Myrick v. Williamson

67 So. 273, 190 Ala. 485, 1914 Ala. LEXIS 672
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedNovember 19, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 67 So. 273 (Myrick v. Williamson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Myrick v. Williamson, 67 So. 273, 190 Ala. 485, 1914 Ala. LEXIS 672 (Ala. 1914).

Opinion

GARDNER, J.

Appellees (complainants in the court below), legatees under the will of T. P. Buffing-ton, deceased, filed this bill for the purpose of cancellation of two certain deeds executed by Martha E. Buffington, widow of said T. P. Buffington, to appellant,. L. Bernard Myrick, bearing date July 3, 1914, copies of which constitute Exhibits C and D to the bill; or, in the event it should be held said deeds conveyed a life estate to the grantee, that they be so limited by decree of the court. This is the sole purpose of this suit, and the grantee, L. Bernard Myrick, is sole respondent.

Demurrer to the bill being overruled, this appeal is brought, and the question of first importance relates to the construction of the will of said T. P. Buffington. This will the reporter will set out in the report of the case.

It is insisted by counsel for appellant that by the will Martha E. Buffington, the widow, was given the absolute,fee to the entire estate, or, failing in that contention, that she was given by the will a life estate unaccompanied by any trust, with absolute power of disposition, and that therefore the effect was to give her the fee-simple title.

(1) “It is a legal truism that the cardinal rule — the one above all other rules — for the construction of a will [489]*489is to ascertain the intention of the testator and give it effect. * * * When the judicial mind is brought to its construction, the effort is to ascertain from the language employed, the surroundings of the testator, and the objects of his bounty, what his intentions were in the disposition he has made of his property, * * * and give effect to that intention, if it is not inconsistent with the law.” — Wolffe v. Loeb, 98 Ala. 426, 13 South. 744.

“This intent must be gathered * * * from the language used in the will, and by this is meant that such intention shall be gathered from the four corners of the instrument; that is to say, from' the whole will, the whole frame of the will, the whole scheme of the testator manifested by the will, taking into consideration, and giving due weight to every word used in the will.” — Ball v. Phelan, 94 Miss. 293, 49 South. 956.

(2) It must needs be conceded that the will contains no apt words of devise or bequest to the wife, Martha E. Buffington. If, therefore, the will is to be construed as effectuating a gift of the estate to the wife, it must be by necessary implication.

The rule with respect to estates by implication was 'clearly stated by this court in Wolffe v. Loeb, supra. It was there said: “All estates by implication are founded on the intent of the testator, or ascertained from the words of the will, and, where implications are allowed, they must be necessary in order to effectuate this intention. A construction in favor of a devise or bequest by implication should be so strong, as that a contrary intention to that imported cannot be supposed to have existed in the mind of the testator.”

The implication, as we have said in Sherrod v. Sherrod, 38 Ala. 543, must not rest on conjecture; it must be necessary, and so plain as to be irresistible to the [490]*490mind. “If the words of the will, as written, construed in their ordinary sense, will make a valid will, then there can be no room for implication.”

The case of Ball v. Phelan, 94 Miss. 293, 49 South. 956, reviews many authorities concerning this rule, and is of much interest in this connection.

(3) Counsel for appellant, in his brief, leans heavily upon the language of the third paragraph of the will. Nothing is there devised to the wife. There is no gift or language subject to such construction when the entire will is looked to. The wife is “authorized to collect all claims,” and “to take full control” of his property. In this respect' the language bears much similarity to that of the will construed in Wolffe v. Loeb, supra, where the words, “I make my. wife sole controller just the same as if I was alive,” were construed as meaning to give full management and authority, over the estate, but gave no beneficial interest therein. As said in that case: “ ‘Control’ means to check,. restrain, govern, have under command, and authority over.”

And the opinion proceeds with the following language applicable to the instant case: “The testator, we must presume, understood the meaning of the words ‘give, grant, devise or bestow,’ as well as he did that of' ‘control,’ and if he had desired to- devise or bequeath his wife anything, he would have employed some apt word to effect that intent.”

(4) In the fourth paragraph the testator directs that “in taking possession” of his estate his wife be exempt from bond and from making any settlement in any court. The bill shows that testator and his wife had but two children, complainant Susan Williamson and Mrs. Myrick, the mother of respondent, L. Bernard My-rick, who died at his birth, whereupon respondent was taken to the home of the testator and raised by hi™ [491]*491and his wife. The respondent was ahont the age of ten years when the will was written, in May, 1902. It was but natural, therefore, that the welfare of respondent, then a boy, nurtured and cared for since his birth under the roof of testator, should be considered in the execution of his will, and, in response to this natural affection and concern for the future of the hoy, that the testator, in paragraph fifth of the will, should say: “I hereby will and direct that my grandson, Bernard My-rick, shall have a right good education, and authorize my wife to pay for same out of my estate.” It was equally natural that he left to his wife the control of his estate, one not of great value, and intrusted her with the education of the grandson whom they had raised; and yet he “directs” that he have “a right good education.”

In the succeeding paragraph the testator directs that, after the death of his wife, certain legacies he paid, one of $500, to the respondent, and $200 to his granddaughter, Mattie Mims, and that the remainder of his estate to be divided into four equal parts, making disposition thereof to his daughter, Susan Williamson, and to his grandchildren, respondent receiving a one-fourth. In the concluding paragraph the testator directs that upon the death of his wife an administrator be appointed according to law, that he make bond and carry out the aforesaid provisions of his will. There is no word of gift or devise to the wife. In order to hold that she takes a beneficial interest, it must result from necessary implication. It must not rest on conjecture, hut must be so plain as to he irresistible to the judicial mind. “If the words of the will, as written, construed in their ordinary sense, will make a valid will, then there can,he no roqnufor implication.”.....

[492]*492Applying this well-recognized rule to the instant case, we are of opinion that the wife did not take a beneficial interest. The words of the will, as written, construed in their ordinary sense, make a valid will, and therefore there is no room for implication. It is clear that the wife is charged with a trust to see to the education of the grandson whom they had raised. The proper care, education, and future welfare of this boy was doubtless uppermost in the mind of the testator. His estate was not large, but was, in fact, very modest.

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Bluebook (online)
67 So. 273, 190 Ala. 485, 1914 Ala. LEXIS 672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/myrick-v-williamson-ala-1914.