Title: Welborn v. Henry
Citation: 252 So. 2d 779
Docket Number: 46295
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: September 27, 1971

252 So. 2d 779 (1971) Mrs. Mary Liza Elizabeth WELBORN, Administratrix of Estate of Napoleon P. Scott, Deceased v. Mrs. Shirley Johnson HENRY. No. 46295. Supreme Court of Mississippi. September 27, 1971. Marvin Oates, Tom Roberts, Bay Springs, for appellant. Robert H. McFarland, Bay Springs, for appellee. JONES, Justice: In December 1966, N.P. Scott, a widower, living alone in Smith County, Mississippi, executed a deed, under the terms of which certain land therein described, was deeded to him and Shirley Johnson Henry. Shirley Johnson Henry was a niece of Scott's wife but was no blood relationship of his. After the death of Scott, the administratrix of his estate filed this suit in the Chancery Court of Smith County for the cancellation of said deed, claiming that it was void or that at most it could only convey the property as tenants in common. The lower court, after hearing the case, upheld the deed. Hence, this appeal. A further statement of the facts is unnecessary because the only issue here in stated as the sole assignment of error, to-wit: Appellant contends that the attempt to convey the property was void because it undertook to convey to the two grantees as an estate in the entirety. It is claimed that under the common law an estate in the entirety may be held only by husband and wife. This interpretation of the common law is apparently good. 41 C.J.S. Husband and Wife § 31c (1944); 26 Am.Jur. Husband and Wife §§ 70 &amp; 87 (1940); Forehand v. Peacock, 77 So. 2d 625 (Fla. 1955). For many years there has been a statute in our State dealing with this problem, and it now appears as Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated section 834 (1956). This statute was amended by Chapter 237, Laws of 1958, and the amended statute was in effect *780 when the deed in question was executed. Section 834, as amended, reads as follows: The deed in question is here copied in full with the exception of acknowledgement and recording data: This statute, especially as amended, eliminates the need to consider the common law as stated; and under it one may convey to himself and some person not his wife and provide for survivorship (unless prevented by specific statute, such as the homestead acts). In construing a deed, it is necessary that it be considered as a whole and that the intent of the parties be gathered from its language. The intent is to be gathered from a fair consideration of the entire instrument along with the words employed therein. Rogers v. Morgan, 250 Miss. 9, 164 So. 2d 480 (1964). This holding of the Rogers case is sustained by a previous decision, Wolfe v. Wolfe, 207 Miss. 480, 42 So. 2d 438 (1949) where this Court, previous to the amendment of the statute aforesaid, was construing two deeds involving survivorship. The deeds had a granting clause conveying and warranting unto two grantees "and the survivor of them." In that case, this Court considered the statute as it existed at that time and said: Under these other decisions of our Court and under the law generally, this deed was sufficient to vest the entire title to the property in the niece after the death of Scott. Affirmed. RODGERS, P.J., and BRADY, SMITH and SUGG, JJ., concur.