Title: Bergsvik v. Bergsvik

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Affirmed December 7, 1955.
*672 B.G. Skulason, of Portland, and John Wilkinson, of Vancouver, Washington, argued the cause and filed a brief for appellant.
Leonard D. Alley, of Portland, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief was John D. Williams, of Portland.
*673 Before WARNER, Chief Justice, and TOOZE, LATOURETTE and PERRY, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
TOOZE, J.
This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of Multnomah county which was entered in a suit brought by Lars R. Bergsvik, Jr., as plaintiff, against Loyalty Bergsvik, as devisee, and the Portland Trust Bank, administrator with will annexed of the estate of Sarah W. Bergsvik, deceased, as defendants. The complaint asked that the order admitting the last will and testament of Mrs. Bergsvik to probate be set aside, and that the will, so far as it conflicts with a "Community Property Agreement" entered into between the testatrix and her husband, be held for naught, and that, according to the terms of this agreement, the defendant, Loyalty Bergsvik, be required to execute a conveyance to the plaintiff of an undivided one-half interest in certain realty, or upon his failure to do so, that the decree as prayed for shall operate as such in lieu thereof. From a decree denying the relief sought and dismissing the suit, plaintiff appeals.
On and prior to May 27, 1942, Lars Bergsvik, Sr., and Sarah W. Bergsvik were husband and wife and domiciled in Portland, Oregon. On that date they executed and acknowledged what is entitled a "Community Property Agreement", the complete text of which is as follows:
*676 Lars Bergsvik, Sr., died intestate on August 6, 1942, and at that time he and his wife presumably owned all the property involved in this suit, the water works, a home, and a vacant lot, all located in the state of Washington, and the family home located in Portland, Oregon. The evidence does not disclose with certainty how the titles to these Washington properties were vested. The home in Portland belonged to Sarah Bergsvik, and title thereto was in her name only. There is in evidence an assumed business name certificate filed in the superior court for Pacific county, Washington, on November 12, 1941, stating that Sarah W. Bergsvik and Lars Bergsvik were the proprietors of the Chinook water works. Also there is testimony that the husband and wife purchased the water works property with funds raised by giving a mortgage on the Portland home and by borrowing additional funds secured by a promissory note signed by both of them. It is true that there is in the record a statement by the plaintiff himself that Lars Bergsvik, Sr., was the sole owner of this property; however, there is no further evidence tending to support this conclusion upon his part. As to the state of the title to the other two properties, the house and vacant lot in Chinook, at the time the agreement was entered, the record is silent.
However, irrespective of the true condition of the titles, upon the death of Mr. Bergsvik, Sarah Bergsvik took possession of all this property pursuant to the agreement above mentioned and, with some aid from her sons, operated the water works until her death on March 7, 1952.
At her death she left a will appointing Loyalty Bergsvik, the defendant, executor, and this will was presented for and admitted to probate in the circuit *677 court for Multnomah county, Oregon, probate department. Ancillary proceedings were also instituted in Pacific county, Washington.
The material portions of the will are as follows:
The residue of her property she gave to the two sons equally.
It is plaintiff's contention that in making her will as she did, his mother violated the community property agreement which he says obligated her to devise the property owned by her at her death to him and his brother in equal proportions. Therefore, the primary question presented by this appeal is the effect to be given to the words in this agreement which we have italicized, but in deciding this question certain other collateral problems are raised which must first be answered.
*679 1. At the outset it might be well to more fully explore the theory upon which plaintiff proceeds in this suit. As pointed out above, the complaint in effect asks that this community property agreement be enforced, and that the devisee be required to do what his mother allegedly failed to do; that is, make an equal distribution of the properties she devised by her will. Such a demand necessarily presupposes the validity of the so-called community property agreement and concedes its efficacy to vest title to all the property in her as the survivor at the death of her husband. This conclusion is required because, if the agreement was invalid, she would not have title to the property and could not carry out the very obligations which the plaintiff contends were placed upon her by the agreement. Having taken this position initially and proceeded throughout the trial with it unchanged, it is not permissible for him now to change his theory in this court and assert, as he does in his reply brief and oral argument, that the agreement is, under Washington law, invalid. Parker v. Norton, 143 Or 165, 21 P2d 790; Stark v. McKenna et al., 124 Or 332, 263 P 391; Obermeier v. Mortgage Co. Holland-America, 123 Or 469, 259 P 1064, 260 P 1099, 262 P 261.
Presumably the agreement was executed pursuant to the authority of § 6894 of Remington's Revised Statutes of the state of Washington, which reads as follows:
It has now been suggested by plaintiff that, because the parties were domiciled in Oregon, no community in fact existed, and, therefore, this agreement would not be given effect by the courts of Washington. On oral argument we were also informed that the Supreme Court of Washington has never decided the question of whether the benefits of this statute are available to persons domiciled outside the state but who own property within its borders. However, in our view it is not necessary to speculate upon what the Washington court would decide in the matter were this case before it, although we do feel that the Washington cases dealing with agreements of this type, particularly Bartlett v. Bartlett, 183 Wash 278, 48 P2d 560, would resolve the matter in defendants' favor should that court also feel constrained to hold that nonresidents owning property in Washington might take advantage of the statute's benefits.
The case is presented to us by the pleadings on the theory that the agreement is valid, for recovery is predicated upon it. The validity and effectiveness of this agreement as a conveyance of title is the sole basis of plaintiff's claim, and he is estopped to deny *681 that validity and effectiveness at this stage of the proceedings. We must, therefore, assume that title to all the property vested in Mrs. Bergsvik upon the death of her husband, and that she had the ability to perform her obligations under the agreement, if in fact it placed any upon her.
Having so decided, there is but one further question remaining; namely, whether this agreement placed such a burden upon her. If she had this duty, as the plaintiff contends, it must be solely by virtue of the words italicized in the text of the agreement set out above.
2-5. It is now too well established for argument that precatory words such as those chosen by the draftsman of this instrument may, in fact, impose mandatory duties. The words themselves do not connote demand, but rather indicate request only. However, it is recognized that their use may have hidden a very real intention to command compliance, and in fact the early law in England did give this somewhat unnatural construction to them in all cases where a desire only was manifested. Harding v. Glyn, 1 Atk 469; Malim v. Keighley, 2 Ves Jr 333. Also see 1 Scott, Trusts 153, § 25.1 and cases there cited. The more enlightened cases of later times, however, rebelled against this officiousness of the chancery courts in imposing a trust every time mere words of desire only were used and enunciated what has come to be the rule in this jurisdiction, as well as in most other courts of the nation. The rule as it now stands provides that words denoting request, wish, desire, or the like will be given mandatory effect only when it appears from all the facts and circumstances of the particular case that the party using them intended that they should impose an obligation upon the recipient of the property. Hall et al. v. Dolph et al. and Watkins et al., 184 Or *682 319, 198 P2d 272; Cooke v. King, 154 Or 621, 61 P2d 429, 62 P2d 20; Wemme v. First Church of Christ, etc., 110 Or 179, 219 P 618, 223 P 250; Beakey v. Knutson, 90 Or 574, 174 P 1149, 177 P 955; Knight v. Knight, 3 Beav 148. The precedents thus become only guides showing what the courts have decided from the particular facts before them in other cases, and each case stands upon the facts it represents which are relevant to the ultimate question of intention. The instrument involved is read as a whole and is placed in its proper relation to all the other facts attending its execution.
6. Applying this rule to the document before us, we are of the opinion that it was not the intention of the parties signing it to impose immutable obligations upon the survivor.
7-9. The agreement provides that the property is to vest in the survivor in "fee simple", and these words alone are a strong indication of the intention of the person using them. This, of course, is the highest estate known in law and imports absolute ownership in the grantee. It will admit of no qualifications, for to qualify it in length of duration, alienability, or in any other particular, relegates it to the status of some lesser estate. Chance v. Weston, 96 Or 390, 190 P 155. The words "fee simple" carry a meaning well known to the law. They are not ambiguous or capable of varied interpretation, and their use signifies an intention upon the part of the grantor to convey a complete title, free of any restrictions or obligations.
An estate in fee simple was neither necessary nor appropriate to carry out the intention which plaintiff would attribute to his parents, and we must conclude that such construction was not in fact intended by them. There were available to the parties several *683 methods for accomplishing this alleged purpose if they wished. Any of them would have indicated positively their desires, but the attorney who drafted the instrument used these words: "fee simple", words which convey one idea, and the parties accepted them wholeheartedly. To interpret them as expressing a different intention would require us to do violence to established rules of construction.
10. Plaintiff urges that because Mr. Bergsvik destroyed his will immediately upon the execution of this agreement, we should believe that he intended this agreement to operate as he asks. There is no showing what the provisions of that will were. In such a case the only thing which may be safely concluded from this fact is that he intended that this agreement should operate in lieu of the will. We do not know what testamentary plan was replaced by the agreement, and without that knowledge the fact of destruction of the will sheds no light whatever upon our inquiry here.
11. If further indication of the real purpose of this agreement is needed, it may be found in the concluding phrase thereto where it is recited that: "* * * [this agreement] is entered solely for the purpose of transferring all our property to the survivor in the event of the death of either, without delay or expense." (Italics ours.) It is true that this statement follows another declaring that the agreement shall not derogate the rights of any creditors (in the words of the Washington statute, supra) and the two are joined in such a way that it might be claimed that the one is further elaboration of the other and means nothing more. To say this, however, would require reliance upon an inference drawn merely from the location of the phrases in relation to each other to negate the plain meaning of such a decisive term as "solely". Webster's *684 International Dictionary 2d ed, defines "solely" as follows:
Hence, it may reasonably be concluded that the parties intended this agreement to have one purpose and no more; i.e., that of immediately transferring title to all their property in fee simple to the survivor in the event of the death of one of them.
The record also discloses a conversation had between Mr. Bergsvik and his attorney at the time the agreement was executed. The import of that evidence, as related by the attorney, is that Mr. Bergsvik stated that his wife had taken care of him continually without any help, and that he (Mr. Bergsvik) wanted her to have everything he had. He then inquired as to the best and least expensive way to do it, and the result was the preparation of this agreement by and upon the advice of the attorney.
12, 13. Plaintiff objected to this testimony on the ground that this was a privileged communication between an attorney and his client. This objection was not well taken for two reasons. In the first place this is a privilege given for the benefit of the client (which may be waived by him), and is not available to others. Wigmore states the rule in these terms:
See also Baum et ux. v. Denn et al., 187 Or 401, 406, 211 P2d 478; 58 Am Jur 291, Witnesses, § 520.
14. Secondly, although the conversations might have been privileged during the lives of the parties, after the death of both of them the privilege is removed. The rule is stated in Corpus Juris in this way:
Also see Smith v. Smith, 173 Cal 725, 161 P 495; Warner v. Kerr, 216 Mich 139, 184 NW 425; Boyd v. Kilmer, 285 Pa 533, 132 A 709; Maxwell v. Harper, 51 Wash 351, 98 P 756. Relevant, too, is this statement from Wigmore on an analogous matter:
The reason for such a rule is sound, because it is at the time of death that the document is to become effective, and it is presumed that the client wanted every material fact revealed that might aid in giving it effect. See also Booher v. Brown, 173 Or 464, 473, 146 P2d 71.
After careful consideration of all the arguments presented on this appeal, and in the light of the record, we are convinced that the able and experienced trial judge was correct in his conclusions.
The decree is affirmed.