Moss v. Youngblood

• Citation: 200 S.E. 689,187 Ga. 188
• Decision Date: 23 November 1938
• Docket Number: 12361.
• Parties: MOSS et al. v. YOUNGBLOOD et al.
• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia

200 S.E. 689

187 Ga. 188

MOSS et al. v. YOUNGBLOOD et al.

No. 12361.

Supreme Court of Georgia

November 23, 1938

Error from Superior Court, Richmond County; A. L. Franklin, Judge.

Suit by Hal D. Beman and another as executors of the will of Mrs Mary W. Pope, for direction and for construction of provisions in will, against the Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company and others. Judgment that William Youngblood was entitled to receive under certain provisions in will, and giving other directions, and J. B. Moss and another bring error.

Affirmed.

ATKINSON P.J., dissenting.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. Under the Code, § 37-404, where one item of a will contained a bequest of 'twenty ($20,000) dollars,' and another item a bequest to the 'University Hospital of Augusta Georgia,' there being no legal entity in the city of Augusta, Georgia, of that name, the executors of such will were authorized to bring in a court of equity a petition seeking construction and direction. The court did not err in overruling the demurrers to such a petition.

2. It is not reversible error to admit testimony 'which only tends to prove a fact admitted to be true in the pleadings of the party objecting to the evidence, although the ground of objection may in itself be good in law.' Nor is the admission of other evidence over such an objection sufficient to require the grant of a new trial, where such evidence is merely irrelevant.

3. The court was authorized to find, under the will and the admitted facts in the case, that the hospital owned and maintained by the City of Augusta, commonly known as the 'University Hospital of Augusta, Georgia,' and thus designated in item 21 of the will here involved, was a charitable institution, owned by said city and maintained primarily for the gratuitous treatment of the sick and needy of the city of Augusta and Richmond County, and that by said item the testatrix intended the estate therein bequeathed to be applied to the promotion of the charitable objects of such hospital. Whether such bequest is a gift 'directly to a charity or charitable institution,' or 'to a trustee to be applied by him to a charity,' is not now for determination. 'There could be no serious trouble in carrying out the real intention and design of the testator. It may require some consideration of the details, though with that we are not concerned.' The charitable bequest, being valid, will be given effect, and the heirs at law of the testatrix have no interest in the fund therein bequeathed.

4. An incorporated city of this State is authorized, under the Code, §§ 69-501, 69-502, to receive and apply a bequest for charitable purposes.

5. A charitable bequest will not fail merely because the legatee is not designated by its correct name, if from the will itself and admissible extrinsic evidence it can be determined whom the testatrix intended to receive and apply such bequest.

6. Under what has been heretofore ruled, the heirs at law of the testatrix would derive no benefit were the construction of the will placed by the trial court on item 15 of the will under consideration reversed. Therefore no ruling will be made as to the correctness of such construction.

Hal D. Beman and Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company, as executors of the will of Mrs. Mary W. Pope, filed a petition for direction, and for construction of two items of the will, as follows: 15--'Should William Youngblood, who has served my late husband and myself long and faithfully, survive me, I give and bequeath to him the sum of twenty ($20,000) dollars in fee simple.' 21--'All the rest and residue of my estate of every kind whatsoever, I give, bequeath, and devise to the Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company, Augusta, Georgia, as trustee, for the following purposes:--the income therefrom shall be paid to the said Letty Pope [previously named as a legatee] during her natural life, and at her death the entire corpus shall be turned over in fee simple to the University Hospital of Augusta, Georgia, to be used for the further development and more efficient service of such institution.' The defendants named were: Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company, the trustee named under item 21 of the will; Letty Pope and William Youngblood, legatees; W. R. Wynn and J. D. Moss, heirs at law of the testatrix; and the City Council of Augusta. A demurrer to the petition was filed by Moss and Wynn, and all the defendants answered. The demurrer was overruled. By consent of the parties the case was submitted to the judge, who, on an agreed statement of facts and certain evidence offered by petitioners, entered a judgment and decree that under item 15 William Youngblood should receive $20,000, and ordered this amount paid to him by the executors, and that 'the legacy provided for in item 21 of the said will, after the termination of the life-estate created in said item in favor of Letty Pope, shall be and is hereby construed to be a legacy to the City Council of Augusta, a municipal corporation under the laws of the State of Georgia, to which shall be turned over, at the termination of said life-estate, the corpus thereof constituting the residuum of the estate of the said Mary W. Pope, to be used for the further development and more efficient service of that department of the said City Council of Augusta which operates and maintains a hospital known as the University Hospital, and the executors are directed to deliver and pay over the residuum in their hands after the administration of the estate to Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company in trust for the following purposes: To pay the income therefrom to Letty Pope, of Washington, Georgia, during her natural life, and at her death the entire corpus shall be turned over in fee simple to the City Council of Augusta, Georgia, to be used for the further development and more efficient service of that department of the said city council of Augusta which operates and maintains a hospital known as the University Hospital.' Moss and Wynn made a motion for new trial, which was overruled. In their bill of exceptions they assigned error on that ruling and on the overruling of their demurrers to the petition.

Clement E. Sutton, of Washington, and Isaac S. Peebles, Jr., and Roy V. Harris, both of Augusta, for plaintiffs in error.

Cumming, Harper & Nixon, Wm. T. Gary, and Curry & Curry, all of Augusta, for defendants in error.

M. J. Yeomans, Atty. Gen., and O. H. Dukes, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Hull, Barrett, Willingham & Towill, of Augusta, for parties at interest not parties to record.

RUSSELL Chief Justice.

1. The court did not err in overruling the demurrers to the petition. The right to seek the direction of a court of equity in the circumstances of this case is clearly afforded by the Code, § 37-404, as follows: 'In cases of difficulty in construing wills, or in distributing estates, in ascertaining the persons entitled, or in determining under what law property should be divided, the representative may ask the direction of the court, but not on imaginary difficulties or from excessive caution.' Item 15 of the will as written is of doubtful meaning, the amount of the bequest therein being stated as $20 in words and $20,000 in figures. As to item 21, it is alleged in the petition: 'In view of the fact that there is no such person or legal entity as the 'University Hospital of Augusta, Georgia,' and of the further fact that it has been suggested as a claim by the defendants herein, Moss and Wynn, that there is intestacy so far as the devise to 'University Hospital of Augusta, Georgia,' is concerned, your petitioners need the assistance of the court in construing the provisions of the aforesaid twenty-first item of the will, and the direction of the court in regard to the payment of said residuum to said Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company, and especially as to whether or not, upon the death of the beneficiary for life under the terms of the trust, the said residuum shall then be turned over to the City Council of Augusta, or to the heirs at law of the said testatrix, or shall revert to your petitioners as executors, or their successors, as part of the estate of the deceased for further and final distribution.' The petition presented a case of 'difficulty in construing the will,' and of 'ascertaining the persons entitled,' and by no means disclosed that the executors were asking direction 'on imaginary difficulties or from excessive caution.'

2. In the motion for new trial error is assigned on the admission of the testimony of Hon. William H. Barrett, to wit: 'I prepared the will of Mrs. Mary W. Pope, and also two or three preceding wills. The testatrix by describing the legatee in item twenty first of the will as 'the University Hospital of Augusta, Georgia,' intended to designate the hospital operated by the City Council of Augusta under the name of the University Hospital. At one time in a discussion with Mrs Pope the question was raised of including the Medical College as well as the University Hospital, and the connection between the two was discussed and understood by Mrs. Pope.' The objections were that the witness could not testify as to the intention of the testatrix, other than as expressed in the will, or as to what was discussed and understood by the testatrix in regard to the connection between the University Hospital and the Medical College. It was not urged as a ground of objection to the admission of this testimony that such was harmful to the movants. The bequest in item 21 was to the University Hospital of Augusta, Georgia, and the agreed statement of facts showed that such institution was a branch or department of the City Council of Augusta. The testimony of Judge Barrett that the testatrix, 'by describing the...