White v. Brown, Supreme Court of Tennessee, 1977
Fact:
Mrs. Jessie Lide died in 1973 leaving a will that said that Mrs. Evelyn White (plaintiff) to live in her house and the house should not be sold. Mrs. Lide was a widow and had no children. She lived in the house with two sisters. Mrs. White and her husband who was Mrs. Lide’s brother and her daughter Sandra White Perry lived with Mrs. Lide. Mrs. White and her daughter (as the executrix) filed a suit to obtain construction of a will that Mrs. White is vested to have a fee simple title to the home. 12 nieces and nephews of Mrs. Lide (the defendants) contend that the will only convey a life estate to Mrs. White and the remainder to go to the defendant under intestate succession.
Procedural History:
The judge held that the will conveyed only a life interest in the home to Mrs. White and ordered the house to be sold and the proceeds would be shared among the beneficiaries.
Issue:
When terms of a will are ambiguous, can the property be passed as a fee simple absolute instead of a life estate?
Holdings:
Majority Opinion:
Yes. Mrs. Lide passed a fee simple absolute to Mrs. White. Although the will said that Mrs. Lide did not want the house to be sold, her attempt to retrain on alienation was void because the evidence is insufficient to indicate her intent to grant an estate less than a fee simple absolute. As long as the language of the will is ambiguous, there is a strong presumption that a fee simple absolute was intended. A fee simple absolute was presumed considering the nature of the estate and conformity with the public policy.
The decrees of the Court of Appeals and the trial court are reversed.
Dissenting Opinion:
The will made it clear that the deceased conveyed a life estate of the house only to Mrs. White because the will said that “my house is not to be sold”. The will eliminated a right to sell the land from Mrs. White and granted an estate less than that of a fee simple absolute to Mrs. White.
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