Watson v. Manley

Citation130 N.W.2d 693,257 Iowa 92
Decision Date20 October 1964
Docket NumberNo. 51425,51425
PartiesJ. O. WATSON, Jr., Executor of the Last Will and Testament of Rufus B. Manley, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. Thora MANLEY et al., Defendants.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Iowa

Dickinson, Throckmorton, Parker, Mannheimer & Raife, Des Moines, and Hall & Ewalt, Indianola, for defendants-appellants Floyd Manley, Janice Westerly, and Carolyn Hunerdosse.

Watson, Elgin & Hoyman, Indianola, for plaintiff-appellee.

Maynard Hayden, Indianola, for First Methodist Church of Indianola, First Methodist Church of Milo, and others.

LARSON, Justice.

The principal issue raised in this declaratory judgment action instituted by the executor of the Last Will and Testament of Rufus B. Manley, deceased, was whether the bequest to the First Methodist Church of Indianola, Iowa, and the First Methodist Church of Milo, Iowa, was limited to 25% of decedent's estate after payment of debts, either by the will itself or by the provisions of Section 633.3, Code 1962, 1 which purports to limit charitable devises. The trial court held it was not so limited, and testator's son and two granddaughters appeal.

There are no material facts in dispute. Testator, 86 years of age, died December 20, 1962, leaving surviving him a widow, Thora Manley, not a party to this appeal, one son, Floyd Manley, and two granddaughters, Janice Westerly and Carolyn Hunerdosse, appellants herein.

Omitting the preliminary paragraph, the material parts of the will and codicils to be considered are as follows:

Item I provides 'that my just debts and expenses of administration be paid.'

Item II provided a bequest to his wife of $8,000.00 and testator's residence in Indianola, his household goods, and 'other funds, securities and personal property.' However, this item was changed by Item II in testator's second codicil to provide that she should have an amount equal to $8,000.00 minus any amount in joint tenacy accounts at the time of testator's death. She did not assert any claim except those in the will, due to an antenuptial agreement, and did not participate in this trial or the appeal.

Item III of the will was also changed by Item I of the second codicil executed 'December 5, 1962. It contains the language giving rise to this controversy between the churches on one hand and testator's son and granddaughters on the other. It provides: 'I change Item Three (3) of my original Will as modified by the Codicil as follows: I delete the following words from said Item Three: 'The balance of the proceeds from the real estate after payment of expenses of administration, shall be payable to the First Methodist Church of Indianola, Iowa.' I insert in lieu thereof the following: 'The balance of the proceeds from the real estate, after payment of expenses of administration, I give one-half to the First Methodist Church of Indianola, and one-half to the First Methodist Church of Milo, Iowa. In the event my bequest to said churches should exceed the share of my estate which can be given to a corporation organized under the chapter relating to corporation not for profit, I decrease said gift to said churches so that the total going to said churches equals twenty five per cent (25%) of my estate after payment of debts and I give the amount by which said bequest is decreased one-half to my granddaughter, Janice Westerly, and one-half to my granddaughter Carolyn Hunnerdoss.'' (Emphasis supplied.)

Item III of the original will also provided that from the proceeds of the sale of the farm, his son Floyd should receive $4,000.00 and his granddaughters Janice and Carolyn should each receive $4,000.00, and his great granddaughter $1,000.00. Item I of the first codicil provided a bequest to his great-grandson, Jory Wayne Hunerdosse of $1,000.00.

The learned trial court, in considering both the original will and the codicils, found it was testator's express intent to give the entire balance of said proceeds, after payment of special bequests and administration expenses, to the churches if permitted by law, and that it was so permitted because the son Floyd, not being directly benefited by the reduction of the charitable bequest, could not object even though he was a person designated in Section 633.3 of the Code who could object to a bequest of over 25% of his father's estate, and that although the granddaughters were the real parties in interest, they could not object since they were not persons designated in Section 633.3 of the Code. We cannot agree with this finding.

I. The intent of the testator is to be ascertained from the terms of the will in connection with other legitimate sources of information. The law favors a construction which will given some effect to every provision contained therein, and here testator's selection of granddaughters as devisees of the remainder, should the balance of the farm sale exceed 25% of his estate, is in accord with the thought that testator recognized the just claims of those with natural expectations on his bounty and the legislative requirement aimed to prevent the giving of an undue proportion of one's estate to charity by will when near relatives in the opinion of the lawmakers have a better claim. Of course, this requirement does not deprive a testator of the right to give all his property to charity during his life, or to give his property by will to any person he pleases (SECTION 633.1, CODE 1962 )2, but its purpose was to restrain him from disregarding the just claims of those with natural expectations on his bounty and, as death approached, to give away his property through pious or philanthropic motives. In re Estate of Ihmes, 154 Iowa 20, 24, 134 N.W. 429, 430, and citations.

Section 633.3, Code 1962, provides: 'No devise or bequest to a corporation organized under the chapter relating to corporations not for profit or * * *, shall be valid in excess of one-fourth of the testator's estate after the payment of debts, if a spouse, child, child of deceased child, or parent survive the testator.'

While it may be true that a devise in violation of this statute is merely voidable, and the legislature and the court can determine which individuals may challenge such a voidable bequest, courts when in doubt as to the intent generally will not deny protection to certain close relatives of a testator, especially when the charitable bequest is made in the face of death itself. 50 Columbia Law Review 94; Zollmann on Charities, §§ 504, 513, 576. Since the purpose of these statutes is to protect the natural recipients of the testator's bounty, we are not to extend its application to make it an instrument to avoid that protection, especially where no such testator intention is clearly expressed. Even though charitable trusts are favorites of the law, courts should be slow to permit one to defeat such a public purpose as that expressed in Section 633.3.

Appellants urge the better view under the circumstances here would be that testator referred to this statute, recognized its purpose, and in so doing intentionally restricted his bequest to the churches to 25% of his estate; that he expressly gave the excess, if any, to natural objects of his affection, his granddaughters. They say it is unthinkable that he intended the apparent bequest to them as a method of circumventing or preventing objections to the unlimited gift to the churches. We are inclined to agree.

II. No canon of testamentary construction has any application with respect to the decedent's last will and codicil except the cardinal and primary rule that the intention of the testator as it appears from the whole instrument must govern. The intention of the testator must be ascertained from the will itself and from nothing else, if its language is plain and unambiguous, and when so determined it must be given effect if it is a lawful one and not against public policy. In re Estate of McCulloch, 243 Iowa 449, 461, 52 N.W.2d 67; In re Estate of Artz, 254 Iowa 1064, 1070, 120 N.W.2d 418; Palmer v. Evans, Iowa, 124 N.W.2d 856, 859, 860. The intention must be that which is manifest from the express language of the will as modified by the codicil, or by necessary implication. In re Estate of Syverson, 239 Iowa 800, 804, 805, ...

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8 cases
  • Stonebrook's Estate, In re
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
    • April 5, 1966
    ...418, 422, and citations; In re Estate of Barnes, 256 Iowa 1043, 1049, 1050, 128 N.W.2d 188, 191, 130 N.W.2d 227; Watson v. Manley, 257 Iowa ---, 130 N.W.2d 693, 696. Many authorities refer to the execution of a codicil as a republication or confirmation of the will except as the codicil mak......
  • Fairley's Estate, In re
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
    • June 11, 1968
    ...In making this determination we read and construe the two instruments as one executed on the date of the codicil. Watson v. Manley, 257 Iowa 92, 97, 130 N.W.2d 693, 696; In re Estate of Artz, 254 Iowa 1064, 1070, 120 N.W.2d 418, It seems anomalous to say we agree with the trial court that t......
  • Oxley v. Oxley, 59664
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
    • January 18, 1978
    ...urge this court to apply here the rule the law favors bequests in conformity with laws of descent and distribution. Watson v. Manley, 257 Iowa 92, 130 N.W.2d 693, is cited for this proposition. While the Watson case is indeed decided on the basis of that proposition, it is also true the cas......
  • Merchants Nat. Bank of Cedar Rapids v. United States, Civ. No. 70-C-7-CR.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. Northern District of Iowa
    • February 18, 1971
    ...Testator manifest from the instrument taken as a whole. In re Tedford's Estate, 258 Iowa 890, 140 N.W.2d 908 (1966); Watson v. Manley, 257 Iowa 92, 130 N.W.2d 693 (1964); In re Loranz' Estate, 256 Iowa 818, 128 N.W.2d 224 There would seem to be no escape from the conclusion that the Testato......
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