184 Ga. 29 | Ga. | 1937
James Leslie Cheshire executed his last will and testament, naming two of his brothers as executors and as trustees thereunder. By the ninth item he gave, bequeathed, and devised to his daughter, “Duane Keaton, for and
The testator died on June 16, 1936, and the will was admitted to probate in solemn form in the court of ordinary of Early County on July 6, 1936. The persons named as executors duly qualified as such. They filed their petition to the superior court, praying for construction of the will, naming Mrs. Duane Cheshire Keaton as defendant. It was alleged in the petition, that, “because of the difficulty in construing said will in one particular,” petitioners “ask the direction of the court;” that the ninth item of the will contains, among other things, a devise to Duane Cheshire Keaton of a life-estate in what is known as the Henry Mims lot of land and in what is known as the Cheshire home place; that the defendant contends that under this devise she obtained title to the crops grown on said farm lands in the year 1936, and that they are included in the devise; and that petitioners desire a construction of said will, and especially of the ninth item thereof, respecting the contention of Mrs. Duane Keaton as herein set out. Mrs. Keaton filed her answer and set up that item 9 of the will conveyed to her the real estate therein described unconditionally for life and without reservation of the crops growing thereon at the time of the testator’s death, who died before the maturity of the crops; that the bequest in said item is a special one, and therefore should take effect at the minute of the testator’s death, and it is not subject to administration by the executors of the estate, there being no debts due by the testator at the time of his death in excess of general bequests made by him; that the act of 1922, declaring growing crops to be personalty, does not impair the general law as to a specific bequest in a will, where the testator dies before the maturity of the crops, which go with the lands under the special bequest; that the act of 1922 was not intended to repeal laws of inheritance, nor did that act repeal by implication the law as to special bequests set forth in a valid will; that if the court should hold that the act of 1922 does repeal, by implication or otherwise, the general law applicable to wills and
No evidence was introduced. The court adjudged as follows: “That the rents and profits of the land bequeathed to Mrs. Duane Cheshire Keaton, as described in . . the 9th item of the will, go with the lands to Mrs. Duane Cheshire Keaton. The word ‘profits’ herein used as referring to that part of the crops grown on the premises in the year 1936, which belonged to the deceased at the time of his death, but does not include such shares of said crops as may have belonged to any share-cropper. It includes any rent of said land for said year due by any renter.” To this judgment the petitioners excepted.
“Legacies may be either general or specific. A specific legacy is one which operates on property particularly designated.” Code, § 113-808. A life-estate in certain described realty devised by a testator to his daughter is a specific legacy. In Rachels v. Wimbish, 31 Ga. 214, it was also held: “It is well settled that a specific legacy, with its increase and emoluments, is specifically appropriated by the operation of the will for the benefit of the legatee, from the death of the testator.” Also, that any form of profit accruing to the property so devised “belongs to the legatee” upon the testator’s death. “The income, profit, or increase of specific legacies, as a general rule, goes with the legacy, though the time of enjoyment or of vesting may be postponed.” Code, § 113-809.' “The natural increase of the property shall belong to the tenant for life.” § 85-605. So, as a general rule, under those sections, a specific devise of lands carries with it to the devisee the income, profit, or increase of the specific legacy, from the date of the testator’s death. Holliday v. Price, 146 Ga. 782 (92 S. E. 533). Whatever produce accrues upon a specific legacy, as interest, rent, hire, or any other form of profit, from the death of the testator, and nothing more or less, belongs to the legatee, whether the enjoyment of the principal is postponed or not. Graybill v. Warren, 4 Ga. 528. This principle was followed in Holliday v. Price, supra. See also Beal v. Crafton, 5 Ga. 301. It is true that in Parker v. Chestnutt, 80 Ga. 12 (5 S. E. 289), a ruling directly in conflict with the principle laid down in the foregoing provisions of the Code and authorities cited was made.
Applying the foregoing principles, the judgment complained of was not erroneous for any reason assigned. No debts were due by the testator in excess of the general bequests contained in his will. Mrs. Keaton was entitled to the unmatured crops growing on the lands specifically devised to her, immediately upon the death of the testator on June 16, 1936, and to any profit derived therefrom from the date of his death. Neither the lands devised to Mrs. Keaton nor the produce or profit thereof were, under the facts of this case, subject to administration by the plaintiffs in this case. The title to the crops raised on these lands in 1936 did not pass to the plaintiffs as trustees under item 10 of the will. The residue of the estate of the testator was to be held by the trustees for the benefit of Mrs. Keaton until she should attain 35 years of age, when the corpus thereof, together with all sums that have accrued thereon, should be turned over to her and the trust terminated. This item provided in substance that from this residue and the income and accretions thereto there should be paid to Mrs. Keaton a certain stated monthly sum until she reached such age. The will also provided that if she died before
Judgment affirmed.