In re Estate of Clifton
Decision Date | 03 April 1928 |
Citation | 218 N.W. 926,207 Iowa 71 |
Parties | IN RE ESTATE OF CHARLES C. CLIFTON |
Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
REHEARING DENIED DECEMBER 14, 1928.
Appeal from Washington District Court.--H. F. WAGNER, Judge.
Proceedings in probate for construction of the will of Charles C Clifton, deceased. By this will, two thirds of the estate was left in trust in the hands of the executor, Fred E. Palmer for testator's only child, Clarence, with a provision that, if Clarence died without leaving any heirs, testator wanted the remaining part of the estate left in trust to some "old ladies' home * * * located nearest to Washington, Iowa." Clarence survived testator. While the trust was still in force, Clarence died, without issue bequeathing his interest in the trust estate to Carrie M. Powell, Genevieve Haw, and Charles E. Lauder, his maternal aunts and uncle. Testator's brother, W. H. Clifton, makes claim to share in the distribution, and Mrs. Powell, Mrs. Haw, and Mr. Lauder claim the fund, under the will of Clarence. The Mary O. Coldren Home of Aged Women, of Iowa City, and the Washington Home, of Washington, Iowa, make claim, under the bequest over to "some old ladies' home." The trial court found in favor of the claimants under the will of Clarence. The other claimants appeal. --Reversed.
Reversed.
Livingston & Eicher, Clearman & Olsen, and Morrison & Morrison, for appellants.
Roberts & Roberts and Brookhart Bros., for appellees.
MORLING, J. FAVILLE and ALBERT, JJ., concur, DE GRAFF, J., concurs specially. WAGNER, J., not participating. STEVENS, C. J., and EVANS and KINDIG, JJ., dissent.
Stated in general terms, the principal question argued is whether Clarence took a transmissible right of property or interest in the trust estate. In our view of the case, it is necessary to consider only three questions: One and two (inseparable), whether the devise over if Clarence died "without leaving any heirs" is limited to the event of his death in testator's lifetime, and whether testator used the word "heirs" in its technical sense, or in the limited sense of descendants or heirs of the body. Three, it being assumed that the devise to Clarence was or might be of the absolute equitable or legal ownership, whether such ownership was base, qualified, or terminable. The will of Charles C. Clifton provided in the first clause for payment of debts. The second clause was a bequest of one third of the estate to the widow, Martha E. Clifton. The controversy relates solely to the third clause, which reads as follows:
Testator was married three times. His first wife (May Lauder) died in 1894, a few days after the birth of Clarence C. Clifton, their only child. The second marriage terminated by the death of the wife. The third marriage took place February 29, 1912, the wife by that marriage, Martha E., surviving testator. There were no children by the second or third marriage. Clarence made his home with his father until his father's death, which was December 24, 1916. The father's will is dated April 10, 1914. Testator's age is not shown, but his widow, at the time of the trial, was 75. The widow's testimony is that Clarence
She testified that they No mail came from them. The testimony of testator's brother, W. H. Clifton, who lived in testator's vicinity, shows that he and testator and a sister, who died after the making of the will, were very intimate; that he and testator associated together continuously; that they talked over their relationships to some extent.
Testator was the only one of his father's children who married. Testator had a large number of collateral relatives. The claimant Charles E. Lauder lived at Monmouth, Illinois, Mrs. Haw in Ottumwa, Iowa, Mrs. Powell in Kansas City, Missouri. Charles E. Lauder, testifying in behalf of himself and his sisters, gave the names of six brothers and sisters of Clarence's mother, five of whom were living. One of those living had four or five children. One sister had died (he says),
Charles has three children; Mrs. Haw one. Charles did not testify, nor was there any further evidence regarding the social relationship between Charles C. Clifton or Clarence and the first wife's relatives.
The record does not show where Clarence lived after his father's death. Clarence made a will dated March 4, 1925, in which he described himself as being of Kansas City, Missouri. By a separate section of the will, Clarence recited that he had an estate in Washington, Iowa, left to him by his father in trust, of which F. E. Palmer was trustee, amounting to some $ 12,000 or $ 13,000, and bequeathed it to Mrs. Carrie M. Powell, Mrs. George Haw, and Charles E. Lauder. Clarence died in September, 1925.
The Mary O. Coldren Home for Aged Women has been in operation at Iowa City, Iowa, since 1908, accommodating an average of twelve women. The Washington Home, of Washington, Iowa, was incorporated August 27, 1925. It has never been in operation.
The testator was a farmer all his life, except that he at one time lived in Washington, Iowa, engaged in the ice business and restaurant business. The will was drawn by his third wife.
The final report of the trustee, F. E. Palmer, filed March 15, 1926, in the district court of Washington County, showed on hand for distribution $ 11,286.60.
The contention in behalf of Clarence's legatees is, in substance, that the two-thirds interest bequeathed to Clarence vested in him
They also argue that:
Though trite and monotonous reiteration to say so, it must be held constantly in mind that the object of testamentary interpretation is to ascertain the purpose of the testator, and when ascertained, to give it effect, if this can be done without violating any settled rule of law. In the search therefor, the court must, as nearly as it can, take its position in the environment of the testator, and in the light of the facts known to him, and in which he wrote the will.
I, II. Does the clause "if my son Clarence dies without leaving any heirs" mean Clarence's death in testator's lifetime, or does it extend to the event of his death after that of testator, without leaving heirs; and, inseparable from this question, does the word "heirs" mean...
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Pringle v. Houghton
...to keep it within the blood line of his family. This court has mentioned the fact in a number of decisions. See In re Estate of Clifton, supra, 207 Iowa 71, 79, 218 N.W. 926; Bladt v. Bladt, 191 Iowa 1344, 1345-1347, 181 N.W. 765; Scofield v. Hadden (supra); Cook v. Underwood, 209 Iowa 641,......