu of dower, that intention must be plain and manifest. The inference from the fact that the lawmakers used the words “plain” and “manifest,” words which are to a large extent synonymous, is that they intended to emphasize strongly the declaration that the intention of the testator should be manifest. In other words, that it was the intention of the husband that the bequests made should be in lieu of dower must be a necessary legal conclusion in view of all the portions of the will relating to the provisions for the wife. And when we consider the will in the present case in the light of the significance of the words in the statute, “plain and manifest,” we can not say that the conclusion necessarily follows that the provision made in this will deprives the wife of her right to dower unless she renounce the provisions made for her in the will. In other words, we hold that the wife has the right to dower in this [801]*801case, and also to insist upon the provisions made in her favor by the will. In the will the wife was given certain property referred to as “my East Ellijay property.” What the value of this was we do not know; but the husband sold and disposed of that property before his death and this legacy was adeemed. True, this ademption would not affect the construction of this will; because, even the ademption of a legacy, if the intention of the husband or testator was to make the legacy stand in lieu of dower, would not have the effect of changing the effect of the will. But we can look to the fact of the sale of that property by the husband, which by the terms of the will was given to the wife, as throwing light upon the question as to what his intentions actually were. And we do not think that holding that these bequests to the wife were not made in lieu of dower has the effect of destroying the testamentary scheme of the testator, and that to allow her dower would be inconsistent with and repugnant to the plain and manifest provisions of the will. While it is true that it is very rare that one will is like another, there is such similarity between the will under consideration in the present case and that under consideration in the case of Tooke v. Hardeman, 7 Ga. 20, that the discussion of the question as to whether or not the provisions in that will for the wife were meant to be accepted by her in lieu of dower is illuminating upon the question which we have for decision; and we consequently make a lengthy extract from the decision in that case, as follows:

'“The right of the widow to dower in the lands of her deceased husband is a legal right, of which she can not be deprived by 'a testamentary disposition in her favor, unless such testamentary disposition, when taken in connection with the other provisions of the testator’s will, necessarily be of such a character as to put her to an election, either to take the provision made for her by the will, or her dower.

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Bluebook (online)
149 S.E. 198, 168 Ga. 798, 1929 Ga. LEXIS 248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mchan-v-mchan-ga-1929.