Ogle v. Ogle
Tennessee Supreme Court
880 S.W.2d 668 (1994)
General Ogle's will left property to his wife Loretta (plaintiff) "for her lifetime and at her death the remainder, if any at that time" divided among his three children from a prior marriage (defendants); after his death, Loretta executed a deed purporting to convey the property in fee simple to her own son from a prior marriage, Fred Loveday (plaintiff), prompting Loretta and Loveday to seek a declaratory judgment that the will granted Loretta a life estate coupled with an unlimited power of disposition. The trial court found the will granted only a life estate without disposition power, but an intermediate appellate court reversed, and the children appealed.
Whether a will devising property to a beneficiary for life, with the remainder "if any" at her death passing to others, grants the life beneficiary an unlimited power of disposition absent express language conferring that power.