Rickner v. Kessler

Citations

• 138 Ill. 636
• 28 N.E. 973

Syllabus

<p>1. Will—intention, of testatoi—ascertained from the language of the entire will. In arriving at the intention of a testator it is necessary to-consider each and every provision of his will. The intent must be determined from the language of the whole will, and no construction should be adopted which does violence to the language of any provision, so long as the different provisions can be harmonized and construed together.</p> <p>2. Same—life estate—devise construed. Where a testator, by his will, shows an intention to give his widow a life estate in all his real estate, that intention will not be defeated by a devise of certain lots in the next succeeding clause to a son or daughter in fee simple, but the widow will take a life estate in such lots, and the son or daughter the remainder.</p> <p>3. A testator devised to his wife all his estate, real and personal, for life, “to have and to hold the same for her sole and separate use * * * during her lifetime,” subject to certain burdens annexed thereto in subsequent clauses, and then devised certain real estate to her in fee, and also certain other lots to his son and daughter in fee : Held, that the devise of the life estate to the wife was not destroyed or in any manlier set aside by the subsequent devises in fee to her and to the son and daughter of the testator, and that the latter took no interest in the property devised to them until the death of the wife.</p> <p>4. A testator, by the second clause of his will, devised to his wife a life estate in all his property, real and personal, and after her decease, then to his son and daughter the certain shares thereafter set forth. The devise to the wife was upon the condition that she was to continue his business then carried on, and from the profits thereof, and from the rents derived from all the property, pay the taxes and certain incumbrances on the land, and provide for the welfare and comfort of her mother. The wife paid the taxes and incumbrances and obtaine