## Facts

- A.J. Holloway and his wife, Manervy Holloway, owned real property (about seventy acres) and executed a deed transferring the land in connection with an agreement for their care.
- The deed’s granting/consideration language named only G.P. Holloway as grantee and stated the conveyance was conditioned on G.P. providing care for A.J. and Manervy during their lifetimes and paying their funeral and burial expenses.
- The deed’s habendum clause stated: “To have and to hold the same to the said G.P. Holloway and wife Mae Holloway and their heirs and assigns forever.”
- A.J. and Manervy Holloway later died.
- G.P. Holloway later died, and his wife Mae Holloway survived him.
- The heirs of G.P. Holloway filed suit seeking partition of the property, claiming the deed conveyed fee simple title only to G.P., which then descended to them, subject only to Mae’s homestead and dower rights.
- Mae Holloway responded and asserted that the deed created a tenancy by the entirety in G.P. and Mae, so that she became the sole owner in fee simple upon G.P.’s death by operation of survivorship.
- The trial court held the deed conveyed fee simple title only to G.P. Holloway, treated the habendum clause as repugnant to the granting clause, and ruled for the heirs.
- Mae Holloway appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a deed that names only the husband in the granting clause, but names both spouses in the habendum clause, should be construed to convey an estate by the entirety to the spouses.
2. Whether the habendum clause should be disregarded as repugnant to the granting clause, or read together with the rest of the deed to carry out the grantors’ intent.
3. If an estate by the entirety was created, whether the surviving spouse took the entire fee simple title by survivorship, defeating the heirs’ partition claim.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Tennessee reversed the trial court’s decree.
- The Court construed the deed as a whole and concluded it conveyed an estate by the entirety to G.P. Holloway and his wife, Mae Holloway.
- Because an estate by the entirety includes a right of survivorship, Mae Holloway, as surviving spouse, owned the property in fee simple.
- The cause was remanded for further proceedings consistent with Mae Holloway’s sole ownership.

## Legal Principles

- A deed is construed from the instrument as a whole, with the aim of carrying out the grantor’s intention as expressed in all its parts.
- A court should give effect to every clause of a deed when reasonably possible and should not declare provisions void for repugnancy unless they cannot be reconciled.
- The presence of a spouse in the habendum clause (“to A and wife B and their heirs and assigns forever”) may show an intent to convey to both spouses, even if the granting clause names only one spouse.
- When the deed and the surrounding transaction show the grantors contemplated performance by both husband and wife as the bargain for the conveyance, that context supports reading the deed as benefiting both spouses.
- A conveyance to spouses as tenants by the entirety carries survivorship, so the surviving spouse takes the entire estate upon the other’s death and the deceased spouse’s heirs take no interest.

## Conclusion

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that, despite the granting clause naming only G.P. Holloway, the deed’s habendum clause and the overall transaction showed an intent to convey the property to G.P. Holloway and his wife Mae as tenants by the entirety; therefore, Mae took the entire fee simple title by survivorship upon G.P.’s death and the heirs could not partition the property.


Grayson v. Holloway, 313 S.W.2d 555 (1958)