Dix v. Bigham
Dix v. Bigham
Opinion of the Court
(After stating the facts.) The controlling question in this case is whether, under the decree, the material portion of which is set out in the statement of facts, the property vested in the wife of E. G. Dix, and the child then in esse, or whether children born afterward also took an interest. The pleadings are not clear as to what issues were involved in the former litigation. None of the record in that case is set out except the verdict and decree. It does not even appear with certainty who were the parties. But it may be inferred that the children of James T. Dix Sr., and certain persons claiming to he creditors, were before the court. It does not appear that the rvife or child of Eobert G. Dix were .parties, or had any claim or interest to assert. But it is inferable that, in the division of the estate of his father, with his consent or by his direction the clause of the decree quoted was inserted. Dealing with it in this light, the part of the decree quoted is to be construed, not as a judgment inter partes, determining disputed claims of right, but rather as in the nature of a voluntary conveyance from Eobert G. Dix of an interest in his father’s estate which otherwise would have belonged to him. Bunn v. Braswell (N. C.), 51 S. E. 927. If the property in question had been set apart to him, and he had then made a voluntary conveyance of it to his wife and their children, under the repeated rulings of this court the title would have vested in his wife and the child then in esse, there being but one, and after-born children would have taken nothing under such a conveyance. Baird v. Brookin, 86 Ga. 709; Hollis v. Lawton, 107 Ga. 102; Plant v. Plant, 122 Ga. 763, and cit.; Greer v. Pate, 85 Ga. 552; Davis v. Hollingsworth, 113 Ga. 210. The same rule is recognized in Sumpter v. Carter, 115 Ga. 893. But under the peculiar language of the will then under consideration, it was held that the “children of a daughter of the testator, who with her survived the life-tenant, werfe entitled to share, in common with their mother, in the remainder interest which, upon the death of the testator, vested in the mother, subject, however, to open and let in such children.”
It is contended that the superadded words contained in this decree take it out of the usual construction. ' It is first insisted that the expression “now occupied by Eobert G. Dix and family,” etc., indicates that Dix or the person drafting the decree had in mind not merely his wife and child, but an aggregation constituting a
The contention is made that the declaration in the decree, that the property should remain as the sole and separate property of the wife of Robert G. Dix and their children, “free from the control, debts, and liabilities of said Robert G. Dix,” brings the case within the ruling in Toole v. Perry, 80 Ga. 681. But in this view we can not concur. In that case the testator directed that all of the property which was to go to his daughters and their children under his will should be “free from the control, debts, and liabilities of their present or any future husband,” and for their sole and separate use; it being provided that husbands of those under cover-ture when the will should take effect should be the -trustees respectively of the portions given io their wives and children. At the time of the making of the will one of the testator’s daughters
In the latter part of the decree under consideration it was declared-that a certain place known as the “Dix” place should remain the sole and separate property of Sarah C. Grady and her children, and then the words were added, “this includes all the land connected with and near said place, not included in the place decreed to be settled on the wife and children of Eobert G. Dix, as aforesaid.” It will be seen that these words were descriptive of the land which it was declared should remain as the property of Sarah C. Grady and, her children, and stated what such place included. It was not dealing with the estate or quantity of interest in the wife or children of Eobert G. Dix; and there is nothing in this clause which changes the construction already placed' upon the decree. As the wife and child in esse at the date of the decree took the entire estate in the land described which otherwise would have gone to Eobert G. Dix in the division of his father’s property, and after-born children took no interest thereunder, the court properly sustained the demurrer.
In the absence of any effort duly made to alter or amend the decree, an amendment to the pleading in the present case, alleging that Eobert G. Dix gave instructions for it to be drawn so as to
Judgment affirmed.
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