Olive v. Biggs

The document before us for construction is what is called a joint will. Ginn v. Edmundson, 173 N.C. 85, 91 S.E. 696; Atkinson on Wills, 2d ed., § 49; 57 Am. Jur., Wills, § 681. In order to determine its effect upon the present right of the surviving husband to convey an unencumbered fee simple estate in (a) land owned by the wife alone at the time of her death, (b) land then owned by them as tenants by the entireties, and (c) land owned, at the time of the wife's death, by the husband alone, we must determine first the effect of the document as a will and second its effect, if any, as a contract.