Allen v. McFarland

Citations

• 150 Ill. 455
• 37 N.E. 1006

Syllabus

<p>1. Wills — rules of construction. In construing a will all of its provisions are to be considered, and the true intention of the testator, if possible, thus ascertained. The intention of the testator expressed in, or fairly drawn from, his will, must control in its construction.</p> <p>2. Same — no particular form required. The law does not require, as a prerequisite to the validity of a will, that it shall be in accord with any particular form, or couched in language technically appropriate to the testamentary character of the instrument. However irregular in form or inartificial in expression, it will suffice, if, from a consideration of the whole instrument, may be gathered an intention on the part of the maker that a posthumous disposition of his property was by him intended.</p> <p>3. Same — construed—whether giving an estate, or mere management. A testator, by his will, provided as follows: “I leave all my property in the hands of my wife, 0., to manage for the best interest of our children and herself. * * * She is to pay all my debts from the proceeds of the farm, but I give her power to sell my house and lot in W., and land in the State of Iowa, if necessary to pay debts,” etc. The will also provided that the testator’s farm of three hundred and fourteen acres should not be sold while his wife lived, and gave her the right to sell the coal underlying the farm, etc.: Held, that C., the widow, did not take an estate in fee in the farm, and that the same, upon the testator’s death, passed to his three children, subject to its management by the widow during her lifetime. In such case the word “leave” did not mean “devise.”</p> <p>4. Same — whether creating a contingent remainder. By the fourth clause of the will it was provided that the farm should not be sold while the testator’s widow lived, but that on her death it might be divided among his children, or such of them as might be living at that time, to “have and to hold unto them, their heirs and assigns,