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49 W. Va. 191

Furbee v. Furbee

West Virginia Supreme Court

Decided March 16, 1901

West Virginia Supreme Court · decided 1901-03-16

<p>1. Will — Contents—Construction.</p> <p>The will of B. F. contains the following clauses: “I give my son A. J. F. my home farm, with all its 'appurtenances. I give my son P. F. my lower farm, that was Waitman’s, with ah. its appurtenances; hut my wife, N., to have the full control of both said farms during her widowhood, and no longer. My four daughters, namely, D., J., C., and S., to have an interest in the aforesaid farms as long as they may remain single, and no longer.” Held, the widow takes a life estate in both farms, subject to he defeated by her marriage; then to the four daughters for life, subject to he defeated as to them, respectively, by marriage; remainders in fee to the sons, respectively, as to the farms, (p. 199).</p> <p>2. Will — Intent—Circumstances of Testator.</p> <p>The intention of the testator is to be collected from the whole will justly interpreted, having regard to the circumstances of the testator, and the relation in which he stood to the parties claiming under the will, and the subjects disposed of by it. (p. 198).</p> <p>3. Will — Intention—Technical Words.</p> <p>Where the will plainly shows the intention of the testator, and he has failed to use proper technical words to express his meaning, the court may supply them to effectuate his manifest intention, and for 'such purpose only. (p. 198).</p> <p>4. Will — Whole Document Construed.</p> <p>The court will, if possible, adopt such construction as will uphold all the provisions of the will; and in the attainment of this object the relative order or position of the bequests or devises may be disregarded, if, by transposing them, a consistent construction of the whole will can be deduced, (p. 200).</p>

Relies on Munroe v. . Hall

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Reversed · Decided 1901-03-16

How this case has been cited

Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently November 1959

9 state decisions

40190119101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1ON RE-HEARING.

¶2In the petition for re-hearing it is urged that, if the provision in the will in favor of the four daughters is sufficiently certain to transmit an interest or estate, it must be an estate in fee simple, or a conditional limitation, in support of which Monroe v. Hall, 97 N. C. 206, is cited. That case decided that, in a grant to a woman as long as she remains single, her grantee in a deed, made prior to her death, takes at her death unmarried, a fee simple. It is then insisted that the provision so construed is repugnant to, and irreconcilable with the previous devisees of the farm to the sons and therefore void. It cannot be so construed. We must look to the whole will and give every part of it effect if possible. At common law the devise would have been of a de-feasible estate for life, there being no words of inheritance in the clause. 2 Bl. Com. 156. Under our statute Code, chapter 71, section 8, the language imports a defeasible fee simple “unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, conveyance or grant.” The English statute 1 Vic. chapter 26, section 28, is very much like ours. Under that statute it has been held that if the same land be given in one part of the will to A. and in another to B. the presence of words of limitation in the latter gift, and their absence in the former, are material to correct the apparent contradiction and to show that the testator meant a gift to A. for life with remainder to B. in fee. Jarman on Wills 1135; Grovenor v. Watkins, 6 Law Rep. C. P. 500.

¶3Reversed.

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