Stiles v. Cummings

50 S.E. 484, 122 Ga. 635, 1905 Ga. LEXIS 286
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 27, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 50 S.E. 484 (Stiles v. Cummings) 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
Stiles v. Cummings, 50 S.E. 484, 122 Ga. 635, 1905 Ga. LEXIS 286 (Ga. 1905).

Opinion

Cobb, J.

In 1876 Alexander Cummings Jr. executed a deed to land, “in trust, nevertheless, and to and.for the sole use, benefit, and behoof of the said Nellie Ann, my wife as aforesaid, during her natural life, and my four children, to wit, Lawrence aged 10 years, Albert 7 years, Talbot aged 4 years, and Homer H. aged two years, and any future children I may have by my said wife,” It was further provided that in the event of the death of the [636]*636grantor and remarriage of his wife, the property was “ to become 'the sole property of my children then in life or their survivors, to be divided amongst them, share and share alike, when the youngest attains his or her majority.” And 'also that in the event his wife did not remarry, “ the said property to be a home for herself and my children during her life, and after her death if my said children can be kept together.” The trustee was given a power of sale, subject to the consent of the grantor’s wife. One of the sons named in the deed died, and the mother and three other sons conveyed their interests in the property to Stiles. The plaintiff is a son of the grantor and his wife, born after the execution of the deed. He sues in ejectment to recover from Stiles an interest in the land which he alleges passed to him under the deed. The petition does not expressly so allege, but it is to be inferred from the allegations that the grantor is dead. The court overruled a general demurrer, and the defendant excepted.

The defendant contends that the designation by name of the four children who were to take as grantees conclusively evidences an intention on the part of the grantor to provide for these particular children as individuals, and not for his children as a class; that these four children designated by name took with their mother the entire interest of the grantor in the land as tenants in common, the mother’s interest being an estate for life or widowhood ; and' that nothing was left for any future-born child or children to take. The general rule undoubtedly is that where children are designated by name or otherwise definitely described as individuals, with no superadded words to show a contrary intention, they take, not as a class, but as individuals. Frost v. Courtis, 167 Mass. 251; Stedman v. Priest, 103 Mass. 293; Rockwell v. Bradshaw, 67 Conn. 140; Moffett v. Elmendorff, 152 N. Y. 475; Church v. Church, 15 R. I. 138; Bain v. Lescher, 2 Sim. 397; Jones v. Hunt, 96 Tenn. 369, 374; Stansfield v. Stansfield, L. R. 49 Ch. Div. 750 ; In Re Smith’s Trusts, L. R. 9 Ch. Div. 117; Dildine v. Dildine, 32 N. J. Eq. 78, 80. Mere designation by name does not, however, in all cases show that the persons were dealt with as individuals, and not as a~ class, the intention of the grantor or testator must be gathered from the whole instrument; and if there are other words used which show that he had the per- ’ sons named in mind as a class, this intention will be allowed to [637]*637control. Where persons are designated by name, and language is also used which indicates that the maker of the instrument had them in mind not as individuals but as members of a class, it must be determined which idea was uppermost or controlling in his mind. Thus, in Springer v. Congleton, 30 Ga. 976, a testator devised property to “be divided between my two sisters’ children, Elizabeth Joice and Martha Lilly, to wit,” naming the children ; and it was held that considering the language used and the motive which prompted the legacy, the leading idea in the testator’s mind was provision for his sisters’ children as a class and and not the individual children named. See also, in this connection, Talcott v. Talcott, 39 Conn. 186; Rixey v. Stuckey, 129 Mo. 377; Swallow v. Swallow, 166 Mass. 241. In the present case the grantor began by designating the children by name. If he had stopped there, they would have taken as individuals. But he superadds the words, “and any future children I may have by my said wife.” The grantor must have intended these words to mean something. They certainly ought not to be rejected if any construction can be admitted which will give effect to them as well as to the other provisions of the deed. In our opinion the proper construction of the deed is that while the grantor began the clause under consideration by dealing with certain named children as individuals, the use of the words thereafter added shows an intention to depart from this scheme and to deal with them as a class. If he had used merely the general word “ children,” without naming any child, following the rule in Wild’s case, unborn children would not have been included. Baird v. Brookin, 86 Ga. 709. But he names four children and expressly refers to unborn children; and it would be doing violence to the language used and to the expressed intention of the grantor to exclude a child born after the execution of the deed. In re Jackson, L. R. 25 Ch. Div. 162, L. R. 53 Ch. Div. (N. S.) 180, a testator bequeathed the residue of his estate in trust for a named son and four named daughters, “ and such of my child or children, if any, hereafter to be born as shall attain the age of twenty-one years or marry, in equal shares as tenants in common.” It was held that the five named children took as a class and not as individuals, and that the whole of the residue was divisible among three of them who survived the testator. In that [638]*638case the testator failed to name one of his children, and it was held that the exclusion of this child did not alter the rule. In Downes v. Long, 79 Md. 382, it was held that under a devise “to the wife and children of my son, William Thomas Long, now .living and to any other legitimate child or children which may hereafter be born to him,” the wife took an estate for life, and the children of the testator’s son a vested remainder in fee, which would open to take in an afterborn child. In Williams v. Neff, 52 Pa. St. 326, a contrary construction seems to have been given to language similar to that under consideration in the present' case; but the decision was based in part upon the fact that there were no afterborn children. This fact also appeared in the English case above cited. In the present case there was an afterborn child, and therefore we are not called upon to say what would have been our decision had there been none; still we are unable to see how the fact that no child was afterwards born could alter the conclusion as to what was the intention of the grantor as indicated by the language used.

It does not, however, follow from what has been said above that the plaintiff has a present right to sue for and recover any interest in the property. The deed provides that the property shall be for the “sole use, benefit, and behoof” of the wife “during her natural life.” It also provides that in the event of the death of the grantor and the remarriage of the wife, the property “is to become the sole property of” the children then in life; and also that, in the event the wife remains single, “ the said property to be a home for herself and my children during her life, and after her death if my said children can be kept together.”

A grant or devise to a parent and her children then in life creates an absolute estate in the, parent and children as tenants in common. McCord v. Whitehead, 98 Ga. 385, and cit. But while there may be a tenancy in common between one holding for life and one holding the fee (1 Wash. Real Prop.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
50 S.E. 484, 122 Ga. 635, 1905 Ga. LEXIS 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stiles-v-cummings-ga-1905.