Connecticut General Life Ins. Co. v. Peterson, 75-CV-38-SW.

• Decision Date: 06 January 1978
• Docket Number: No. 75-CV-38-SW.,75-CV-38-SW.
• Parties: CONNECTICUT GENERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. Stephen Jesse PETERSON, Sandra Jacquiline Barnes, Mary Katherine Potter and Emery Melton, Executor of the Estate of Wilbur Payne Peterson, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

442 F. Supp. 533

CONNECTICUT GENERAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. Stephen Jesse PETERSON, Sandra Jacquiline Barnes, Mary Katherine Potter and Emery Melton, Executor of the Estate of Wilbur Payne Peterson, Defendants.

No. 75-CV-38-SW.

United States District Court, W. D. Missouri, Southwestern Division.

January 6, 1978.

Glenn A. Burkart, Springfield, Mo., for plaintiff.

Joseph A. Bohrer, Springfield, Mo., for defendant Peterson.

Charles M. Edwards, Joplin, Mo., for defendant Potter.

L. R. Buehner, Joplin, Mo., for defendant Barnes.

J. Edward Sweeney, Monett, Mo., for defendant Melton.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

RUSSELL G. CLARK, District Judge.

This is an action filed under the provisions of the interpleader act, 28 U.S.C. § 1335, § 1397 and § 2361 to determine who is entitled to receive the proceeds of a certificate of life insurance issued by plaintiff, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company to Wilbur Payne Peterson. The certificate was issued pursuant to a policy of group life insurance issued to the Gulf Oil Corporation, the former employer of the insured, Wilbur Payne Peterson. The certificate was issued on March 1, 1966. At the time the complaint was filed there was due under the certificate $13,500.00 together with accumulated interest in the amount of $202.50. Thereafter the insurer paid the amount due on the certificate into the registry of this court and also filed a motion for summary judgment and allowance of attorneys fees and suit expenses which was granted; and the plaintiff-insurer was discharged from all liability. A balance of $13,330.32 was left to be distributed to the claimants determined to be entitled thereto by this Court. The Court also issued an order restraining the defendants from instituting any proceedings in any other court affecting the policy in question or the proceeds thereof. Defendants Stephen Jesse Peterson and Sandra Jacquiline Barnes are the sole surviving children of Wilbur Payne Peterson; Mary Katherine Potter is a stepdaughter of the insured; and defendant Emery Melton is executor of the estate of the insured having been duly appointed by the Probate Court of Barry County, Missouri.

All of the claimants except Emery Melton have filed motions for summary judgment stating that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact with each movant maintaining a right to a judgment as a matter of law; and defendant Melton has stipulated to all material facts necessary for the determination of this cause.

Basically, all material facts which have been agreed to between the parties are outlined as follows:

1. On February 8, 1966 Wilbur Payne Peterson (hereafter referred to as insured) completed and executed an application for group life insurance in which he designated as beneficiaries thereof his wife, Anna Mae Peterson, or his son, Stephen Jesse Peterson.

2. The insuror issued the certificate of life insurance effective March 1, 1966.

3. Anna Mae Peterson died February 7, 1974 leaving defendant Stephen Jesse Peterson as the sole surviving named beneficiary to the said life insurance policy.

4. The insured died testate May 7, 1975 maintaining the certificate of insurance in effect until the date of his death.

5. At all times after the certificate of insurance was issued the insured was the sole owner.

6. The insured never made any attempt from the date of the application to the date of his death to change the beneficiary named in the certificate of insurance in accordance with the policy or certificate provisions governing changes in beneficiary.

In regard to the designation of the named beneficiary under the policy, the certificate provided as follows: "When the insurance company receives due proof of your death, your life insurance will be paid to the beneficiary you have designated on the insurance record maintained by Gulf Oil Corporation" and "you may name a new beneficiary or designate a new method of payment of the proceeds of your insurance by filing with your superior . . . a request for such change on a form provided for this purpose. These changes become effective only upon receipt of the written request by the Gulf Oil Corporation but without prejudice to the insurance company on account of any payment made by the insurance company before receipt of your request."

7. On February 26, 1974 the insured executed a Last Will and Testament in which he provided in Paragraph Second thereof: "I hereby give, devise and bequeath all of the monies and security which I may have on hand at the time of my death, including but not limited to cash on hand, bank and savings accounts, retirement funds, and/or insurance policies, stocks and bonds of any and all kinds to Mary Katherine Potter and Sandra Jacquiline Barnes equally, share and share alike."

8. In Paragraph Third of the will it was provided: "I hereby give, devise and bequeath all the rest and remainder of my estate, whether real, personal or mixed and wheresoever located to my son Stephen Jesse Peterson to have and to hold absolutely."

9. In Paragraph Fourth of the will it was provided: "It is my will that my just debts, funeral expenses and the expenses of probate all be taken from the residuary devised to my son, Stephen Jesse Peterson, and that the disposition of my monies and securities as devised and bequested in the second section hereof remain intact."

10. At the time of his death, the insured possessed certain real estate in Barry and Jasper Counties, a bank checking account with a balance of $353.89; a life insurance policy with Homesteaders Life Company in the face amount of $1,000.00 payable at his death to Greenlee Funeral Home. The real estate in Jasper County was sold to pay estate debts and the real estate in Barry County had a reasonable value in excess of $35,000.00. Funds from the Homesteaders policy in the amount of $1,009.28 (face amount of policy plus accrued interest) were paid to the estate.

11. On or about January 10, 1969 the insured and his wife executed separate wills in which among other things they each devised all of the property except real estate located in Barry County, Missouri to be divided equally between Mary Katherine Potter, Sandra Jacquiline Barnes and Stephen Jesse Peterson with the further provision that the real estate located in Barry County, Missouri was to go to the bodily heirs of the sons and daughters in being at the time of testator's (testatrix) death of Mary Katherine Potter, Sandra Jacquiline Barnes and Stephen Jesse Peterson.

Defendant Peterson contends that he is entitled to the policy benefits on the basis that he was the sole surviving beneficiary named on the certificate.

Defendants Potter and Barnes claim the insurance proceeds on two theories. First, that the will of the deceased was effective in changing the beneficiary on the certificate of insurance; and second, under the doctrine of election to the effect that Stephen Jesse Peterson could not take under Paragraph Fourth of the will and at the same time renounce the effectiveness of Paragraph Second of the will. The executor contends that the will expressed a clear and unequivocable intent that the proceeds from the insurance certificate shall be disposed of according to the will and that under the laws of the state of Missouri is payable into the estate.

The Court will dispose of this case on the basis that, under Missouri law, the insured's will effectively changed the beneficiary from Stephen Jesse Peterson to Mary Katherine Potter and Sandra Jacquiline Barnes and judgment will hereafter be rendered accordingly. Therefore, it is not necessary to consider the theory of defendants Potter and Barnes that under the doctrine of election defendant Peterson could not take under Paragraph Fourth of the will and at the same time renounce the effectiveness of Paragraph Second of the will. In passing however, this Court finds that it clearly was not the intention of the testator that defendant Peterson was to receive the proceeds of the life insurance policy and also take under Paragraph Fourth of the will, the residuary clause.

The rule of election is well set forth in the cases of Ball v. Ball, 165 Mo. 312, 65 S.W. 552 (1901) and Lansdale v. Dearing, 351 Mo. 356, 173 S.W.2d 25 (1943). This doctrine will not be discussed other than to state that it is based upon the equitable ground that no man can be permitted to claim inconsistent rights with regard to the same subject.

In construing a will a testator's intention is to be ascertained from the entire will and, if possible, every clause must have some operation and be effective for some purpose. Shaw v. Wertz, 369 S.W.2d 215 (Mo.1963). In arriving at the intention of the testator, the intent of the instrument is to be ascertained from the instrument as a whole or from the "four corners" so as to give effect to all its provisions. Teller v. Kaufman, 426 F.2d 128 (8th Cir. 1970). It is also the general rule in construing a will that the general testamentary scheme may be considered as based on testator's intent and the will should always be interpreted to carry out as far as possible the general scheme or intent as shown by the entire document. Mercantile Trust Company v. Sowell, 359 S.W.2d 719 (Mo.1962). In determining the intent of the testator a trial court may properly consider the will as a whole in light of the circumstances surrounding the testator when the will was executed. Gannett v. Shepley, 351 Mo. 286, 172 S.W.2d 857 (1943). In this case when the certificate of insurance was issued the insured named his wife as the primary beneficiary and the defendant Peterson as a contingent beneficiary. At the time the will was executed the insured's wife was dead. In the interim however, the insured and his wife had executed wills indicating an intent generally to divide all the properties of which they die seized equally between the three children (including the insured's stepdaughter). This particular will was executed by the...