Gray v. Sherman
Gray v. Sherman
Opinion of the Court
The general intent of the testator in the disposition of his estate is clear and unequivocal. After making suitable provision for the maintenance and support of his wife during her life, and giving to sundry persons small specific legacies, he gives all the residue of his property, including the remaináer of that portion devised in trust by the first clause of his will for the use and benefit of his wife during her life, to be divided equally between his daughter Elizabeth W. Sherman and the children of his deceased daughter Abby Gray, one half to each, the latter taking as a class their mother’s share. In this bequest of one half of his estate to his grandchildren, he clearly intended to include by the codicil his grandson Edward H. Gray. For some reason, the testator had excluded this grandson from a share in the one half which in the body of the will he had given to his brothers'and sisters. But it is manifest that the testator subsequently changed his mind, and by the codicil intended to place him on the same footing with his other grandchildren. By giving him “ such an amount of property as shall make him an equal heir with his brothers and sisters,” he did not intend to take from the half which he had given to his daughter. Nothing in the will indicates any such purpose. His intent was only to give him his share or proportion of the half which he had devised to his brothers and sisters. This construction results not only from the language of the will and from the manifest general intent of the testator to divide his estate equally, giving one half to his surviving daughter and the other half to the children oiv his deceased daughter, but also from the well established rule of law that the will and codicil are to be taken and construed together as parts of one and the same instrument, speaking the language of the testator at the time of his death. 1 Williams on Executors, (4th Amer. ed.) 8. Westcott v. Cady, 5 Johns. Ch 343.
The only clause in the will which gives rise to any serious
Decree accordingly.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Edward H. Gray & another v. Jireh Sherman & others
- Status
- Published