History
  • No items yet
midpage
Goodwin v. McDonald
153 Mass. 481
Mass.
1891
Check Treatment
W. Allen, J.

The words of the will, “give, devise, and bequeath one half of all my property, both real and personal, to my beloved wife, Sadie Goodwin, the remaining half to my dear son, Francis Goodwin,” gave a fee to the wife and son. If there could be any doubt that the subsequent words, “ Should either wife or son die, their share to go to the survivor,” intend a death before the testator, the words which follow, “ Should both die, the property to go to the nearest of kin,” would remove it. The will cannot reasonably be construed to give life estates to the wife and son, with remainder for life to the survivor, and remainder in fee to the nearest of kin. Such a construction would be contrary to the plain meaning of the testator. Briggs v. Shaw, 9 Allen, 516. Crossman v. Field, 119 Mass. 170. Moffat v. Cook, 150 Mass. 529.

Exceptions overruled.

Case Details

Case Name: Goodwin v. McDonald
Court Name: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Date Published: Apr 3, 1891
Citation: 153 Mass. 481
Court Abbreviation: Mass.
AI-generated responses must be verified and are not legal advice.
Your Notebook is empty. To add cases, bookmark them from your search, or select Add Cases to extract citations from a PDF or a block of text.