Noble v. Noble

1951 OK 158, 235 P.2d 670, 205 Okla. 91, 26 A.L.R. 2d 1200, 1951 Okla. LEXIS 580
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 29, 1951
Docket33977
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 1951 OK 158 (Noble v. Noble) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Noble v. Noble, 1951 OK 158, 235 P.2d 670, 205 Okla. 91, 26 A.L.R. 2d 1200, 1951 Okla. LEXIS 580 (Okla. 1951).

Opinion

HALLEY, J.

E. T. Noble was a resident of Okmulgee county, Oklahoma, where he died on April 10, 1940, leaving as his sole and only heirs at law his wife, Coral L. Noble, and an adopted daughter, Nancy Lee Noble Watkins. During his lifetime Mr. Noble was a successful practicing lawyer at Okmul-gee, and accumulated a large fortune in the oil business. The executrix of his estate received during the period of administration, which was over eight years, the gross amount of $1,144,798.41 (a net income of approximately $660,-000) which was derived principally from the sale of oil from producing oil properties. Mr. Noble had no children other than his adopted daughter, Nancy Lee, upon whom he showered unusual kindness. He was a man of great family responsibility and contributed to the education of many nieces and nephews, and also assisted various relatives of his wife. At the time of his death he was 70 years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Noble were married in June, 1903, and lived together as husband and wife until his death. At the time of their marriage they had no money or property.

On April 25, 1939, Mr. Noble executed his last will and testament, which was admitted to probate May 8, 1940. Coral L. Noble, his widow, was appointed and qualified as executrix, and has continued to serve since that time. The *92 will was construed by the county court to mean that Mrs. Noble would receive the entire income from the estate. The will provided in Article VII as follows:

“All the rest and residue of my estate, both real, personal, and mixed, I give, devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Coral L. Noble, for her lifetime, with power to manage and control such estate during her lifetime, ,and, if deemed advisable, to sell and dispose of any or all property of said estate, and to reinvest the proceeds from such sale in other properties and to use all the income and such part of the principal of the estate as she may desire for her support and maintenance.”

Mrs. Noble was advised by her counsel that under this provision of the will she was entitled to all the income from the estate. It was never necessary for Mrs. Noble to invade the corpus of the estate and dispose of it, although she had the right to do so under the provisions of the will if it became necessary to do so for her support and maintenance. A widow’s allowance of $500 a month was made to Mrs. Noble, and in addition thereto she was advanced $265,000, the order allowing approximately $225,000 of which was vacated on account of insufficient notice; but on June 23, 1948, on the hearing on the final account and petition for distribution, the county court of Okmulgee county held that she took a conventional life estate and was entitled to all of the income, without restriction; and since the estate produced in excess of the amount advanced, the premature distribution to her constituted harmless error. Plaintiffs in error perfected an appeal to the district court of Okmul-gee county, and in due time the same came on for trial upon the issues set forth in the objection of plaintiffs in error, and notice of appeal, wherein they appealed from both questions of law and fact. On July 12, 1948, the district court of Okmulgee county entered its judgment approving the final account, distributing the estate, and discharging the executrix, which judgment construed the will of E. T. Noble and interpreted it to give Coral L. Noble all of the income from the property of which E. T. Noble died seized, but held that she was without right to pass any of the property by will, and that upon her death all that remained of the income and corpus of the estate of E. T. Noble would pass and be distributed to the parties mentioned in Article VIII of the will, which is as follows:

“At the date of the death of my beloved wife, Coral L. Noble, I give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my estate remaining at that time, both real and personal, including all of the principal and unexpended income therefrom, and including any properties which may have been acquired by my said wife from the income or sale of the properties herein bequeathed to her, to the following named persons, to-wit:
“A. One-third, I give, devise and bequeath to the heirs of the father of my wife, Coral L. Noble, said heirs to take by right of representation; such heirs to be determined as of the date of the death of my wife, Coral L. Noble.
“B. One-third, I give, devise and bequeath to the heirs of my father, Aaron W. Noble, deceased, said heirs to take by right of representation, such heirs to be determined as of the date of the death of my wife, Coral L. Noble, provided, however, that if my nephews, George T. Noble and William N. Gibson, and my niece, Genevieve Long, shall all be living on said date, they shall take per capita.
“C. The remaining one-third I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved daughter, Nancy Lee Noble. . . .”

Plaintiffs in error appealed to this court.

The question to be determined in this lawsuit is whether Article VII of the will gave to the widow, Coral L. Noble, during her lifetime, all of the income from the estate of her deceased hus-hand, or whether it gave her only what she might desire for her support and maintenance. The plaintiffs take the latter position.

*93 It has long been the rule in Oklahoma that the primary consideration in construing wills is to ascertain the intention of the testator in making the same, and that this intent must be ascertained by the language employed in making the will, except in cases where the language is ambiguous and uncertain and fails to show clearly the intent of the testator, in which case the court may take into consideration the circumstances and conditions surrounding the testator and his relations to those named as beneficiaries, their affections or lack of affections, the condition of his family, the amount and character of property, the estate or property devised, their manner of living, the means provided, as well as their culture and happiness; but where the testator’s intention is plainly expressed in the will, the court cannot deduce from the surrounding circumstances an intention different therefrom. In re Friss’ Will and Estate, 45 Okla. 399, 149 P. 1176. Section 151, Title 84, O.S. 1941, provides that a will is to be construed according to the intention of the testator, and where his intention cannot have effect to its full extent, it must have effect as far as possible. We said in Cobb v. Newman, 201 Okla. 318, 205 P. 2d 858, in the first syllabus of that opinion:

“The object and prime purpose in the construction of any will is to arrive at and give effect to the intention of the testator. And in ascertaining such intention the will is to be considered as a whole and the several provisions thereof in their relation to each other.”

In our opinion, E. T. Noble intended that his wife have a full life estate as to all his property except as to certain specific bequests made in his will. Our reason for arriving at this conclusion is that E. T. Noble and Coral L. Noble had lived together as husband and wife for over 36 years at the time the will was executed; Mr. Noble was a capable lawyer and knew that Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1951 OK 158, 235 P.2d 670, 205 Okla. 91, 26 A.L.R. 2d 1200, 1951 Okla. LEXIS 580, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noble-v-noble-okla-1951.