Case Title: Wilbur v. Campbell

Citation: 192 So. 2d 721

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1966-12-08T00:00:00Z

Document:
192 So. 2d 721 (1966)
Belle Campbell WILBUR
v.
Lionel CAMPBELL et al.
8 Div. 214.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 8, 1966.
Robert Sellers Smith, Huntsville, Goodwyn & Smith, Montgomery, for appellant.
Cloud, Berry & Ables, Huntsville, for appellees.
GOODWYN, Justice.
The appellant, Belle Campbell Wilbur, filed a bill for a declaratory judgment seeking a construction of her husband's will as vesting in her a fee simple title to the farm land devised to her by Item Two of the will. The respondents demurred to the bill, challenging its equity on the ground that the will, attached to and made a part of the bill, shows that complainant's title to the property "constitutes a fee simple estate subject to a condition subsequent." The demurrer was sustained, with the decree also providing as follows: "[T]he Court being of the opinion said bill cannot be amended to give it equity it is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the Court that said bill be and the same is dismissed and the Complainant is taxed with the costs herein, for which let execution issue." This appeal is from that decree.
As a predicate for sustaining the demurrer, the trial court expressed its opinion "that the will is unambiguous and that * * * the devise in Item Two * * * is unambiguous and that such a devise by a husband in total restraint of a second marriage by his wife is valid and will be enforced according to its terms and that complainant is vested with a fee simple title in the real estate devised to her subject to a condition subsequent, abridging or defeating such title, in the event of her remarriage."
No point is made as to the propriety of construing the will in ruling on the demurrer. The parties argue the case on the basis of the demurrer and appear desirous that this court determine whether the trial court correctly construed the will. The *722 applicable principle is thus stated in Town of Citronelle v. Gulf Oil Corp., 270 Ala. 378, 380, 119 So. 2d 180, 181:
The provisions of the will pertinent to a determination of the testator's intent are contained in Items Two through Five, viz.:
There is no controversy that a devise by a husband in total restraint of a second marriage by his wife is valid and will be enforced according to its terms. See: Vaughn v. Lovejoy, 34 Ala. 437, 440, 441; 35 Am.Jur., Marriage, §§ 262, 263, pp. 363-365; 96 C.J.S. Wills § 854, pp. 280-281; Anno.: "Conditions, Conditional Limitations, or Contracts in Restraint of Marriage," 122 A.L.R. 7, 33, 34.
We agree with the trial court that the will is unambiguous and is susceptible of only one interpretation. From a reading of the will, the intention of the testator is plain. He devises the real property of concern here directly and immediately to his widow, in terms which vest in her the fee simple title. However, the estate is subject to be divested upon a single event or contingencythe marriage of his widow. It seems altogether clear the testator intended that the remarriage of his widow would determine or defeat the title already vested in her under the first sentence of Item Two. It is, of course, the testator's intention which prevails.
The cardinal rule in interpreting a will is to ascertain from the words used in the will the real intent of the testator and then to construe the will according to that intent. See: McGehee v. Smith, 248 Ala. 174, 178, 26 So. 2d 861. The principle is thus stated in Baker v. Wright, 257 Ala. 697, 701, 60 So. 2d 825, 829:
The position taken by the wife is thus stated in her brief:
In view of the clearly indicated intention of the testator, as appears from the wording of the will itself, we see no basis for construing it in accordance with appellant's contention. Our view is that the construction placed on the will by the trial court is correct. Accordingly, the decree appealed from is due to be, and is, affirmed.
Affirmed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and LAWSON and COLEMAN, JJ., concur.