Court Opinion

ID: 9577919
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:39:26.29124+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:21:29.448695
License: Public Domain

MOISE, Justice (dissenting).. Although. I agree with the law announced by the court to the effect that, where possible, wills should be construed not to intend disposition of property not owned by the testator, I question the application of the rule made in this case. The property involved is the Northwest quarter of Section 25, Township 3 North, Range 32 East, N.M.P.M. It was found to be community property and, accordingly, the wife had a vested one-half interest therein. Beals v. Ares, 25 N.M. 459, 185 P. 780 (1919). The husband’s testamentary capacity is limited to his one-half. § 29-1-9, N.M.S.A. 1953; In re Chavez’s Estate, 34 N.M. 258, 280 P. 241, 69 A.L.R. 769 (1929). We must here determine if decedent was attempting to devise only his one-half interest in the property, or the entire property, when he provided in his will, as follows: “To my daughter, Mary J. Glen, the west half of the northwest quarter of Section twenty-five in Township three north of Range thirty-two east of the New Mexico Meridian, New Mexico, including the improvements thereon. “To my daughter, Dovy Reed, heirs being three children now living, the east half of the northwest quarter of Section twenty-five in Township three north of Range thirty-two east of the New Mexico Meridian, New Mexico, including the improvements thereon.” By another provision in the will the testator devised a particular 320-acre tract of land to his wife “including the house and all other appurtenances therein belonging or anywise appertaining thereto and all other useful and ornamental personal property which shall be therein contained at the time of my demise. I also give and bequeath to her all my personal property and money * * *. ” In the clause devising the residual estate is found the following language: “All of the rest of my estate, both real and personal, not heretofore mentioned, I give ’and bequeath to my wife, * * *. ” How can it be said that the language in the two paragraphs quoted above expressed anything other than an intention to devise the quarter section ? There is not one word to indicate otherwise. Under the circumstances, there is no basis for implying an intention not to include the entire property. The situation is entirely different from that which results when a devise is made of “all my lands” or “my property” where a construction against something being devised which was not owned is clearly indicated. The rule is stated thus in 2 Pomeroy, Equity .Jurisprudence (5th Ed.) § 489: ' “If a testator owning an undivided share uses language of description and donation which may apply to and include the whole property, and by the same will gives benefits to his co-owner, the question arises whether such co-owner is bound to elect between the benefits conferred by the will and his own share of the property. Prima facie a testator is presumed to have intended to bequeath that alone which he owned,—that only over which his power of disposal extended. Wherever, therefore, the testator does not give the whole property specifically, but employs general words of description and donation, such as ‘all my lands,’ and the like, it is well settled that no case for an election arises, because there is an interest belonging to the testator to which the disposing language can apply, and the prima facie presumption as to his intent will control. On the other hand, if the testator devises the property specifically by language indicating a specific gift of the property, an election becomes necessary. It seems now to be settled by the more recent English decisions that when the owner of an undivided share devises or bequeaths the property by words of description and donation importing an intent to give the entirety, then a case of election is raised against the other co-owner who receives a benefit under the same will. The conclusion which is plainly deducible from these recent decisions in England is, that when a person owns an undivided interest or share in any species of property,—a house and lot, a farm, a fund of securities, or a fund of money,—and he does not use general words of gift, such' as ‘all my estate,’ ‘all my property,’ and the like, but purports to give the whole thing itself, using language which, by a reasonable interpretation, must necessarily describe and define the whole corpus of the thing in which his partial interest exists, as a distinct and identified piece of property, then an intention to bestow the whole, and not merely the testator’s undivided share, must be inferred, and a case for an election arises. The language of description may be by metes and bounds, or may be any other form of words which will serve clearly, to point out and identify the entire subject-matter.” In the gifts to his wife of the personal property, money and residue of the estate, reference is made to "my personal property and money” and “rest of my estate.” As to that property, the testator employed general, as opposed to specific, words of description, so that as to it the prima facie presumption of intention to bequeath that alone which he owned is applicable. Just as certainly, the gifts of the east half of the northwest quarter and of the west half of the northwest quarter leave no room for reading into the language used an intention to devise only the undivided one-half community interest of the testator. The specific language used in making these devises requires a construction, by any reasonable interpretation, not only of the words themselves but from the four ■ corners of the whole testamentary instrument, that the testator intended to devise the whole of those lands, as distinct and identified tracts, not merely his undivided interest therein. The presumption of intention indulged by the majority, to devise only the interest he had, does not apply where such specific language is employed. Without quoting from cases supporting the conclusion reached, contrary to that of the majority, attention is directed to the following cases which support the position here advanced: In re Estate of Orwitz, 229 Cal.App.2d 767, 40 Cal.Rptr. 545 (1964); In re Johnson’s Estate, 178 Cal.App.2d 826, 3 Cal.Rptr. 408 (1960); In re Moore’s Estate, 62 Cal.App. 265, 216 P. 981 (1923); In re Vogt’s Estate, 154 Cal. 508, 98 P. 265 (1908); Hodge v. Ellis, 154 Tex. 341, 277 S.W.2d 900 (1955); Wright v. Wright, 154 Tex. 138, 274 S.W.2d 670 (1955); Cheatham v. Mann (Tex.Civ.App.1939) 133 S.W.2d 264; Dakan v. Dakan, 125 Tex. 305, 83 S.W.2d 620 (1935) ; Payne v. Farley (Tex.Civ.App.1915) 178 S.W. 793; Rogers v. Trevathan, 67 Tex. 406, 3 S.W. 569 (1887). See, also, cases in 60 A.L.R.2d 736, 769; 171 A.L.R. 649, 664 ; 68 A.L.R. 507, 517; 22 A.L.R. 437, 517. Unquestionably, the widow, having been put to an election (See 2 Pomeroy, Equity Jurisprudence (5th Ed.) §§ 505 and 506 (a) ), here took under the will. The one hundred sixty acres of land devised in the two paragraphs set out above passed to the devisees therein named. Mrs. Nevins was not a co-tenant. There was nothing which in any way interfered with her acquiring tax title to the property, or which prevented her from claiming adversely. This she did, and held the property for some twenty-seven years as her own under color of title, paying the taxes and enjoying the full return from the property. At this late date I can see no reason to upset the interests long established and supported in law. In my view, the case should be reversed. Inasmuch as the majority has concluded otherwise, I dissent. NOBLE, J., concurs.