Bryngelson v. State Bd. of Control (In re Bryngelson's Estate)

• Decision Date: 04 February 1941
• Citation: 237 Wis. 7,296 N.W. 63
• Parties: In re BRYNGELSON'S ESTATE. BRYNGELSON v. STATE BOARD OF CONTROL.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

237 Wis. 7

296 N.W. 63

In re BRYNGELSON'S ESTATE.BRYNGELSON

v.STATE BOARD OF CONTROL.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Feb. 4, 1941.

Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court for Florence County; A. F. Murphy, Judge.

Proceedings in the matter of the estate of Alfred O. Bryngelson, deceased, wherein Verner Bryngelson filed a petition for an order declaring that the proceeds of a life policy be declared the property of him and his brothers, and wherein the State Board of Control, predecessor of the State Department of Mental Hygiene, filed a claim against the estate and filed objections to the petition and to the granting of the order prayed for. From a judgment adjudging that the proceeds of the policy belonged to the estate and were subject to the payment of the debts of the decedent, Charles Bryngelson, administrator of the estate of Alfred O. Bryngelson, deceased, appeals.-[By Editorial Staff.]

Appeal dismissed.

The appellant, Charles Bryngelson, as administrator of the estate of his brother, Alfred O. Bryngelson, deceased, appeals from a judgment of the circuit court for Florence County entered July 27, 1940, whereby it was adjudged that the proceeds of a certain insurance policy on the life of the deceased Alfred O. Bryngelson belonged to the estate of said deceased and were subject to the payment of the debts of the deceased.

The case was tried to the court upon stipulated facts. The substance of the court's findings is as follows: Alfred O. Bryngelson, deceased, was duly committed to the Winnebago State Hospital on July 8, 1920, and remained there until December 2, 1920, when he was paroled. He re-entered the hospital on October 8, 1924, and remained there continuously until August 8, 1935, on which date he was transferred to the Marinette County Asylum, where he remained until his death on September 22, 1936. On December 22, 1925, the county court of Florence County appointed Charles Bryngelson guardian of said Alfred O. Bryngelson, incompetent.

Among the assets of said guardianship was a twenty-year endowment policy issued by the Detroit Life Insurance Company of Detroit, Michigan, on the life of said Alfred O. Bryngelson, dated March 24, 1917, in the sum of $1,000. By the terms and conditions of said policy of insurance, the full sum thereof was payable to Alfred O. Bryngelson, the insured, on March 20, 1937, should the said insured be living at that date, and in the event that he died before that date, the proceeds of the policy were payable to Ottilia Bryngelson, the mother of the insured. The insurance policy further provided that the insured reserved the right to change the designated beneficiary; but that if said beneficiary (the mother) does not survive the death of the insured, the proceeds of the policy shall be paid to the executors, administrators, or assigns of the insured, unless otherwise provided in or by endorsement on the policy. There were no other provisions or endorsements on the policy affecting the payment thereof to the insured's executors or administrators, nor was there any assignment of the policy.

By the provisions of the policy it was payable at the time of the death of said Alfred O. Bryngelson, incompetent, to the executors or administrators of his estate. Upon his death, the insurance company paid the proceeds of the policy to Charles Bryngelson as administrator of the estate of Alfred O. Bryngelson, deceased.

Ottilia Bryngelson died some time in the year 1928, leaving surviving her husband, Anton Bryngelson, who died July 1, 1934, Alfred O. Bryngelson, the incompetent now deceased, Charles, Emil, and Verner Bryngelson, children of said Ottilia and Anton Bryngelson. At the time of the issuance of the policy on March 24, 1917, all of said children were over the age of twenty-one years.

The State Board of Control of Wisconsin, predecessor of the State of Department of Mental Hygiene of Wisconsin, filed a claim against the estate of Alfred O. Bryngelson, deceased in the sum of $4,159.30 for maintenance furnished the incompetent.

As conclusions of law the court found that the rights of Ottilia Bryngelson, as beneficiary, terminated upon her death; that her rights to the proceeds of the policy did not survive in favor of her children, Charles, Emil, and Verner Bryngelson; that the provisions of the policy, providing for payment to the executors or administrators of the estate of the insured in the event the designated beneficiary does not survive the death of the insured, control the disposition of the proceeds of the policy; that pursuant to the terms of the policy, the proceeds are payable to the administrator of the estate of the incompetent, subject to the claims of his creditors; and that the proceeds of the policy paid by the insurance company to Charles Bryngelson, as administrator of the incompetent's estate, is...