Maestas v. Martinez

• Decision Date: 10 March 1988
• Docket Number: No. 9359,9359
• Citation: 752 P.2d 1107,107 N.M. 91,1988 NMCA 20
• Parties: Eufemia S. MAESTAS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Agueda S. MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

Page 1107

752 P.2d 1107

107 N.M. 91

Eufemia S. MAESTAS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Agueda S. MARTINEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 9359.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

March 10, 1988.

[107 N.M. 92] James G. Whitley, Jones, Gallegos, Snead & Wertheim, P.A., Santa Fe, for plaintiff-appellee.

John M. Roybal, Espanola, for defendant-appellant.

OPINION

MINZNER, Judge.

Defendant appeals the district court's decision equally dividing title to a 6.7 acre tract (the disputed tract) between plaintiff and defendant. Plaintiff cross-appeals. The disputed tract originally belonged to Pedro Salazar (the grantor), who was defendant's father and plaintiff's grandfather; having executed a will in favor of his four children, he thereafter attempted to convey all of his property by deeds in favor of the children. Defendant contends the district court erred in construing her deed because the court failed to apply the rule of construction that prefers a call to an adjacent boundary over a call for distance. Plaintiff contends the district court erred in construing all four deeds because the court did not apply the doctrine of satisfaction by ademption. We affirm.

BACKGROUND.

The property of which the disputed tract is a portion originally consisted of 36 acres. The deed conveying this property in 1919 to the grantor stated that the parcel was 231 yards wide from north to south. There was evidence at trial that the property was actually wider. The Chama River generally lies to the west and a county road generally lies to the east.

In 1926, the grantor conveyed by deed the southernmost 90 yards of his property to his son, Gregorio Salazar. In 1951, the grantor made a will, in which he gave his residence and one half of his real property to defendant, "if she * * * takes care of me, dresses me, feeds me and gives me suitable lodging and pays all the funeral costs * * *." He gave the other half to his "other heirs, Gregorio P. Salazar, Angelita S. Talamante, and Ignacita Salazar, so that it may be divided by them, as brother and sisters, in equal parts * * *." He gave all his personal property to Gregorio.

In 1952, when he was very ill, the grantor executed four deeds. Each deed conveyed a portion of his remaining property to one of the children and described a parcel bounded on the east by the public road and on the west by the Rio de Chama.

The deed to Gregorio described the property it conveyed to him as 15 yards and 2 feet wide, and named as its northern boundary the adjoining property of the unrelated landowner, Santiago Herrera. That boundary is known and not in dispute. The deed described the southern boundary as property conveyed to Angela Salazar Talamante. The deed to Angela described the property conveyed to her as 15 yards wide, bounded on the north by property conveyed to Gregorio and bounded on the south by property conveyed to Ignacia Salazar Martinez. The deed to Ignacia describes her property as 15 yards wide, bounded on the north by property conveyed to Angela Salazar Talamante and on the south by property conveyed to defendant.

After Gregorio's death, plaintiff, who is his daughter, succeeded to the interests of her father. She also succeeded to the interest of the grantor's other two children.

The deed to defendant describes the parcel conveyed to her as 73 yards wide, beginning at the northern border of the 90 yards conveyed to Gregorio in 1926. The deed further describes the property conveyed to defendant as bounded on the north by property conveyed to Ignacia Salazar.

The total yardage stated in the 1926 deed to Gregorio and the four deeds executed in 1952 is only 208 yards. The difference between this amount and the number of yards originally conveyed to the grantor is the subject of the dispute between the parties. There is no evidence of other conveyances by the grantor prior to his death in 1953.

Neither the location nor the amount of the land to which title is now in dispute is at issue, because the parties stipulated that the disputed tract was the 6.7 acres lying directly north of, and contiguous to, the 90-yard strip conveyed to Gregorio in 1926. Under the stipulation, the land on which the residence is located belongs to defendant.

Plaintiff contended at trial that the 1952 deed to defendant was intended to satisfy the gift provided by will, and therefore, under the doctrine of ademption by satisfaction, defendant was entitled to nothing further under the will. She reasoned that after the initial gift to Gregorio, her grandfather thought he had approximately 141 yards; when he gave defendant a parcel 73 yards wide, he did so with the intent that the benefit conferred satisfy the gift he had intended to make by will. Plaintiff contended that a portion of the property was not conveyed by the deeds and must pass under the will. In her view, however, the disputed tract should pass to plaintiff as the successor-in-interest to the other three children, because their gifts under the will were only partially adeemed by the deeds they received.

Defendant contended at trial that the relevant rule of construction required the trial court to prefer the call in her deed to an adjacent landowner over the distance stated. She reasoned that it was more significant that her father described her parcel as adjoined by Gregorio's land on the south and by Ignacia's on the north than that he described it as 73 yards wide. She contended that the four deeds disposed of all the property the grantor then owned. In her view, the yardage in the other deeds was correct, and she should receive all the property the grantor had not expressly given to her siblings.

The trial court found that the deed from Pedro Salazar to defendant "is vague and ambiguous, and that all of the * * * Deeds executed on November 29, 1952 were prepared based on a mistake of fact as to the width in yards of the property [he] owned on said date." The court also found that Pedro Salazar intended "by his execution and delivery of the Deeds of November 29, 1952, to distribute his property in accordance with, among other things, the intent expressed in his Last Will and Testament, dated July 10, 1951." The court further found that he "intended [by the execution and delivery of the deeds] to convey all of his real property, which real property was the same that he intended to dispose of by his Will * * * and which included all of the property depicted on the Plat" except the 90 yards previously conveyed to Gregorio.

The court concluded "that the intention of * * * Pedro A. Salazar, was, by the execution of four (4) Deeds in November, 1952, to satisfy the testamentary disposition [he] intended, * * * as expressed in his Last Will and Testament of July 10, 1951, among other things, and in light of all surrounding circumstances." The court further concluded "that, considering the Deeds affecting the property in question, the Last Will and Testament of Pedro A. Salazar, among other things, and all of the surrounding circumstances, that it was [his] intent * * * to convey to the defendant * * *, one half of the disputed property and the remaining one half thereof to [plaintiff's predecessors-in-interest]."

DISCUSSION.

It is not clear from the court's findings and conclusions that the judgment was intended to dispose of the disputed tract pursuant to the will. However, we should reconcile seeming inconsistencies to avoid what may be challenged as contradictory. City of Raton v. Vermejo Conservancy Dist., 101 N.M. 95, 678 P.2d 1170 (1984). Where an issue to be determined rests upon the interpretation of documentary evidence, an appellate court is in as good a position as the trial court to determine the facts and draw its own conclusions. Id.

The trial court found that the grantor intended by the deeds executed in 1952 to distribute his property in accordance with his will. Both parties have viewed this finding as a determination that the grantor intended to give defendant the same gift he had provided by will. Assuming they are correct, such a finding is not supported by the evidence.

First, the 73 yards conveyed to defendant is more than half the total number of yards (118) stated in the four deeds executed in 1952. Second, the 45 yards and 2 feet conveyed to plaintiff's predecessors-in-interest is less than half that number. Third, the 15 yards and 2 feet conveyed to Gregorio exceeded the interest the grantor gave each of his daughters other than defendant. Because of these differences, the documentary evidence does not support a finding that the grantor intended in 1952 to duplicate the gifts he had provided in his prior will. An erroneous finding not necessary to the judgment may be ignored. Specter v. Specter, 85 N.M. 112, 509 P.2d 879 (1973).

The documentary evidence does support a conclusion that the grantor intended to substitute four specific gifts for the more general testamentary provisions he had made. The trial court found, and the parties concede, that defendant's deed is ambiguous and thus must be construed. See Atlantic Ref. Co. v. Beach, 78 N.M. 634, 436 P.2d 107 (1968). The first issue that must be addressed is whether defendant's deed contains a sufficient description to convey the disputed tract.

The sufficiency of a description is not governed by any inflexible rule or set of rules. First Sav. Bank & Trust Co., Albuquerque v. Elgin, 29 N.M. 595, 225 P.2d 582 (1924). The description of the deed must be certain or capable of being reduced to certainty by something extrinsic to which the deed refers. Komadina v. Edmondson, 81 N.M. 467, 468 P.2d 632 (1970). Where the description in the deed is uncertain, extrinsic evidence may be used to ascertain the intent of the grantor. Garcia v. Garcia, 86 N.M. 503, 525 P.2d 863 (1974). It is sufficient, for example, if the deed refers to another instrument or document. Hughes v. Meem, 70 N.M. 122, 371 P.2d 235 (1962). The court should place itself in the situation of the grantor and...