131 Va. 456 | Va. | 1921
delivered the opinion of the court.
“I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Rebecca S. Coffman, my entire interest in the farm that we now live on and all bonds, -notes, and money that I possess or may be coming to me as long as she, Rebecca, lives. After her death I will and bequeath unto Martha M. Zirkle, Maud O. Zirkle, five hundred dollars each, making $1,000 divided between the two of my nieces for living with us and comforting us during our sad bereavement in losing our dear son, the remainder of my effects I leave with my wife to dispose of as she thinks proper.”
The controversy in the case is between Mrs. Rebecca- S. Coffman, the widow, who claims the whole estate subject to the payment of the two legacies of $500.00 each, and the heirs and distributees of the testator, who claim that he died intestate as to certain of his real and personal property. The lower court sustained the latter claim.
The will was dated May 5, 1900, and the testator died in January 1920. He left no children or descendants, his only child, a son, having died in 1898, but he was survived by his widow, Rebecca S. Coffman, three sisters, Mary A. Coffman, B. Frances Coffman, and Mrs. Martha E. Modesitt, and one brother, David J. Coffman, who were his heirs and distributees.
The testator and his wife were old people. The two unmarried sisters and the brother, a man of unsound mind, were likewise advanced in years, all of them being over seventy years of age. The married sister was considerably younger. The latter with her husband, S. H. Modesitt, owned and resided on a valuable farm which had formerly belonged to her father, and which she had acquired by deed from her brothers and sisters. The two unmarried sisters
The testator and his wife had resided for nearly forty years prior to his death on a farm which had been conveyed to them jointly shortly after their marriage. The consideration for that conveyance was $3,205.00, $1,000.00 of which was paid for Mr. Coffman by his mother, $2,000.00 of which was paid for Mrs. Coffman by her father, and the residue of which, $205.00, the grantees perhaps paid jointly. Subsequently Mrs. Coffman, out of money realized from her father’s estate, contributed $3,000.00 which went into the place in the way of improvements. Mr. Coffman was a good farmer, and his wife was industrious and frugal. They kept the farm in good condition, continuing to improve it, and that fact, together with the advance in the market price of farming' land, made it worth perhaps $20,000.00 at the time of the testator’s death. When the will was written the property of the testator consisted of his interest in the farm and of a considerable amount of personal property .made up of household furniture, farming implements, live stock, money, notes, bonds, and stock in various corporations. At the time of his death his indebtedness was very small, and the amount of his personal property of every kind had been increased to an aggregate amount of something more than $9,000.00. He had also acquired subsequent to the execution of the will two tracts of mountain land of somewhat uncertain value, but worth perhaps $2,000.00.
Before undertaking to construe the will, we may dispose of a preliminary question raised by one of the assignments of error, and discussed at considerable length in the oral and written arguments in this case. A good deal of testimony was introduced for the purpose of showing that the testator did not want any of his property to go to his
Having made this classification, Professor Graves proceeds to show that evidence .of the first kind, “the facts and circumstances,” is always admissible in a case of disputed interpretation, saying: “For the object of interpretation is to ascertain the meaning of the words as used by the testator; what the words represented in his mind; what he understood to be signified by them: and for this purpose it
With reference to the second of the two classes of extrinsic evidence dealt with in the paper by Professor Graves, “testator’s declarations of intention,” he says: “There is but one situation in which the judicial expositor has the right to invoke the aid of declarations of intention, and that is where the words in the will describe well, but equally well, two or more persons or two or more things, and such declarations are offered to show which person or which
It must be admitted that there is much to be said in support of each of the holdings above outlined, but upon a careful view of the language of the will as a whole, viewed
We start out with the legal presumption that the testator intended, to dispose of his entire estate. There is a strong presumption against partial intestacy, intensified where, as here, the testator has used a general residuary clause, and the courts have for a long time inclined very decidedly against adopting any construction of wills which leaves the testator intestate as to a part of his estate, unless that result is absolutely unescapable. Prison Association v. Russell, 103 Va. 563, 576, 49 S. E. 966. It is further to be especially observed that the testator's wife in this case was, as stated by the learned judge below, manifestly the prime object of his bounty. She had contributed largely by her management and frugality, and by the contribution of her own funds, to her husband’s success in improving the farm and accumulating other effects. They had lost their only child. His affection for his wife is apparent both from the extrinsic evidence and from the terms of the will itself. No other beneficiary is named in the will except two of her nieces (not his), who had comforted them in the loss of their son, and to whom he gave $500.00 each. His married sister was well off, and his two unmarried sisters and his brother, a man of unsound mind, were well provided for, and were advanced in years. None of these were referred to in the will, either by name or by any general designation.
The dispositive clause of the will contains only two sentences. The first is so phrased and punctuated as to indicate a purpose to give the widow only a life estate in his interest in the farm and in the bonds, notes and money. It is this: “I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Rebecca S. Coffman, my entire interest in the farm that we now
It is earnestly contended, and much authority is cited in alleged support of the contention, that the limitation to a life estate in the widow by the first sentence is not enlarged to an absolute estate by anything to be found in the second sentence; and, further, that the word “effects” in the residuary clause cannot be made to embrace real estate.
But if it be conceded that the only fair interpretation is
To illustrate: If we should say, “Mr. A took all of his effects out of his house before it was destroyed by fire,” we would, of course, be understood to refer to personal property. On the other hand, if, knowing that Mr. A owned the house in fee simple, we should say, “Mr. A died leaving all of his effects to his wife, except two legacies of $500.00 ' each to his nieces,” we would with equal certainty be understood to mean that the house and its contents would go to the widow, notwithstanding the fact that the house was real estáte.
A good many authorities have been cited to show that the word “effects” ordinarily refers to personal property, and these authorities go far enough to hold that the term has
We have no doubt that the testator, by the general and sweeping residuary clause, intended to give the widow everything he had, except the thousand dollars given to her nieces; and this we think, under the circumstances, may fairly be said to be the meaning of the words used by him.
■ This conclusion renders it unnecessary for us to discuss certain other questions which would present themselves if we took a different view of the meaning of the testator’s will, including in particular the cross assignment of error ' filed by the appellees.
For the reasons stated, the decree complained of will be reversed and the cause remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings to be had therein not in conflict with the views herein- expressed.
Reversed.