74 Va. 317 | Va. | 1880
Lead Opinion
It is claimed by the appellee that a separate estate was limited to her by her father’s will, when she was a feme sole, and that after her marriage she held it free from her husband’s control. Whether it was competent for the father to make such a settlement, we will first consider; and it seems to be well settled afiirmatively. Bishop says
“In legal principle and on the prevailing authorities, both English and American, it is competent to limit an estate to the separate use of a woman yet unmarried, where no particular marriage is contemplated; and on her afterwards becoming covert, she will hold it as her separate estate, free from the control of her husband. But in most of the cases in which this has been allowed—not, it would appear, in all—there has been a trustee, who was a third person, in whom the legal title was made to vest.” He cites Robert and wife v. West, 15 Ga. R. 122, 138; Fears v. Brooks, 12 Ga. R. 195; Waters v. Tazewell, 9 Md. R. 291; Lamb v. Wragg, 8 Port. R. 73.
In Fears v. Brooks, supra, at page 197, it is said in a note that Uesbit J. stated the English doctrine and authorities thus: “A separate estate may be made in
It being competent to limit a separate estate to a feme sole, which, on her subsequent marriage, she will hold free from the control of her husband, we will next inquire, was the estate given to Lucy Isabella Maupin by the will of her father, Addison Maupin, limited to her separate use ?
No particular form of words is necessary to create a separate estate. Any words showing an intention to do so will suffice. 1 Bishop on the Laws of Married Women. The same doctrine is enunciated in West v. West’s ex’or, 3 Rand. 373, cited in petition of appellant. J udge Cabell said: “No particular phraseology is necessary to the creation of a separate estate in sáfeme covert, even where it is created by deed. Much less is it necessary -when the estate is created by will. In this respect, as in all others growing out of wills, the intention of the testator is to govern.”
In this case the gift or settlement was made by a will, which is very inartificially drawn, and shows upon its face that the draughtsman was not a lawyer, or one skilled in drafting such instruments, and therefore it cannot be expected that the intention of the testator will be expressed with philological accuracy or legal
The testator evidently felt that he was confiding important interests of his daughters to a third person, and that he would be invested with great powers- and a large discretion affecting their interests. He could not select and designate the person himself, because before the time came for him to act, which could not be until after the death of his wdfe, who might survive him a great many years, the person he selected might not be living. He also doubtless desired that the trustee selected should be a friend of his daughter and acceptable to her, and therefore preferred that he should be chosen by her at the time he was needed;
By the fifth clause he directs the sale of all of his estate by his executor, which was partly real and in part personal, with a view to a division, which was to be made within twelve or eighteen months after the death of his wife.
Again, in the sixth clause, he reiterates the injunction upon his executor as to the disposition of the portions coming to his daughters, as follows: “I wish the portions coming to my daughters, Mary E. Hicks and Lucy Isabella Maupin, placed in the hands of their respective trustees, and used for them as hereinbefore directed. ” He had before directed that the trustee into whose hands it should be placed should be required to give ample security for the faithful performance of the trust committed to him. That is not repeated here, but the requirement 'is, by the words “as hereinbefore 'directed.” But in this sixth clause he is more explicit as to the powers and duties of the trustee; he is to hold the trust property in his possession, which implies that the legal title, which goes with the possession of personal property, is to be in him, but he is “to use it for them.” The words are few, but they are replete with meaning. How to use it? It is money, to be placed in his hands by the executor. How can he use it for them but to lend it out, or otherwise invest it? If he invested it in stocks, or in real estate, or other property for them, it would be using it for them, and it would be within the scope of his power and authority, provided the investment was made in the exercise of a sound discretion with a view to their benefit and the advancement of their interest; for this is required by the terms, which require him to use it for them. It is
The seventh clause of the will tends, I think, to confirm this construction of the previous clauses. It gives to his surviving children, if one of them should die without an heir of his or her body, “whatever may-then be left” of what he or she received from his estate, to be equally divided among them, “ with such restrictions in regard to my daughters that may be entitled to a portion, as hereinbefore provided.” This is the third time that the testator in his will enjoins these restrictions upon the gift to his daughters, shouting how important he regarded them. And that he
But if it implies that the daughter might use a part <of the principal, with the assent of the trustee in his discretion, it implies that it was not intended that she should use the whole of it, and what might remain is not left to her disposal, but the will disposes of it, and it is a limitation upon her right of property, and to that extent it is a contingent right. It is not in conflict with the construction given to the previous clauses, but supports it, and should be read in connection wfith them.
It is a familiar rule in the construction of wills, that '“ all the parts of a will are to be construed in relation to each other, and so as, if possible, to form one consistent whole; but when several parts are absolutely irreconcilable, the latter must prevail.” (Mr. Jarman’s seventh rule of construction, approved by Redfield on "Wills, 1 vol. 426, 427.) And this court held, in a recent case (Bank of Greensboro’ v. Chalmers, 80 Gratt. 202; that “in the construction of every instrument, the paramount rule is, so to construe it as, if possible, to give effect to every part of it; and in order to discover the intention of the parties, we look not only to the terms of the instrument, but to the subject matter
There are various and a contrariety of decisions on this subject. In Virginia the current of decisions have been to the effect, that a married woman, as to her separate estate, may act as a feme sole, and has the power of disposing of the same; unless she has been restricted by the instrument of settlement. In Burnett and wife v. Hawpe’s ex’or, 25 Gratt. 481, Judge Staples, whilst recognizing this as the established rule in Virginia, says: “ If the question was res integra, it would be a matter of grave consideration, whether it would not better accord with justice, humanity, and the intention of the parties, to hold with Chancellor Kent, that the right of a married woman to dispose of, or encumber her separate estate, is not absolute, but only sub modo to the extent of the power given her by the instrument creating the estate. The doctrine of the courts as now expounded, while protecting the wife against the debts of the husband, leaves her helpless and exposed, not only to her generous impulses in his favor, but to his secret influences, as difficult to be resisted as they are to be detected.” Whilst it seems to me the foregoing should commend itself to every generous mind, I am obliged to agree with him, that the opposite rule seems to be too firmly established in Virginia, now, to be called in question, and that the wife may exercise the jus disponendi as to her separate estate, as a feme sole, unless restricted by the instrument which invests her with the estate.
Those restrictions need not be in express terms. But if the exercise of the power to incumber or alien the separate estate, be inconsistent with the scheme of
It is true that the mere appointment of a trustee will not be sufficient to show such intention. But Addison Maupin, by his will, required the property he gave his daughters, which would be in money, to be placed in the hands of a responsible trustee, who would be a friend of MS’ daughter, whom he invested, in effect, with such powers and discretion as to the management and disposal of it for her, as I have shown, would be incompatible with either his daughter, or her husband, having the possession or disposal of it. And that was the scheme of his settlement on her; and it was his intention, pervading the whole instrument, so far as it effects his daughters. And this conclusion excludes the right of the daughter to encumber or alien her property. "Whether she could do it with the consent of the trustee is another question, upon which we deem it unnecessary to express an opinion. Certainly she could not, without the concurrence of her trustee. She would be entitled to receive the income regularly from her trustee. And he might permit her, if necessary for her support, to draw upon the principal.
Upon the foregoing views, it is obvious that the deed in which Mrs. Jones united with her husband—conveying all her interest in her father’s estate to the
There is another view of this case which may be briefly presented. When this deed was made, no part ProPei’fy was in the possession of the husband, or wife. Upon the division, Mrs. Jones was entitled to the one-fifth part of it, which, by the terms of the will, was not to be made until the death of her mother, who was still living, and in possession of the estate, as she had been since the death of her husband. Any right which Mrs. Jones had to any part of the estate, when the division took place, was contingent. If she should die before that event, without an heir of her body, she took nothing; but the portion bequeathed to her would go, by the express terms of the will, to her surviving sister and brothers. She may have had issue at the date of the deed, hut that does not appear. At the date of her petition, it does appear that she had two children. But she may survive her children, and afterwards die without an heir of her body, and before the event occurs, upon the happening of which the division of the estate was to be made, under the will. In that ease no interest could ever vest in her, in possession. If she is living when the division, by the requirement of the will, is made, she could not take possession of her share of the estate. The executor could not pay it to her, but could only pay it to her trustee, to be used or administered for her by him. And a payment to her by the executor, and her receipt, would be no discharge to him. Consequently, a payment by the executor to the trustee of her husband’s creditors, and his receipt therefor, a fortiori, could be no discharge to him.
"We are of opinion, therefore, to affirm the decree of the circuit court rejecting and dismissing the petition of L. D. Haymond, trustee, with costs.
Staples, J., concurred in the results of Judge Anderson’s opinion.
Dissenting Opinion
I am constrained to dissent from the opinion of the majority of the court in this case. "With great respect for the opinions of my brethren, I think the conclusion arrived at, is directly opposed by the
I will proceed therefore to express my own views of ease regretting, that after a careful consideration, I am forced, with my convictions of what is the established law, to enter my unqualified dissent, upon the ma™ raised by the record.
’ Before entering upon a discussion of that question I desire to express my concurrence in so much of the opinion of the majority of the court, as declares that the estate which is the subject of dispute, is personal estate. An equitable conversion of the land into money was certainly effected by the will. The direction to sell is imperative. The familiar maxim of courts of equity, (which under certain circumstances changes the very nature of the thing devised, sometimes. making land money and sometimes making money land), that “ whatever ought to be done is considered in equity, as done,” applies with full force to this case. When a will directs real estate to be sold, equity regards it as sold, and from the moment of the testator’s death the real estate is converted into personalty, and as absolutely bears the character, quality and incidents of personal estate, as if the thing devised ' was money. Where the will directs the estate to be sold and the proceeds divided among certain persons entitled thereto, equity regards the conversion as complete, and courts of equity will see t'o it that the conversion is carried into practical effect.
In the case before us, the direction of the will to sell the estate in controversy, is imperative, and upon the principles of equitable conversion it must be regarded as personal and not real estate. (See 1 Lead. Oas. in Equity; 1 Am. Ed. 563, and cases there cited).
I come now to consider as briefly, as the importance of the ease will admit, the main question in the case,
The solution of these questions depend upon the true construction to be given to those clauses of the will (taken together) which dispose of and refer to the property in question.
In the fourth clause of the will is the following provision: “After the death of my wife Lucy T. Maupin I wish my estate divided among my children as soon as it can be conveniently done as follows: I give to each one of my children one-fifth part of my estate, subject to a deduction of whatever may be found charged against him or her on account book marked “Ledger” on the back. * * * I wish whatever may be coming to my daughter, Mary E. Hicks, and Lucy Isabella Maupin, put into the hands of a trustee of their own choosing, requiring them to give ample security for the faithful performance of the trust committed to them.” In the sixth clause is the following provision: “ The deduction that I have directed to be made from what may be coming to each of my children upon a division of my estate among them, I wish equally divided among them as hereinbefore provided; that is, I wish the portions coming to my daughters, Mary E. Hicks and Lucy Isabella Maupin placed in
The seventh clause is as follows: “Should any of my children die without an heir of their body, it is my J j 7 j desire that whatever may then be left, of what they may have received from my estate revert to the same, edually divided among my surviving children with such restrictions in regard to my daughters that may be entitled to a portion as hereinbefore provided.”
These are all the provisions of the will which have any reference to the questions to he determined, and upon the construction of these provisions these questions must be solved.
I think it is clear that under the fourth clause of the will, Mrs. Jones, who was Isabella Maupin, took an absolute estate. The provision is, “After the death of my wife Lucy T. Maupin, I wish my estate divided equally among my children as soon as it can be conveniently done as follows: I give to each one of my children one-fifth part of my estate, subject to a deduction of whatever may he found charged to him or her on account hook marked “Ledger” on the hack. * * * I wish whatever may be coming to my daughters Mary E. Hicks and Lucy Isabella Maupin put into the hands of a trustee of their own choosing, requiring them to give ample security for the faithful performance of the trust committed to them.”
These words certainly create an absolute estate, and are apt and legal words for that purpose—“ I give fio each one of my children one-fifth part of my estate.” The direction that “whatever may be coming” to his daughters “he put in the hands of a trustee,” does not' change the character of the estate devised. It is no less an absolute fee simple estate in the cestui que trust, because the legal title is in the trustee.
I am also clearly of opinion that the will did not vest in them a separate estate. There are no words in the will creating a separate estate. The word husband is not mentioned in the will at all; although one of his daughters was already married, as she is mentioned in the will as Mary E. Hicks. Certainly there are no express words creating a separate estate in the daughters. The will and every clause thereof may be searched in vain to find such words. There is not a word or line anywhere in the instrument, excluding the marital rights of present or future husband. And it is a matter of inference only and a very slight ground of inference at that, that the testator intended to invest his daughters with a separate estate, and exclude the marital rights of their husbands, because he directed that whatever part of his estate “ might be coming to my daughters be put in the hands of a trustee ” and ■“used for them” by said trustees. It is to my mind, impossible to say, that these words by necessary implication create a separate estate and oust the marital rights of the husband.
The jus disponendi, the most useful and valuable incident of property, is not restrained by airy line or word ' in this will. Certainly if the property devised to Mrs. Jones be separate estate she may dispose of it, unless her power of alienation be restrained by the instrument creating such estate. IJpon this question this court has.spoken with no uncertain voice.
In Burnett & wife v. Hawpe’s adm’r, 25 Gratt. 486, it was well said by Judge Staples, “It is the established doctrine of this court that a married woman, as to property settled to her own use, is to be regarded as a feme sole, and has the right to dispose of all her separate personal estate, and the rents and profits of her separate real estate, in the same manner as if she were a feme sole, unless her power of alienation be restrained by the instrument creating the estate. As incident to thisjiis disponendi, &feme covert may charge the separate estate with the payment of her debts. She may charge it as principal or surety for her own benefit, or that of another. She may appropriate it to the payment of her husband’s debts. She may even give it to him if she pleases, no improper influence being exerted over her. And although the separate estate is conveyed to a trustee his assent is not necessary to a valid alienation or charge by the wife unless it is required expressly, or by strong implication, in the instrument under which the property is derived.” In support of these well-settled doctrines a number of cases are cited, and the decisions of this court from 4th Randolph down to 21st Grattan, and to which I beg leave to add a very recent case in which the opinion was delivered by
It is clear that if the estate devised, can under terms of this will, be held to he seperate estate in Mrs. Jones, she has disposed of it, as she had a right to do, as a security for the debts of her husband. Certainly if it be held, she took a seperate estate she had by all the authorities a right to dispose of it. How it is plain, the estate devised to her, is seperate estate, or it is not—if not, it is an absolute estate. It must be one or the other. If an absolute estate where is the clause in the will which restricts the power of alienation, or which excludes the marital rights of the husband? The seventh clause only can be relied on to effect this result, because it uses the words “ restrictions in regard to my daughters * * as hereinbefore provided.” But that clause furnishes the strongest proof of an absolute estate, for it provides—“Should any of my children die without an heir of their body, it is my desire that whatever may he left revert to my estate, and he equally divided among my surviving children. This plainly implies, as before said, that the first taker has the power to dispose of the whole estate ; and on the authority of May v. Joynes, (supra), makes the estate devised an absolute estate in Mrs. Jones, and all the children of the testator. But the words relied upon to operate as a restraint upon the power of alienation are the words in the same clause, “ with such restrictions in regard to my daughters (that may he entitled to a portion), as hereinbefore provided.”
How it is perfectly plain that all the testator meant to say, and did say in the seventh clause, that whatever might he coming to his daughters (from what was left) from any of his children dying without heirs of their body, should he held by his daughters under the same restrictions (and none other) imposed upon the
See also 17 Gratt. 503, Penn v. Whitehead; 21 Gratt. 521, Muller v. Bayly; Justis v. English, 30 Gratt. 565; Bank of Greensboro’ v. Chambers, 30 Gratt. 202; Darnall v. Smith, 26 Gratt. 878.
I can find no case and I believe none can be found, where (as in this case) the direction of the testator,
It has been held by this court repeatedly, and I thought it was the settled law, that the assent of the trustee is not necessary in such a case to the valid alienation of the property, unless required expressly, or by strong implication from the language of the instrument.
Certainly it will be conceded that there are no express toords in the will before us, which operate as a restriction upon the power of alienation, and I am-equally clear that there are no words which raise an implication to that effect. The only words relied upon, are the words “ to be put into the hands of a trustee ” “to be used for them.” But, as already seen, this court has declared these words do not raise such implication.
I think it is plain that under the fourth clause of the testator’s will Mrs. Jones took an absolute fee simple-estate. The subsequent provision as to trustees, does not change the character of that estate, nor does it limit or restrict, or cut down, or rescind it.
It was said in Barksdale v. White, 28 Gratt. 224, “It is a settled rule in the construction of instruments that if an estate be conveyed, an interest given, a benefit bestowed in one part, by clear, unambigous, explicit words upon which no doubt could be raised, to destroy or annul that estate, interest, or benefit, it is not sufficient to create a doubt from other terms in
Upon this subject, the language of the great Lord Brougham, when lord chancellor of England, uttered in the house of lords, in an important case before that august tribunal, is so appropriate here that I cannot forbear to repeat it. He said, “My lords, I hold it h> be a rule that admits of no exception, in the construction of .written instruments, that where one interest is given, where one estate is conveyed, where one benefit is bestowed, in one part of an instrument, by terms clear, unambiguous, liable to no doubt, clouded by no obscurity, by terms, upon which, if they stood alone, no man breathing, be he lawyer or. be he layman, could entertain a doubt"; in order to reverse that, opinion, to which the terms would of themselves, and standing alone have led, it is not sufficient you should show a possibility, it is not sufficient you should deal in probabilities; but you must show something in another part of that instrument, which is as decisive the one way, as the other terms were decisive the other way: and the interest first given cannot be taken away either by taciturn or debitum or by possibile or even by probabile, but it must he taken away, and can only be taken away, by expressum et cerium.” 2 Clarke & Fin. R. 22, 36.
See also Judge Joynes’ opinion in Rayfield v. Gaines, 17 Gratt. p. 1.
I feel constrained to hold, upon every rule of construction, and upon the established law of this State, as I understand it, declared by an unbroken current of' decisions, that in the will of Addison Maupin, there is no restraint upon the power of alienation of the prop
I am of opinion therefore, that the deed to Haymond, trustee, in which husband and wife both united, was a valid deed, and conveyed the interest of Mrs. Jones, in her father’s estate, and is a valid security for the debts of the husband as set forth in said deed.
I am of opinion therefore to reverse the decree of the circuit court.
Decree affirmed.