Ex Parte Steyn [1914] ZATPD 78 (11 July 1914)

Will.-Mutual will.-Codicil.-Bequest to children per stirpes subject to life usufruct in favour of survivor.-Transfer to children by survivor.

Under a mutual will between husband and wife the testator instituted as his heirs the survivor together with all the children of the marriage and their lawful descendants pei- stil'pes in equal shares subject to a life usufruct in favour of the survivor. The testators, by a codicil of even date, bequeathed to the survivor the farm Rietkuil, subject to the proviso that the farm should remain the free and unencumbered property of the survivor until death and it was then to become the property of the children, but it was not to be included as an asset in the property of the first-aying, but only on the death of the survivor.
Held, that the will and codicil must be read together, that "children" in the, codicil must be read as including the representatives per stirpes of any child predeceasing the testators and that the survivor should have the usufruct and
the children the reversion of the said farm. Leave was, therefore, granted to the survivor to transfer the farm to the children.