Zimmerman v. Hafer

Citations

• 81 Md. 347
• 32 A. 316
• 1895 Md. LEXIS 80

Syllabus

<p>Construction of Wills — Declaration of Testamentary Intention — Erroneous Recital in Will — Devise by Implication — Disinheriting Heir — Reference to Other Instrument.</p> <p>Evidence of the declarations of a testator are inadmissible to establish his testamentary intention or to aid in the interpretation of his will.</p> <p>If a will does not itself purport to make a particular devise, then no matter how plainly it may appear by some other paper that the testator designed that title should pass to certain property, it does not pass under the will, in the absence of apt words, or of a clear intent, that the title should pass by the will and not by the other paper.</p> <p>If an erroneous recital in a will be of a gift contained in the same instrument, the recital may operate as being in itself a devise or bequest by implication of that very property. But where the erroneous recital refers to an estate created by another instrument, such recital cannot operate to create an estate by implication.</p> <p>An explicit declaration in a will that the heir shall not inherit, is wholly ineffectual to defeat his right, unless there be a valid devise of the estate to some one else.</p> <p>A executed a voluntary deed conveying certain land to B, and on the same day he made a will in which, after reciting the execution of the deed, he gave and bequeathed to B all his personal property of every description, and declared that he thus gave all his estate to B, ‘ ‘because he is married to my niece, and I have been' living with them for many years, and have a high regard and affection for them, and desire that they shall enjoy the same to the exclusion of my other relatives.” A few days after the execution of the deed and will, the testator died, and upon a bill in equity against B by the heirs at law of A the deed was vacated, because it had been obtained by undue influence. B was in possession of the land and then filed a bill quia timet to have his title to the same established