Chrisman v. Bryant

Citations

• 108 Miss. 311
• 66 So. 779

Syllabus

<p>1. Wills. Construction. Description of property. General legacy. Intention.</p> <p>Where a testator bequeaths a large amount of real and personal, property to his son and daughter and made them his residuary legatees and also made gifts to several grandchildren, and then gave to a granddaughter, B., certain levee bonds described as “bonds 3 and 4, number 43, three thousand dollars,” and a legacy of two hundred and fifty dollars; the bonds to be held in trust for her and her children for ten years, and to a granddaughter, C., he gave two hundred and fifty dollars, and bonds numbers 3 and 4, thus twice disposing of bonds 3 and 4, all of the testator’s other bonds were otherwise disposed of. The court in construing the will held, that describing the bonds given in the two legacies, the writing of the numbers 3 and 4, two different times in the will was a clerical’ error, and that it was not the intention of the testator to give these same two bonds in both legacies, nor to bequeath them to the two parties as tenants in common, but that the legacy to B. should be construed as a general legacy and the two bonds necessary to give both granddaughters the full amount which the testator intended them to have should be supplied from the residuary estate.</p> <p>2. Will. Construction. Intention.</p> <p>The main purpose in interpreting a will, is to learn the intention of the testator, and such intention is to be ascertained from a construction of the entire instrument and from the circumstances surrounding the testator when he executed it.</p>