Adams v. Vidal

• Decision Date: 05 August 1952
• Citation: 60 So.2d 545
• Parties: ADAMS et al. v. VIDAL et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 545

60 So.2d 545

ADAMS et al. v. VIDAL et al.

Supreme Court of Florida, en Banc.

Aug. 5, 1952.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 14, 1952.

Harry H. Martin, Jacksonville, for appellants.

Gray, Waldo & Chandler, Gainesville, for Adolphe L. Vidal and Albert Vidal, as Executors and Trustees under the Last Will and Testament of John W. Vidal, deceased, et al.

Lazonby, Dell, Graham & Mills, Gainesville, for Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., appellees.

HOBSON, Justice.

This case originated in the Circuit Court in and for Alachua County by the filing of a bill for a declaratory decree. Adolphe L. Vidal and Albert Vidal as Executors and Trustees under the will of John W. Vidal, deceased, and Milton Vidal Hodgson were plaintiffs below and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. and the appellants Leonard C. Adams, and Leonard C. Adams as Administrator of the Estate of Irma Vidal Adams, deceased, were defendants.

The bill sought a construction of the will of John W. Vidal, deceased, and to have determined the question whether the surviving minor nephews and niece of the testator, Milton Vidal Hodgson, Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., and Irma Susan Adams took an absolute fee simple title to undivided interests in certain properties left to the above named Trustees to be held in trust until Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., should arrive at the age of twenty-one years, he being the youngest of the three cestui que trustent, or whether the title of such devisees and legatees was subject to defeasance or divestment. The Trustees were directed to use the net income from the trust property for the maintenance, care and education of said nephews and niece until the youngest of the beneficiaries and devisees arrived at twenty-one years of age when it is obvious it was the intention of the testator that the trust be terminated.

On May 21, 1945, when Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., became twenty-one year, of age, he, the other nephew and the niece were all living. Thereafter, in March, 1946, the niece, Irma Susan Adams, died intestate without spouse or issue her surviving. She was, however, survived by her mother, Irma Vidal Adams, who died intestate on or about June 27, 1950, and by her father, Leonard C. Adams, who were her sole surviving heirs at law, and her brother, Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr.

The provisions of the will which are pertinent to the determination of whether the two nephews and the niece of the testator took an absolute fee simple title to the subject property on the date Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., became twenty-one years of age, not subject to defeasance or divestment, are sub-paragraphs (e), (f), (g) and (h) of the Twelfth Article of the will. These sub-paragraphs follow:

'e. In the event Milton Vidal Hodgson, Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., are each living at the time Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. arrives at the age of twenty-one (21) years, and providing that they have each made their home and resided in Gainesville at the old home place as provided herein, then I do hereby give, devise, and bequeath all of said property under Paragraph 12 to Milton Vidal Hodgson, Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. in fee simple absolute, share and share alike, or to the survivor of them, subject to conditions named in sub-paragraphs f, g, and h.

'f. In the event of the death of Milton Vidal Hodgson before marriage, or in the event of his marriage and his subsequent demise leaving no widow, children or descendants of children him surviving, then the entire interest held by Milton Vidal Hodgson shall vest in Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. equally, or in the survivor of them, and if the said Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. have predeceased Milton Vidal Hodgson, then the entire interest held by him shall vest in Adolphe L. Vidal and Albert Vidal, in fee simple absolute, share and share alike, if living, and if deceased, then to his or their heir or heirs.

'g. In the event of the death of Irma Susan Adams before marriage, or in the event of her marriage and her subsequent demise leaving no surviving spouse, children or descendants of children her surviving, then the entire interest held by Irma Susan Adams shall vest in Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. and Milton Hodgson equally, or in the survivor of them, and if the said Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. and Milton Vidal Hodgson have predeceased Irma Susan Adams, then the entire interest held by her shall vest in Adolphe L. Vidal and Albert Vidal, in fee simple absolute, share and share alike, if living, and if deceased, then to his or their heir or heirs.

'h. In the event of the death of Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. before marriage, or in the event of his marriage and his subsequent demise leaving no widow, children or descendants of children him surviving, then the entire interest held by Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. shall vest in Irma Susan Adams and Milton Vidal Hodgson equally, or in the survivor of them, and if the said Irma Susan Adams and Milton Vidal Hodgson have predeceased Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., then the entire interest held by him shall vest in Adolphe L. Vidal and Albert Vidal, in fee simple absolute, share and share alike, if living, and if deceased, then to his or their heir or heirs.'

It is admitted that the two nephews and the niece of the testator made their home 'at the old home place' as required by the terms of the will.

It was determined in and by the declaratory decree entered in the Circuit Court by the Judge thereof that the undivided interests of Milton Vidal Hodgson, Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. were subject to being divested 'on the death of either [sic] without spouse, children or descendants of children surviving'; that upon the death of Irma Susan Adams, it having been determined that she died 'without spouse, children or descendants of children her surviving, the interest held by her in the trust properties inured in equal shares to Milton Vidal Hodgson and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. in fee simple absolute and not subject to divestment'; and that the appellants were only entitled to an accounting for the period between the date Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. arrived at the age of twenty-one years and the date of the death of Irma Susan Adams.

We need not, but as a convenience to the bench and bar will, cite authority for the well established principle that in construing a will the intention of the testator is the controlling factor and it should be gleaned from the four corners of the will unless the language employed by the testator is ambiguous, in which case the testimony of competent witnesses may be received and considered as an aid to the court in its quest for the testator's intent. 28 R.C.L., Wills, Sections 173, 174, pages 211-215, Sections 243-245, page 268-275; 57 Am.Jur., Wills, Sections 1040, 1133, 1136, 1137, pages 674-675, 726-729, 732-737; In re Block's Estate, 143 Fla. 163, 196 So. 410; Marshall v. Hewett, 156 Fla. 645, 24 So.2d 1; Robinson v. Randolph, 21 Fla. 629, 58 Am.Rep. 692. The learned Chancellor declared in his decree, which was entered upon plaintiff's motion for final decree on bill and answer, that it was the testator's primary concern and intention to provide 'that the several properties left in trust for his niece and nephews, Milton Vidal Hodgson, Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr., should pass to them or to their surviving spouses and lineal descendants, or if all three of these named beneficiaries should die without surviving spouses or lineal descendants, then to Adolphe L. Vidal and Albert Vidal or their heirs, but not to the heirs generally of Milton Vidal Hodgson, Irma Susan Adams and Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr.'

We have no difficulty in agreeing that such was the testator's intent and dominant purpose.

Counsel for appellants contend the Chancellor was in error in holding that all three beneficiaries at the time Leonard Clinton Adams, Jr. became twenty-one years of age took a defeasible fee simple interest in the trust properties subject to being divested upon the death of any one of said beneficiaries without spouse, children or descendants of children him or her surviving.

It is further their view that the provisions of sub-paragraphs f, g and h of the Twelfth paragraph of the will if valid should be limited in their application to the period of time from testator's death...