Court Opinion

ID: 3479392
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 20:54:11.318933+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:21.541728
License: Public Domain

Barney Fertel is the only party who has applied for a rehearing. His contention is that the will is null in that it violates article 1520 of the Civil Code. The article provides that a testamentary disposition by which the legatee is charged with the duty to preserve the legacy for a third person, to whom the title is to pass at the death of the legatee is a prohibited substitution. According to article 1522 a bequest of the usufruct of property to one person and of the naked ownership to another is not a prohibited substitution and is therefore a valid disposition of both the usufruct and the ownership of the property. In deciding, in any given case, *Page 649 
whether a legacy of this kind is violative of article 1520 of the Code, the only question is whether the intention of the testator as expressed in his will was to give the usufruct of the property to one person and the ownership to another, as permitted by article 1522 of the Civil Code. Each case is governed by the wording of the testament. The decisions on the subject are reviewed extensively, and compared in the Succession of Ledbetter, 147 La. 771, 85 So. 908. There is no necessity for reviewing or comparing the decisions again in this case. Here, the testatrix did not declare that she left her property to her husband, but declared that she left "the use of it" to her husband, and that at his death it should go to her two daughters and her grandson. By the term "the use of it" the testatrix must have meant the usufruct of the property, not the ownership of it. The expression that "at his death" it should go to the two daughters and the grandson of the testatrix meant merely that the possession of the property should be delivered to them at the death of the husband, who was to enjoy the use of it during his lifetime. The expression "at his death" did not mean that the title to the property should be vested in the husband of the testatrix, and at his death should pass from him to the two daughters and the grandson. It meant merely that the possession and use, or usufruct, of the property, should be enjoyed by the husband until his death, and that during his lifetime only the naked ownership should be vested in the two daughters and the grandson of the testatrix.
The petition for a rehearing is denied. *Page 650