Staab's Estate, In re

• Decision Date: 13 January 1970
• Docket Number: No. 53652,53652
• Citation: 173 N.W.2d 866
• Parties: In the Matter of the ESTATE of Mary Groh STAAB, Deceased. CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF the DIOCESE OF SIOUX CITY, a corporation not for profit, Appellant, v. Mary Groh STAAB'S ESTATE, Appellee, St. Monica's Home, Appellee, Heirs At Law of Mary Groh Staab, Appellees, Good Shepherd's Home, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 866

173 N.W.2d 866

In the Matter of the ESTATE of Mary Groh STAAB, Deceased.

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF the DIOCESE OF SIOUX CITY, a corporation not for profit, Appellant, v. Mary Groh STAAB'S ESTATE, Appellee, St. Monica's Home, Appellee, Heirs At Law of Mary Groh Staab, Appellees, Good Shepherd's Home, Appellee.

No. 53652.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 13, 1970.

James McNally, LeMars, appointed as Guardian ad Litem for persons known or unknown, appellees.

Paul J. Yaneff, Sioux City, for The Good Shepherd's Home, appellee.

REES, Justice.

This is an action for a declaratory judgment under section 633.11, Code. Executors of estate of Mary Groh Staab, deceased, asked the Court for directions respecting the distribution of two shares of the residuary portion of the decedent's estate. From the decree of the trial court determining that a bequest of one-fourth share of the residue lapsed, the appellant appeals. We affirm.

Mary Groh Staab died testate October 4, 1967. Her will under scrutiny here was executed February 3, 1959. Our concern is with Item Nineteenth of the will, which provides:

'Nineteenth. All the rest, residue and remainder of my property of whatever kind or nature, I give, devise and bequeath unto St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, LeMars, Iowa, to be used in payment of church debt or such other purpose as the pastor in charge shall deem proper, St. Monica's Home, Sioux City, Iowa, St. Anthony's Orphanage, Sioux City, Iowa, and Good Shepherd's Home, Sioux City, Iowa, in equal shares, share and share alike.'

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church of LeMars, Iowa and St. Anthony's Orphaniage of Sioux City, Iowa, were in existence at testator's death, and still are, and still perform the functions for which they were organized and exist. St. Monica's Home of Sioux City, Iowa, an Iowa corporation with its principal place of business at Sioux City, was operated by the Sisters of St. Benedict as a home for unwed mothers and children under four years of age, for a period prior to the date of execution of testator's will and until September 1962 when it discontinued its operation for such purpose but retained its corporate identity under the same name and style and on September 16, 1963 commenced operation as a home for retired persons, or Old Folks' Home. It is still operated by the same religious order and the ownership of the physical plant remains unchanged.

Good Shepherd's Home of Sioux City, Iowa, was, at the date of testator's will, an Iowa body corporate with its principal place of business at Sioux City. At the time of the execution of the will it was an institution for the care of disturbed teenage girls who were not able to live in their own homes or could not properly adjust to society, operated by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd with headquarters or mother house in St. Paul, Minnesota. In midyear 1963 the license for the operation of the home was surrendered and the building and grounds were sold to St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, the building was razed and the grounds converted to a parking lot. Thus, Good Shepherd's Home ceased to exist for any purpose over four years prior to testator's death.

Information concerning the discontinuance of operation of Good Shepherd's Home for any purpose, and respecting the change of charitable purposes of St. Monica's Home from a home for unwed mothers and small children to an Old Folks' Home was widely publicized and disseminated throughout the Diocese of Sioux City comprised of approximately the northwest quarter of Iowa, and particularly to the two Catholic parishes in LeMars, the home of testator.

Appellant, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Sioux City, a nonprofit Iowa corporation, is defined as a child care and child placing agency licensed by the State. At the time of trial appellant operated, or had under its jurisdiction St. Estelle's Home, a maternity home, St. Anthony's Home, a child care institution (one of the residuary beneficiaries named in Item Nineteenth of decedent's will), and St. Barbara's, known as Villa Maria, an institution for the care of teenage children.

In their application for a declaratory judgment, the executors of decedent's estate set out all of the foregoing facts, and further represented to the court that at the time of the execution of decedent's will, St. Monica's Home was operated for the care of unwed mothers and children under four years of age, and that its purposes had been diverted to the care of retired citizens, or as an Old Folks' Home. They further represented that since said home has no longer been operated for the purpose of caring for unwed mothers and small children, and in view of the fact that a new home, named Villa Maria, operated by the Catholic Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa, had been erected in Sioux City, and that one wing thereof, known as St. Estelle's, was operated for the care of unwed mothers and children under four years of age, it was the belief of the executors that it was the intention of the testator that the home which would receive the bequest would be a home operated for the care of unwed mothers and children under four years of age, and that it was the intention of testator that said bequest be paid to Villa Maria and not to St. Monica's Home. The executors further represented to the court in their petition for declaratory judgment that Good Shepherd's Home was no longer in existence, but that a wing of Villa Maria, known as St. Barbara's Wing, had been established, having for its purpose the care of disturbed teenage girls, the same function which had been performed by Good Shepherd's Home while it was in existence. Executors represented to the court it was their belief it was the intention of the testator that the bequest provided for in Item Nineteenth of her will for Good Shepherd's Home should be given to a Catholic home in Sioux City operated for the purpose as Good Shepherd's Home had been operated prior to its dissolution, and further represented to the court that in the event the trial court should determine that Good Shepherd's Home was not in existence and should determine that the bequest was not payable to Villa Maria, that the court should construe the will and determine whether or not the bequest to Good Shepherd's Home, as well as the bequest to St. Monica's Home, should be paid to other residuary legatees named in Item Nineteenth of decedent's will, namely, St. Joseph's Church and St. Anthony's Orphanage.

Answer of appellant Catholic Charities set out all of the foregoing pertinent facts and claimed the residuary bequests made by the decedent in Item Nineteenth of her will to Good Shepherd's Home and to St. Monica's Home should be made payable to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Sioux City, or on behalf of Villa Maria, which was then performing the services which had been performed prior by the institutions named.

The trial court in its order and declaratory judgment directed the payment of the portion of the residuary estate devised to St. Monica's Home be paid to said home, and ordered and adjudged that the one-fourth share of the residuary estate which was devised to Good Shepherd's Home should lapse, finding there was no express provision in the will of the testator, or any justifiable construction which might be placed on said will, giving the residuary interest of Good Shepherd's Home to the other residuary legatees named in Item Nineteenth, and ordering the one-fourth interest devised to Good Shepherd's Home should be disposed of as intestate property and pass to the heirs at law of Mary Groh Staab, deceased. The court further found and adjudged there was no express provision in the will of testator, or any justifiable construction which might be placed thereon, requiring that St. Monica's Home be operated for the same purpose as it was operated at the time of the execution of decedent's will, and that St. Monica's Home serving its present purpose qualifies as a devisee.

Appellant relies for reversal upon five propositions: (1) The court erred in finding there was no possible construction which might be placed on the will that would entitle Catholic Charities to the residuary devise given in said will to Good Shepherd's Home. (2) The court erred in failing to find a general charitable intent in the will of testator, and in failing to apply the doctrine of cy pres thereto. (3) The court erred in declaring the residuary devise to Good Shepherd's Home to lapse and to pass under the laws of intestate succession. (4) Section 504.11, Code, applied to the residuary bequest made to Good Shepherd's Home. (5) The court erred in finding that the one-fourth interest provided for in Item Nineteenth of testator's will passed to St. Monica's Home rather than to Catholic Charities.

The first three propositions relied upon by the appellant for reversal all have essentially the same thrust, and will be dealt with together. Propositions four and five will be dealt with separately.

I. Appellant asserts the trial court erred in finding there was no possible construction of the will of Mary Groh Staab which would entitle the appellant to the residuary devise given in said will to Good Shepherd's Home and in failing to find a general charitable intent in testator's will, and in failing to apply the doctrine of cy pres to the residuary bequest made to Good Shepherd's Home, and declaring the residuary devise to Good Shepherd's Home to lapse and pass under the laws of intestacy. The doctrine of cy pres is a doctrine of construction not of administration, and is only a liberal rule to ascertain the intention of a testator. Hodge v. Wellman, 191 Iowa 877, 878, 179 N.W. 534, 14 C.J.S. Charities section 52, p. 512. A significant limitation of the cy pres rule is that the gift's basic purpose cannot be changed, and property devised to education cannot be judicially diverted to religion, relief of the poor or sick, or general charity, nor vice versa. 14 C.J.S. Ch...