Estate of Hardy
| Decision Date | 25 June 1992 |
| Citation | 609 A.2d 1162 |
| Parties | ESTATE OF Herbert F. HARDY. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Joel Dearborn, Ferris, Dearborn & Willey, Brewer, for appellant.
Roger G. Innes, Hale & Hamlin, Ellsworth, for appellee.
Before WATHEN, C.J., and ROBERTS, GLASSMAN, CLIFFORD and COLLINS, JJ.
Herbert F. Hardy died testate in Maine in 1979. After providing for the payment of his funeral expenses and administrative costs, Hardy's will left his widow a life estate in all of his remaining assets. 1 The will also provided for specific bequests and devises to be made upon termination of the life estate. 2 Irene (Geri) Butler, as the personal representative of the estate, filed a petition for instructions in the Hancock County Probate Court (Ellsworth, Patterson, J.) to determine whether the third article of Hardy's will disposed of the furniture as well as the real property located at Great Pond. After a hearing, the court determined that the provision only disposed of the real property, and Butler appeals. We hold that the Probate Court erred as a matter of law and vacate the order.
The existence and the meaning of ambiguous language in a will are both questions of law for the trial court when no extrinsic evidence is presented as to the intent of the testator. See Estate of Wilson, 542 A.2d 838, 839 (Me.1988); Estate of Cushman, 501 A.2d 811, 813 (Me.1985). We review questions of law de novo and may substitute our judgment for that of the trial court. See Bliss v. Bliss, 583 A.2d 208, 210 (Me.1990).
Here, the evidence before the trial court was limited to the language within the four corners of Hardy's will. We concur in the court's determination that because the word "property" is expressly qualified to include both realty and personalty in the other articles of the will, its meaning is ambiguous in the context of the will's third article. We disagree with the trial court, however, as to the intent of the testator manifested by the word "property" in article three of the will.
As we have previously stated, "The intention of the testator, collected from the language of the whole instrument interpreted in light of the manifest object of the testator, guides construction of [a] will." Estate of Sweet, 519 A.2d 1260, 1264 (Me.1987). In the second article, the meaning of the word "property" must be determined without reference to the words "all the rest, residue and remainder" because they are words of limitation only and do not describe the kind of assets that are in view. The distinction is illustrated by contrast with the fifth article where the word "property," similarly limited, is described as "real, personal and mixed, tangible and intangible, of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situated." The term "property" in the second article must be construed as encompassing both personalty and realty despite the omission of descriptive qualifiers; otherwise, the testamentary provision for the...
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...The court's determination that the Rangeway was a public way was a legal finding, and thus we review it de novo. Estate of Hardy, 609 A.2d 1162, 1163 (Me.1992) (legal determinations subject to de novo review). Our review of the case law disclosed only two cases that discuss the rangeways: H......
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