Newman v. Proffitt

440 S.W.2d 827, 59 Tenn. App. 397, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 353
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedSeptember 4, 1968
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 440 S.W.2d 827 (Newman v. Proffitt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Newman v. Proffitt, 440 S.W.2d 827, 59 Tenn. App. 397, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 353 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

COOPER, J.

Pleas F. Proffitt, Lloyd J. Proffitt, and Lucille Whaley, children of George E. Profitt, deceased, and heirs at law of P. A. Proffitt, deceased, have appealed from a decree of the Chancery Court of Sevier County ordering the partition by sale of 15 acres of land and the distribution of the proceeds among the several heirs at law of P. A. Proffitt. The appellants contend that the Chancellor erred in holding that P. A. Proffitt died intestate as to the property in question, and in failing to hold that the appellants acquired the fee in the 15 acre tract under the will of P. A. Proffitt or by deeds executed by Marrian Profit, the surviving wife of P. A. Proffitt.

The 15 acres in dispute originally were part of a 160 acre tract, known as the “home farm”, acquired by P. A. Proffitt on December 1, 1894.

On February 4, 1930, P. A. Proffitt executed a will, the material provisions of which are as follows:

“I give and bequeath to my two Sons, Namely George E. Proffitt and James G. Proffitt all of my home farm. But my wife Miriam Proffitt is to have control and the use of it. Can sell the timber or rent said land use it in any way to have her support in case the two Sons does not properly provide for her during her lifetime * * *
“The line through my home farm that divides the place between George E. Proffitt and James G. Proffitt is to begin on top' of the back field ridge at a bunch of chestnuts. Thence eastward to the public road at a cut [400]*400made in the hill Thence eastward with a cross fence to a pair of bars. Thence northward the way the farm road leads to the bridge at the back field branch Thence eastward down said branch to the main branch. Thence eastward np the ridge to the top of the ridge, to a pine on H. C. Ogle’s line.
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“Should one of my Sons die or leave no lawful heirs then his share to be divided in equal parts among my other heirs.”

On August 10, 1953, P. A. Proffitt and wife, Mirrian, conveyed the home farm to their two sons, George E. and James Proffitt, giving to each the fee in the property set aside for them in the 1930 will, subject to a life estate based on the lives of the grantors. The deeds also provided for a reversion of a part of the property conveyed in the event the grantee predeceased the grantors. The revocation in the deed to George E. Proffitt is in the following language:

“Should George E. Proffitt die before we die. Then the land West of the Public Road leading from Dudley to the Glades Church is to fall back entirely to us and we can sell said land or dispose of it as we see fit to do so.” (The land west of the public road is the 15 acre tract now in dispute.)

George E. Proffitt died on January 4, 1965. His father, P. A. Proffitt, died nine days later.

The will executed by P. A. Proffitt on February 4,1930, was probated in the County Court of Sevier County on January 28, 1965, without protest or contest.

Subsequently, on March 5, 1965, Mirrian Proffitt conveyed her interest in the 15 acre tract to the appellants.

[401]*401From the above, the Chancellor concluded that the deed of August 10,1953, operated as an ademption or revocation pro tanto of the devise to George E. Proffitt; that, as a consequence, P. A. Proffitt died intestate as to the 15 acre tract and the fee in the tract descended to the heirs at law of P. A. Pr,offitt, subject to the estate based on the life of Mirrian Proffitt.

We can not agree with the Chancellor’s conclusion that the fee in the 15 acre tract passed under the laws of intestacy, but are of the opinion that it passed to the heirs of George E. Proffitt, under the specific devise in the will.

Ademption has been defined as “the extinction, alienation, withdrawal, or satisfaction of the legacy by some act of the testator by which an intention to revoke is indicated; the doing of some act with regard to the subject-matter which interferes with the operation of the will.” American Trust & Banking Co. v. Balfour, 138 Tenn. 385, 390, 198 S.W. 70, 71, 71 L.R.A.1918D 536; Wiggins v. Cheatham, 143 Tenn. 406, 411, 225 S.W. 1040, 13 A.L.R. 169. The term “ademption” is often used in reference to a gift by the testator in his lifetime to the legatee of a legacy given to the legatee by will, or in satisfying such legacy by giving, in place thereof, something of value. This is sometimes called “ademption by satisfaction.” Phillip’s Pritchard on Wills and Estates, Sec. 462, p. 403. “Ademption” is also used to indicate the loss of a legacy by the termination of the testator’s interest in the subject matter of the legacy during the lifetime of the testator. This is sometimes referred to as “ademption by extinction.” Page on Wills, Sec. 54.1, p. 242; Phillip’s Pritchard on Wills and Estates, Sec. 426, p. 403.

[402]*402An ademption can be total or partial (pro tanto). If partial, that part of the specific bequest or devise owned by the testator at his death passes under the will. 6 Page on Wills, Sec. 54.17, p. 270. The time to determine the existence of the subject matter of the bequest or devise is the moment of the testator’s death. T.C.A. sec. 32-301.

“If testator conveys less than his entire estate in realty or in some interest therein, such conveyance does not totally adeem the devise. Instead the reversion, remainder, or other interest retained by the testator passes to the devisee.” 6 Page on Wills, Sec. 54.17, p. 270.

“A will shall be construed, in reference to the real and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, and shall convey all the real estate belonging to him, or in which he had an interest at his decease, unless a contrary intention appear by its words and context.” T.C.A. sec. 32-301.

“Whenever the devisee or legatee to whom, or any member of a class to which, an immediate devise or bequest is made, dies before the testator * * * leaving issue which survives the testator, said issue shall take the estate or interest devised or bequeathed which the devisee or legatee or the member of the class, as the case may be, would have taken, had he survived the testator, unless a different disposition thereof is made or required by the will.” T.C.A. sec. 32-306.

“The intention of the testator is important in cases of ademption by satisfaction in determining whether a bequest of a specific thing is withdrawn from the operation of the will or whether testator’s dealings with the [403]*403beneficiary with respect to tbe bequest establishes an ademption by satisfaction. However, in cases of ademption by extinction the rule prevails without regard to the intention of the testator or the hardship of the case, and is predicated upon the principle that the subject of the gift is annihilated or/its condition so altered that nothing remains to which the terms of the bequest can apply.” Phillip’s Pritchard on "Wills and Estates. Sec. 426, pp. 403-04; Rhodes v. Kebke, 179 Tenn. 480, 167 S.W.2d 345; Wiggins v. Cheatham, 143 Tenn. 406, 225 S.W. 1040, 1041, 13 A.L.R. 169.

There is no presumption of implied revocation of a devise where, as in this case, the testator conveys the property to the devisee and reacquires possession and title to the same property, or part of it. See Rhodes v.

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440 S.W.2d 827, 59 Tenn. App. 397, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newman-v-proffitt-tennctapp-1968.