McCullough v. Lauman

Citations

• 38 Wash. 227
• 80 P. 441
• 1905 Wash. LEXIS 1152

Syllabus

<p>Wills—Construction. The testator’s intention, must be gathered from the language of the will, construing all the provisions together.</p> <p>Wills — Constitution — Debts — Provisions for Payment— Clause Bequeathing One-Fourth of Remainder—Debts First Deducted. Where a will first provides for the payment of the testator’s debts, and directs an appraisement of all the property, and a sale of sufficient to pay “special bequests hereinafter named, and also my debts and for the - portion to be set aside for my daughter,” the debts are a first charge on the estate, to be first paid, together with special bequests, and expenses of administration, before ascertaining the “one-fourth of the remainder of my estate,” bequeathed to his daughter “after the foregoing bequests have been provided for.”</p> <p>Same—Appraisement—Bequest of One-Fourth of Estate— Value at Time of Division—Construction of Clause. Where a will first provided that an appraisement should be made of all the testator’s property, and that sufficient be sold to pay the “special bequests hereinafter named, also my debts, and for the portion to be set apart” for his daughter, and placed in.trust for the daughter one-fourth of the remainder of the estate “on value as found by appraisement,” the will contemplates an appraisement of the remainder, different from the original appraisement, and a division of one-fourth in value at the time of setting it apart for the daughter.</p> <p>Same—Bequest oe Devise—Construction—Payment of Net Income—Reference to Money. Where a will, after making provision for the payment of the testator’s debts and certain special bequests, provides that “one-fourth of the remainder of my estate . . . shall be placed in trust” for his daughter, and that “the net income from the aforesaid amount shall be paid” to her for life, and in case of her death without issue, “said money shall again become a part of my general estate,” the provision for the daughter is a bequest and not a devise, alt