## Facts

- Letitia G. Lewis owned farm land in New Madrid County, Missouri, and died in 1926 with a will that was probated.
- The testatrix was survived by two nieces, including Hattie L. Lewis, and one nephew.
- The will devised all real and personal property to Hattie “so long as she remains single and unmarried.”
- The will further provided that if Hattie married, the property would be divided equally among Hattie and the other niece and nephew (one-third each).
- Hattie never married and remained in continuous possession of the farm from the testatrix’s death through the litigation.
- Descendants of the other niece and nephew were joined as defendants due to the deaths of those original beneficiaries.

## Issues

1. Whether the will gave Hattie a life estate in the whole property or a fee simple subject to divestiture upon marriage.
2. Whether the “single and unmarried” condition was void as an unlawful restraint on marriage, and if not, what effect it had on Hattie’s title.

## Decision

- The court reversed the trial court’s construction.
- It held Hattie received a fee simple estate subject to divestiture if she married, rather than only a life estate.
- It held the marriage condition was enforceable as a valid partial restraint on marriage.
- Because Hattie had not married, no divestiture occurred, and she held present fee simple title subject to the condition.

## Legal Principles

- A will is construed to carry out the testator’s intent as expressed by the instrument read as a whole.
- Broad language of present gift, followed by a “so long as” condition and an express gift-over upon the condition’s occurrence, generally indicates a defeasible fee (fee simple subject to executory limitation/condition subsequent), not a life estate, absent clear life-estate terms.
- Total restraints on marriage are generally void as against public policy, but a condition that operates as a partial restraint connected to a support purpose may be valid and enforced according to its terms.

## Conclusion

The court construed the devise as an immediate transfer of a defeasible fee to Hattie, cut down only if she married, and it upheld the marriage condition as a permissible partial restraint; since the condition never occurred, Hattie retained title subject to the contingent gift-over.


Lewis v. Searles, 452 S.W.2d 153 (Mo. 1970)