Court Opinion

ID: 9527286
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:29:11.834703+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:41.045021
License: Public Domain

*318White, J.,
dissenting.
It is a fundamental tenet of contract law that a contract must be read as a whole. In construing a written contract for the purpose of ascertaining the intention of the parties, the instrument must be considered as a whole, the words given their ordinary and popularly accepted meaning, and the intent of the parties must be derived from the four corners of the instrument. Long v. Magnolia Petroleum Co., 166 Neb. 410, 89 N.W.2d 245 (1958); Westbrook v. Masonic Manor, 185 Neb. 660, 178 N.W.2d 280 (1970). Also, the interpretation given to a contract by the parties themselves while engaged in the performance of it is one of the best indications of true intent and should be given great, if not controlling, influence. Lauritzen v. Davis, 214 Neb. 547, 335 N.W.2d 520 (1983).
From the terms of the agreement in this case, it is clear that the intent of the parties was to execute reciprocal wills contemporaneously with the execution of the agreement. The parties agreed that their property would be distributed by the terms of these reciprocal wills and the agreement. As the agreement provides, “both parties have mutually agreed and do now agree that the distribution of their respective property shall be made in accordance with the terms of this agreement and said reciprocal wills.” As I read the instrument, this clause must be interpreted as a central part of the agreement. Paragraph 12 merely supplies additional terms. The respective 1957 wills and the agreement clearly show that the parties intended that the house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Van Pelt as tenants in common would ultimately pass to Frances McKinnon in fee simple. Mrs. Van Pelt breached this agreement in 1976 and 1978 by revoking her 1957 will and devising her interest in the house first to her grandchildren and then to her great-grandchildren.
I would reverse.