McGirt v. Nelson
Decision Date | 12 July 2004 |
Docket Number | No. 3844.,3844. |
Citation | 599 S.E.2d 620,360 S.C. 307 |
Court | South Carolina Court of Appeals |
Parties | James McGIRT, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Bessie P. Haile, Appellant, v. Richard H. NELSON, Ivan Nelson, Anthony L. Nelson and Don H. Nelson, II, Respondents. |
W. Steven Johnson and William M. Reynolds, III, both of Columbia, for Appellant.
Arthur C. McFarland, of Charleston; Veronica G. Small, of North Charleston; for Respondents.
In this action, James McGirt, as personal representative of the Estate of Bessie P. Haile ("the Estate"), appeals the order of the circuit court construing the last will and testament of Richard H. Haile, Jr. We affirm.
The Estate brought an action in probate court for a declaratory judgment construing the terms of Richard's last will and testament, particularly regarding the proper ownership of Richard's business upon the death of his wife, Bessie. After the case was removed from the probate court to the circuit court, the parties submitted the matter for adjudication on briefs and joined together in submitting a stipulation of facts. Those relevant to the determination of this case are as follows:
This case hinges on the construction of Richard's last will and testament. The provisions of this document relevant to the determination of this case are as follows:
Respondents claim they own a one-half interest in the business by way of their mother's will. The Estate claims sole ownership of the business by virtue of Item IV of the will and the death of Sylvia before Bessie. The circuit court found Richard Haile's will vested a one-half interest in the funeral home business to each Bessie and Sylvia. The court further found that Sylvia's interest in the business was properly transferred to Respondents. The Estate now appeals.
This appeal involves stipulated and undisputed facts; therefore this court is free to review whether the trial court properly applied the law to those facts. WDW Props. v. City of Sumter, 342 S.C. 6, 10, 535 S.E.2d 631, 632 (2000). We are under no obligation in this case to defer to the trial court's legal conclusions. See J.K.Constr., Inc. v. W. Carolina Reg'l Sewer Auth., 336 S.C. 162, 166, 519 S.E.2d 561, 563 (1999).
The Estate contends the lower court erred in construing Richard's Will, particularly the survivorship language in Item IV. We disagree.
It is the cardinal rule of will construction that the testator's intent should be ascertained and followed unless it violates some well-established rule of law. See People's Nat'l Bank of Greenville v. Harrison, 198 S.C. 457, 461, 18 S.E.2d 1, 3 (1941); Wates v. Fairfield Forest Prods. Co., 210 S.C. 319, 322, 42 S.E.2d 529, 530 (1947). In ascertaining the testator's intent, effect must be given to every part of the will. If possible by any reasonable interpretation, "all clauses must be harmonized with each other and with the will as a whole." Shevlin v. Colony Lutheran Church, 227 S.C. 598, 603, 88 S.E.2d 674, 677 (1955).
In Richard's will, the business was devised upon his death to Sylvia and Bessie to "share and share alike." When read alone, this is an unambiguous and absolute grant of half of the business to each. The Estate contends, however, that the language in Item IV cut down this absolute grant to either a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, a life estate with cross remainder, or a fee simple subject to shifting executory interest.1
While the language in Item IV contemplates the possibility of either Bessie or Sylvia predeceasing the other, we do not believe Richard intended this language to cut down the devise of Item II into something less than an absolute grant. "[W]here an estate or interest is given in words of clear and ascertained legal signification, it shall not be enlarged, cut down, or destroyed by superadded words in the same or subsequent clauses, unless they raise an irresistible inference that such was the intention." Schroder v. Antipas, et al., 215 S.C. 552, 556, 56 S.E.2d 354, 355 (1949) (quoting Adams, et al. v. Verner, 102 S.C. 7, 11, 86 S.E. 211, 212 (1915)). "[A]n estate devised in fee cannot by subsequent language be stripped of its legal incidents, and where it appears that the controlling intention is to give an absolute estate, subsequent language inconsistent therewith must be held ineffective." Rogers v. Rogers, 221 S.C. 360, 368-369, 70 S.E.2d 637, 641 (1952). In some circumstances, an absolute grant may be cut down by subsequent language in a will. However, this subsequent language must be "at least as clear in expressing that intention as the words in which the interest is given." Johnson v. Waldrop, 256 S.C. 372, 376, 182 S.E.2d 730, 731 (1971) (quoting Walker v. Alverson, 87 S.C. 55, 68 S.E. 966 (1910)). Words of doubtful import following a gift made in clear and unequivocal terms cannot cut down or qualify that gift. See Johnson, 256 S.C. at 376,182 S.E.2d at 731; Wates v. Fairfield Forest Prods. Co., 210 S.C. 319, 322, 42 S.E.2d 529, 530 (1947).
In reviewing Item IV, it appears Richard intended either Bessie or Sylvia to...
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