Estate of Groen, In re

• Decision Date: 12 January 1954
• Docket Number: No. 48400,48400
• Citation: 62 N.W.2d 143,245 Iowa 634
• Parties: In re GROEN'S ESTATE. TROFF et al. v. GROEN et al.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 143

62 N.W.2d 143

245 Iowa 634

In re GROEN'S ESTATE TROFF et al. v. GROEN et al.

No. 48400.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 12, 1954.

Rehearing Denied March 12, 1954.

Della Welter, Linnan & Lynch, D. C. Hutchison, Algona, for appellants.

Fisher & DeWaay, Rock Rapids, for appellees.

BLISS, Chief Justice.

The testator, John Groen, a resident of Winnebago County, Iowa, died November 29, 1952 at the age of 82 years. On November 25, 1949 he executed his last will and testament, bequeathing and devising all of his property to Alida Groen, the widow of Dick Groen, a deceased brother of the testator. She died on November 28, 1952, the day preceding the day of the testator's death, leaving as her only heirs twelve children, who are the proponents of John Groen's will and appellees herein.

The testator never married. He was survived by no brother or sister. He left as his nearest next of kin several nieces and nephews. Contestant, John Troff, is the son of a deceased sister. The other contestants are daughters of a deceased brother, Sidney. The proponents are children of his deceased brother, Dick, and his wife, Alida, as noted above. The testator was also survived by children of his deceased brother, George, but they are not parties to this action.

On December 18, 1952, contestants filed objections to the will on the following grounds: (1) the testator was of unsound mind and lacked testamentary capacity; (2) the testator was so under the influence of others that the will was their will, and not his will; and (3) the will was not executed or published as required by the statutes of Iowa. The last ground (3) was withdrawn. During the trial, contestants amended their objections by adding a 4th ground, to-wit, that when the will was executed the testator was '79 years of age, in failing physical and mental health, of poor eyesight and could neither read or write, and was wholly unable to understand or comprehend the contents thereof and did not in fact know, understand or appreciate the contents of said will.'

At the close of contestants' testimony, proponents filed a motion for a directed verdict in their behalf on the ground that contestants had failed to establish any of their objections to the probate of the will. The court then said to the attorneys for proponents: 'You may proceed with your argument * * * before you do so, I think I may say that you won't need to spend any time on that part of the motion relating to unsoundness of mind and lack of testamentary capacity on the date of the execution of the will in question, as I am convinced that such unsoundness of mind or lack of testamentary capacity has not been established sufficiently to permit that issue being submitted to the jury, and that part of the motion directed to that phase of the case should be and is sustained.' At the conclusion of the argument on the motion, the court said: 'Division I of said motion having reference to unsoundness of mind or lack of testamentary capacity of decedent as alleged by contestants is sustained, and the balance of said motion is at this time overruled.'

We are in accord with the conclusion of the able and experienced trial court that the issue of testamentary incapacity justified limited consideration. Many of the 339 pages of the printed record are devoted to testimony on this issue, which is largely of the same nature and repetitious. As too often happens in litigation of this character the testimony of the witness is strongly influenced by his interest.

John Groen came to this country when a boy less than ten years old. Such book education as he received was limited to the lower grades of the schools. There is testimony for contestants that if he could read at all it was not 'much'. The same is true of his writing. The only evidence in the record is that he could write his name. Several specimens of his signature in the record are clearly legible. While it may be said that he was an illiterate man, it cannot be said that he was an ignorant man. By his industry, thrift and good judgment he acquired a very comfortable competence. He became the owner of an eighty-acre farm in Hancock County, Iowa, just south of the town of Woden, and a quarter section farm in Winnebago County, Iowa, near the towns of Buffalo Center, in that county, and the town of Titonka in Kossuth County. He never personally operated these farms but leased them to others. He lived as a bachelor on a ten-acre tract on which he raised some crops and livestock.

He was a stocky, heavy-set man about five and one-half feet tall, and with advancing years he became very heavy for his height. So much so that his legs and feet troubled him and he had much difficulty in walking, and especially in stepping to a higher or lower elevation. With the aid of a cane or two he could get about slowly on a level surface, but needed help in getting in or out of a vehicle. This disability compelled him to give up his bachelor quarters and he lived about among his relatives in the neighborhood of his farms. For a time he stayed with the contestant, John Troff, who was a bachelor, and then in the family of contestants Grace Wubben, and Henrietta Stratman, and later in the home of Anna Honken, also a contestant. During his later years he made his home with the latter.

Contestant Troff and the contesting nieces and their husbands and children were witnesses in the trial. Their testimony followed the customary pattern in these contests. They told how the testator after 1942 failed physically and mentally, grew neglectful and careless of his person and clothes, forgot where he put his personal articles, misplaced his money pouch and papers, failed to recognize on one occasion a child in one of the families, sometimes repeated his questions after they were answered, was untidy at the table, his sight and hearing failed, had difficulty in controlling his body eliminations, sat around and slept, counted the rungs in the chairs, had to be helped up and down stairs, and in and out of automobiles, and be taken to the bank and to the grain elevators, to the barber, and the banker or they had to come to where he was staying.

The matters covered by this testimony were almost entirely due to physical disabilities and ailments not uncommon in old age. There was no evidence that he did not manage his property, or business affairs or that any one advised him in these matters. Even the evidence in behalf of the contestants is all to the contrary. He made a confidant of no one. He was distrustful of others. He kept his business transactions to himself. When any one surprised him when examining his money wallet or counting money he immediately put it away. He leased his farm land usually on share rent. He attended to the collection of his crop checks at the elevators himself. He did his banking business with his banker at Titonka at the bank or the banker came to where he was staying. His banker testified: that Mr. Groen sometimes asked his advice in bank transactions, but did not always follow it; that he determined for himself when he came to the bank with money how much he would deposit in a certificate, or in his checking account, or would carry away in cash; that he attended to the renewal of his numerous certificates of deposit, and whether he would take the interest in cash or leave it in the renewed certificates. He usually paid his taxes personally, in cash or by checks, some of which were in evidence. He remembered to attend to his income tax reports. On one occasion he asked the contestant, Mrs. Wubben to help him in this. Usually he would give the data for his income tax to Mr. or Mrs. Honken with whom he was staying, and they would take it to the bank and Mr. Boyken, president of the bank, or one of his sons would prepare his income tax reports. This continued during the last years of his life.

There was neither lay, nor expert, opinion testimony given that the testator was of unsound mind when he made the will, nor at any other time. No such inquiry was directed to the eighteen or more witnesses who testified for contestants. There was no testimony that would support such answer.

I. The essentials of testamentary capacity are that the maker of the will then had the mental capacity: (1) to understand the nature of the instrument he was executing; (2) to know and understand the nature and extent of his property; (3) to remember the natural objects of his bounty; and (4) to know the testamentary disposition he wished to make. We have so announced from our earliest to our latest decisions so that repetition of citations is needless. See Perkins v. Perkins, 116 Iowa 253, 259, 90 N.W. 55; In re Estate of Rogers, 242 Iowa 627, 630-631, 47 N.W.2d 818; In re Ransom's Estate, Iowa, 57 N.W.2d 89, 108. The burden was on the contestants to establish that testator was lacking in one or more of these essentials. There is no such evidence in the record.

Though contestants and some of their witnesses testified that the testator had failed mentally during his later years, they gave evidence of no facts to support their opinions. The facts as disclosed by other testimony offered by contestants establish that though old age was taking something from him mentally he continued to attend to important business matters down to his last sickness in his final days. William Boyken, president of the Titonka Savings Bank, for many years was in closer touch with John Groen in a business way than any one else. The following matters are from his testimony as a witness for contestants. Groen had been a customer of the bank for more than twenty years. He had a safety deposit box in the bank for a good many years. For many years he used the bank simply as a place to deposit money on time certificates. He had money on interest at the bank continuously since he became a customer of the bank. He always carried a substantial amount of money on his person. He paid cash for his purchases and...