Casey v. Gallagher

227 N.E.2d 801, 11 Ohio St. 2d 42, 40 Ohio Op. 2d 55, 1967 Ohio LEXIS 331
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 28, 1967
DocketNos. 40061, 40084 and 40085
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 227 N.E.2d 801 (Casey v. Gallagher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Casey v. Gallagher, 227 N.E.2d 801, 11 Ohio St. 2d 42, 40 Ohio Op. 2d 55, 1967 Ohio LEXIS 331 (Ohio 1967).

Opinion

O’Neill, J.

In the instant cause this court is called upon to review the construction placed upon the will of John Gallagher, testator and settlor herein, by the Court of Appeals for Mahoning County.

It is settled beyond all possible doubt that the function of the court in a will construction case is to determine and apply the testator’s intention, as expressed in the language of the whole will, read in the light of the circumstances surrounding its execution.

The Court of Appeals found, and this court agrees, that John Gallagher’s will reveals a general intention or overall [47]*47design, first to benefit his wife and natural children with trnst income for their lives, and further to retain his property in his bloodline after the first purpose is accomplished. In every situation specifically provided for in the will, blood relatives of the testator are to take (except those provisions for the benefit of testator’s own wife).

Thus, upon the death of a child of testator “leaving a child or children the issue of * * * [testator’s child’s body],” such issue are to take the dead parent’s share of income. Standing alone and unmodified by the context of a will, the term, “issue,” would not include even adopted children (56 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 154, Wills, Section 622; 3 Restatement of the Law, Property, Sections 292, comment a, and 287), and the inclusion of the language, “of their bodies,” strengthens that conclusion.

As a further indication of intent to confine income payments to blood relatives, the testator provided a gift over to his surviving children or their issue if one of his children died without leaving issue of such child’s body. Finally, the distribution of corpus is directed to be made only to the heirs of testator’s children “who are of my [testator’s] blood.”

This court has on other occasions recognized the force of such a manifested intention when a situation arose that was not specifically provided for in the will under examination. See Cleveland Trust Co., Trustee, v. Frost (1957), 166 Ohio St. 329, 333, 142 N. E. 2d 607; Tiedtke, Exr., v. Tiedtke (1952), 157 Ohio St. 554, 561, 106 N. E. 2d 637. This court has also declared in another context that: “Blood relationship has always been recognized as a potent factor in determining rights under a will.” Third National Bank & Trust Co., Trustee, v. Davidson (1952), 157 Ohio St. 355, 105 N. E. 2d 573. In other states it has been said that: “It may be safely laid down that of two equally probable interpretations of a will, that shall be adopted which prefers the family and kindred of the testator to other strangers.” Schouler, Wills (5 Ed.), Section 479; In re Estate of Hartson (1933), 218 Cal. 536, 24 P. 2d 171; Hart v. First National Bank of Jackson (1958), 233 Miss. 766, 778, 103 So. 2d 406.

Therefore, where there is no language of countervailing meaning or other evidence of a different intent, testator’s well-[48]*48manifested intention that only blood relatives shonld take under the will must be given effect.

By the will, upon the death of the last survivor of testator’s children (Elizabeth Deibel, age 86), the trust is to terminate and the trust corpus is to be conveyed by the trustees “to the lawful heirs of my said children, who are of my blood an equal share thereof to the heirs of each of my children * *

The trial court held that in using the word, “heirs,” the testator meant merely his grandchildren as a class, and that, therefore, remainders vested in each member of the class who was alive at testator’s decease. It was held further that the grandchildren alive at his decease were not required to survive to a later date to be entitled ultimately to take. See 56 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 189, Wills, Section 661. Had the trial court been correct in its holding that the testator used “heirs” to mean his grandchildren as a class, an inference would have been raised that the interests in corpus vested in them, perhaps indefeasibly, when the will became effective at the testator’s death. 20 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 391-392, Estates, Section 146; 3 Restatement of the Law, Property, Section 249, comment a. See 2 Scott on Trusts (2 Ed.), 958, Section 128.8. Compare 20 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 396, Estates, Section 148; 3 Restatement of the Law, Property, Section 296(1) (b) (c), comment a.

However, the Court of Appeals correctly applied the previous decisions of this court in holding that the testator did not use the word, “heirs,” to mean his grandchildren as a class, but rather meant those designated by the statute of descent and distribution to inherit from each of his children as of the time of application of the statute. This is the usual meaning of the word in the absence of evidence sufficient to establish a contrary intent. 56 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 134 and 135, Wills, Section 603; 3 Restatement of the Law, Property, Sections 305 and 308.

The will in this cause shows an opposing, rather than an interchangeable, use of “children” and “heirs.” Nowhere are specified children of the testator referred to in the appositive or otherwise as “heirs.” The will in this cause was apparently prepared by an attorney, who would be expected to know the usual legal meaning of the term, “heirs.” Grandchildren [49]*49are referred to in the income provisions of the will in more exact legal terminology, snch as “issue” of children, or “children, the issue of * * # [his own] children’s bodies,” and not by a loose use of the term “heirs.” Nor can any inference be raised from the circumstance that the heirs of testator’s children of his blood have turned out thus far to be grandchildren in every case. Literally, under the phrase, “heirs of my said children * * * of my blood,” blood relatives of testator other than grandchildren — such as great-grandchildren — could take.

Merely because testator knew and loved his grandchildren equally well does not mean, as the trial court held, that he intended to give indefeasibly vested remainders to the class consisting of his grandchildren. It is at least as probable that he loved his own children equally and desired to benefit their families equally.

In short, this cause differs from Cultice v. Mills, supra, Jones v. Lloyd (1878), 33 Ohio St. 572, and Jones, Admr., v. Lewis (1941), 70 Ohio App. 17, 44 N. E. 2d 735, relied upon by appellants, and other similar cases cited in 56 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 141, Wills, Section 608, wherein the peculiar language of the wills involved affirmatively showed that testator meant “children” when he said “heirs.” But this cause is like Holt v. Miller, supra, and Miller v. Miller (1906), 9 C. C. (N. S.), 242, affirmed, 77 Ohio St. 643, and Welles v. Pape (1940), 63 Ohio App. 432, 27 N. E. 2d 169, in that here the will does not clearly show an intent to use “heirs” in other than its usual legal meaning.

The consequence of a holding that testator used “heirs” in its usual legal sense is that the class of testator’s grandchildren alive at his death did not take vested remainders then. It is the heirs of testator’s children who are to take under the will and those claiming as heirs of a particular child of testator must have survived such child to sustain their claim, for no one is the heir of a living person. 3 Restatement of the Law, Property, Sections 249, 308 and 309; 20 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d 394 and 397, Estates, Sections 148 and 149;

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
227 N.E.2d 801, 11 Ohio St. 2d 42, 40 Ohio Op. 2d 55, 1967 Ohio LEXIS 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/casey-v-gallagher-ohio-1967.