Podaril v. Clark

91 N.W. 1091, 118 Iowa 264
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 28, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 91 N.W. 1091 (Podaril v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Podaril v. Clark, 91 N.W. 1091, 118 Iowa 264 (iowa 1902).

Opinions

McClain, J.

[265]*2651 w estate: power of disposal. [264]*264'The will under which plaintiff claims was in the following language; “Kno all men by these [265]*265presance that I, Wenzel Podaril, convey unto my wife, Mary Anna Podaril, all- my right title and intirest in all of my Property, both Peal and ^ jr ^ 3 Personal, for her Natureal Lifetime. And I further give' her the privelege to sell or convey the same to whomsoever she may see or think best to do during her lifetime. This is my last Will and Testament. All of the above stated property is in the Oounty of Washington, and state of Iowa. This September 24th, 1894.”. Counsel for plaintiff contends for a construction of this will by which the second clause, authorizing a disposal by the widow during her lifetime, shall be given the effect of enlarging the life estate given by the first clause to a fee, under the rule recognized by this court in the case of Burbank's Will, 69 Iowa, 378. It is true there are many cases in this state (tho last being Law v. Douglass, 107 Iowa, 606, where the authorities are fully collected) in which it has been held th'at, although the express language of the granting clause • in the will, taken alone, indicates the devise of a life estate, yet, if the other language, with reference to the power of disposal which the devisee may exercise, indicates an intention that the devisee is to have in his own right, and, as an incident to the estate granted to him, the full power of control and disposition of the property, then the- estate granted is in reality a fee. But an examination of these cases will show that the power of disposal which is given the effect of converting the life estate into a fee is descriptive of the nature of the estate itself, while in the will before us the grant of the life estate and the grant of a power of disposal are in wholly independent clauses. The first clause gives a life estate. The second specifically grants a power not included in the grant of a life estate. . This, we -think, renders the reason of the rule announced in Law v. Douglass, supra, and the cases on which it is based, inapplicable here. For instance, in the case of Burbank's Will, supra, [266]*266the language construed as creating a fee was: “I give to my wife, Silenda Burbank, * * * the entire control and use of my property of every nature during her life, * * * to be by her controlled, used, and disposed of as she may think best, as fully as I could do the same, were I living. ” All this language together described the nature of the estate devised, and it was held to describe a fee, while in the case before us the testator devises a life estate, and then continues, “I further give her the privilege to sell,” etc. What more apt words could be used to indicate the intent to devise a power not involved in the life estate given, but added thereto? The case before us is plainly distinguishable, also, from that of Rona v. Meier, 47 Iowa, 607, and like cases where it is held’that a clause creating in itself an estate in fee is not limited by a subsequent precatory clause as to the disposition to be made of the property remaining undisposed of at the devisee’s death; for in the will we are considering the first clause expressly grants a life.estate, not an estate in fee. We cannot agree with the view further urged by plaintiff’s counsel, that there are peculiar circumstances requiring that the language of this will be construed as creating a fee, although without such circumstances the language itself would not be so construed. There are no peculiar facts here, as there were in the cited case of Kaufman v. Breckinridge, 117 Ill. 305 (7 N. E. Rep. 666), to control the interpretation.

But before going further, the theory of defendants’ counsel should be considered, which is that the second clause of the will, providing that the widow shall have “the privilege to sell or convey the same to whomsoever she may see or think best to do during her lifetime,” relates to the life estate given in the first clause, and not to the property. In support of this contention, counsel cites Brant v. Iron Co., 93 U. S. 326 (23 L. Ed. 927); Henderson v. Blackburn, 104 Ill. 227 (44 Am. Rep. 780); Boyd v. [267]*267Strahan, 36 Ill. 355; Bradly v. Westcott, 13 Ves. 445. And he relies on these cases as establishing the proposition that where a general power of disposal is given, following the grant of a life estate, such power is to be deemed coextensive only with the estate granted, and therefore as amounting only to a grant of power to dispose of the life estate itself. The comparison which counsel makes between the provisions of this will and those of the wills construed in the cases cited shows on its face that the will before us is clearly distinguishable from those construed. In those wills the power of disposal is given as incidental merely to the grant of the life estate, and may therefore well be limited to the estate given. The rule contended for is laid down in Welsch v. Bank, 94 Ill. 191, in the following language: “In all cases where by the terms of the will there has been an express limitation of the estate to the first taker for life, and a limitation over, any general expressions * * * apparently giving the tenant for life an unlimited power over the estate, but which do not in express terms do so, must be regarded as referring to a life interest only, and therefore as limited by such interest.” It might be difficult to draw an accurate line between these cases and those represented by Law v. Douglass, supra, in our own state, in which the incorporation of an unlimited power of disposal as a characteristic of the estate granted converts what would otherwise'be a life estate into a fee; but we shall not attempt now to draw this line, nor to determine whether, in view of our previous decisions, the cases relied on by defendants’ counsel can be fallowed.

As applicable to the present will, the difficulty with the rule contended for by plaintiff’s counsel is that it nullifies the first of the two independent clauses, and gives effect only to the second, while the theory of defendants’ counsel would nullify the second clause, and give effect only to the first; for, if the first clause grants.a.life estate, then the [268]*268power of disposition of such life estate follows as a matter of course, without further expression, and the language of the second clause is wholly superfluous. It may not be in accordance with the actual facts in particular cases to say that the testator must have known and understood the legal effect of thelanguage used, but courts, in construing wills, cannot proceed on any other assumption than that each clause was intended to have some effect; and they will give operation to each provision, if practicable, consistently with any reasonable interpretation • of the language used in other provisions.

It seems to us that the language of this will, consisting, as it does, of two independent provisions, one granting a life estate, and the other granting-a limited power of disposal (that is, a power to be exercised only by disposition during life, and not by will), brings it within the rule recognized in the cases of Spaan v. Anderson, 115 Iowa, 121, and In re Proctor's

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Bluebook (online)
91 N.W. 1091, 118 Iowa 264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/podaril-v-clark-iowa-1902.