Court Opinion

ID: 9694228
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:30:45.852517+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:57.595359
License: Public Domain

FaiRCHild, J.
(dissenting). In my-judgment, the opinion filed in this case does not give due consideration or significance to language used in the will. The words “home farm,” as used, were intended to describe a piece of land on which the testator first established his home. Those words in association with the creation of the residuary clause seem to clearly disclose the intention of the testator. The evidence warranted the conclusion reached by the court below. The trial judge said in his memorandum: “In the year of 1901 L. E. Montgomery, then having arrived at majority and having a family of his own, purchased eighty acres adjoining the old farm of the father. This was known as the ‘Murray Farm.’ After purchasing this farm he moved upon it with his family and there they lived for many years.” The evidence discloses that the eighty acres that he bought from Murray was the home where his children were born and naturally would be the piece of property in mind when the term “home place” or “home farm” or “old place” was used. The court’s construction which eliminates the word “home” from “home farm” eliminates, also, two of the testator’s daughters from any share in their father’s estate. A construction which disinherits children who, as far as the record shows, were on good terms with the parent, ought to have a more substantial foundation than a presumption that the testator was careless in his choice or his approval of the words used in framing his bequests. A review of the testimony convinces me that the use in the will of the words “home farm” was meant to *228describe the eighty acres of land on which the testator first lived. Giving the will that construction saves a complete meaning for the residuary clause. None of the many rules that have been devised to assist in the discovery of a testator’s intent should be permitted to interfere with the manifest intention disclosed by the will, and no rule of construction is more effective to discover the testator’s intention than that which requires that words shall be given their plain and ordinary meaning. Benner v. Mauer, 133 Wis. 325, 113 N. W. 663.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Brown joins in this dissent.