Court Opinion

ID: 9520166
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:32:24.769072+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:37.581057
License: Public Domain

Edwards, J.
(dissenting). The treatment of this case thus far in the courts calls to mind a sign *227scrawled on the wall of an AFP AC  mess hall in a bnrned-ont building in Manila in 1945:
“The easy we make difficult The difficult we make impossible But it takes a little time.”
All concede that Robert Hall Merrill was an intelligent and educated man — albeit an engineer rather than a lawyer. Seven years before his death he typed his will and had it witnessed. He was at that time and until close to his death in sound health mentally and physically. He had no children. He did have 2 sisters, both of whom lived in Florida, and a stepson. He had a wife with whom and in whose house he had lived since their marriage in 1938 and with whom he lived happily until his death in 1955. His estate consisted of personalty worth approximately $200,000. A photostat of the body of the properly executed will, typed on a printed form, follows:
*228'WILL-
OF
__ROBERT HALL MERRILL _______
ti-^Rentemírmír, xtat i, — ------------------------- of___________SESá-SíEÍÉ®__________________in *0 County of-___________*!??-________ and State of Michigan,, being of sound mind and memory, but knowing die uncertainties of this life, do hereby make, execute and declare this to he My Last Will and Testament, in manner following:
FIRST, I will and direct that all my juet debts and funeral expende» be paid in full.
SECOND) I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved, wife Audie Sinclair Merrill if she survives me,all my property real and personal of which I die the owner or to which I am in any manner entitled at my death,and wherever the same my be situated.
THIRD, ’if my said wife Audie should predecease me,or if for any reason she declines or fails to act as executrix,it is my desire that two administrators namely my step-son Paul Sinclair Weston of Grand Rapids,and my nephew Kenneth W.Hewitt of Philadelphia are hereby appointed to dispose of my estate as follows
As long as she my live all my income and property rekl and personal shall belong to my wife Audie,then after her demise my entire estate is to be divided into three equal parts the same to be finally disposed of
1. One third to my step-son Paul Sinclair Weston of Grand Rapids.or to his heirs.
2. One third to ay sister Mrs.Flora Merrill Hubbard of Iantana,Florida or to her heirs.
3. One third to my sister Jfrs.Ida Merrill Hewitt of Lake Worth,Florida or to her heirs.
The writer agrees with one portion of the trial court’s opinion when he quotes the following: “ ‘The primary rule of construction is to ascertain the true intention of the testator. * * * Having so ascertained- his intention, it is- -the duty -of the- court to give that intention, effect if that be legally possible.’ ” In re Scheyer’s Estate, 336 Mich 645, 648, 649 (38 ALR2d 835). See, also, In re Hicks Estate, *229345 Mich 448 ; 57 Am Jur, Wills, §§ 1120, 1126 and 1129.
The intention of the testator from the will above appears perfectly plain. Paragraph 2 can only be read as a devise of the entire remainder of his estate to his wife if she survived him, for her to dispose of as she would.
Paragraph 3 appears just as plainly to be an alternative devise in the event of the wife’s prior death. It also adds another condition “or if for any reason she declines or fails to act as executrix.” This condition seems plainly to the writer to be testator’s test of his wife’s mental or physical competence. In the event she did not act as executrix but did survive he provides other administrators (one of whom is her own son) and gives her a life estate.
She did survive. She did qualify as' executrix. Paragraph, 3 of the will was never invoked by either condition. The wife is entitled to the estate absolutely.
The decree of the trial court should be reversed and this cause remanded for the entry of a decree in accordance, with this opinion. Costs to appellant.
Smith and Black, JJ., concurred with Edwards, J.