Opinion ID: 1110079
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Conflicting Decisions

Text: Since the enactment of the new law on forced heirship, there has evolved in the circuit courts of this state a difference of opinion on the proper interpretation to be given La. R.S. 9:2501 (1996). For example, in Succession of Price, 96-1330 (La. App. 3 Cir. 3/5/97), 692 So.2d 1152, the third circuit applied the provisions of La. R.S. 9:2501(B) and concluded that the new law abolishing forced heirship applied to the testator's succession. The testator's will, which was written on August 4, 1990, provided that if my grandchildren ... have attained the age of 23 at the time of my death, then I will and bequeath all the property of which I die possessed to my son ... and daughter ..., to share and share alike. She further provided that should provisions of La. C.C. article 1495, as amended, be declared unconstitutional or invalid, then in that event, I direct that the allowed disposable portion be given to [my son and daughter], share and share alike. The trial court construed the testator's donative intent after applying the factors in La. R.S. 9:2501(B)(1)(a). It found that the testament manifested an intent to disinherit the grandchildren. As such, it found that the testator's grandchildren were not forced heirs and were not entitled to inherit anything from their grandmother. Similarly, in Succession of Joyce Dove Hearn Champion, 98-1615 (La.App. 3 Cir. 4/21/99), 733 So.2d 689, the third circuit applied La. R.S. 9:2501(B)(1)(b) and held the law in effect at the time of the testator's death applied to exclude her adult children as forced heirs. In applying subsection (B)(1)(b), the court did not discuss whether its application was mandatory, but simply stated, because the decedent died testate and her Last Will and Testament was signed before January 1, 1996, her intent must be ascertained by applying the provisions of the law quoted above. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal applied La. R.S. 9:2501 (1996) in Succession of Martinez, 98-962 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2/10/99), 729 So.2d 22, and held that the son of the testator, who bequeathed everything to her husband, was not a forced heir. The testament provided that only in the case of a common calamity would a portion of her estate devolve to her four children and stepson. The court found that the testament showed the testator's intent to deprive her children of their legitime as long as their father was alive. Therefore, the court applied the law in effect at the time of the testator's death as mandated by La. R.S. 9:2501(B)(1)(b). In contradiction with the cases cited above, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that it was not necessary to use La. R.S. 9:2501(B) as an aid in the construction and interpretation of Mr. Boyter's testament. In essence, the appellate court stated that before an interpretation of a testament becomes necessary at all so as to allow a court to consider other extrinsic circumstances or to resort to a statutory presumptive rule for construction, the language of the testament must be susceptible of different meanings or be ambiguous. The words of the testament, like the language of a statute or a contract, should be applied as written with no further interpretation or search for intent if a single and clear intent is present. The majority found that Section 2501(B) was applicable only if the language of the will became susceptible of two reasonable constructions because of the change in the law of forced heirship following confection of the will. Specifically, the court found that the language of Mr. Boyter's will was clear and unambiguous and expressed only one intent. It concluded that Mr. Boyter's intent was clearly expressed and that Section 2501(B)'s transitional interpretive provisions could not be applied under the pretext of pursuing his intent. Thus, the second circuit's refusal in this case to apply La. R.S. 9:2501 created a split in the circuits regarding whether La. R.S. 9:2501 is a mandatory provision or whether it is to be used only in the absence of a clear testamentary intent.