Conley v. Brewer

666 S.W.2d 751, 1983 Ky. App. LEXIS 404
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMay 27, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 666 S.W.2d 751 (Conley v. Brewer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conley v. Brewer, 666 S.W.2d 751, 1983 Ky. App. LEXIS 404 (Ky. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

HOWARD, Judge:

The appellants appeal a judgment of the Bracken Circuit Court setting aside an altered original will which had been probated by the district court, and probating instead an attested carbon copy on which no alterations had been made by the testatrix.

On December 24, 1970, G.A. Famularo drafted a will for Mary Jett. The will was properly signed and witnessed as was a carbon copy. Mrs. Jett took the original copy, and Mr. Famularo retained the carbon copy of the will. The document included the following provisions:

Item IV: I give and bequeath to Marjorie Jett Brewer, my step grandchild, of Louisville, Kentucky, the sum of Five Thousand ($5,000) Dollars, to do with as she pleases.
Item X: All the residue of my estate, which I may own or have the right to dispose of at the time of my decease, I give, devise and bequeath to Joseph L. Jett, Marjorie Brewer and Ezra T. Cray-craft, in equal shares of one-third (½) each, to do with as they please.

Marjorie Jett Brewer and Joseph Jett are the step-grandchildren of Mary Jett. Ezra Craycraft farmed on Mrs. Jett’s farm for a number of years and is not a relative.

Mary Jett died on December 1, 1980. After her death, the original copy of her will was found in the original envelope in a chest at her home. The seal on the envelope was broken, and the following alterations had been made in the will: Item IV (set out above) was entirely inked out and taped over, with the words “Take out Item IV” written in the margin; Item X (also set out above) had been changed to the extent that Marjorie Brewer’s name had been inked out and one-half (V2) was substituted [752]*752for the one-third (Vs) originally listed. From the record it appears that Mary Jett and Marjorie Brewer had an argument after Mrs. Jett’s will was drafted, possibly leading to the alterations made in the will.

On December 4, 1980, the Bracken District Court probated the original will, with the alterations. On August 28, 1981, Marjorie Brewer filed a complaint demanding that the order probating the altered will be set aside. The trial court, thereafter, found that the changes on the original had been made by Mary Jett but refused to probate it, choosing instead to set it aside and probate the unaltered carbon copy. The trial court ruled that Mrs. Jett’s attempt to change her will must fail for lack of proper execution and that under the doctrine of dependent relative revocation the unaltered will as originally executed remained in force. The appellants appeal this decision. We reverse.

Appellants urge this Court to find that the changes Mary Jett made to her will were done in accordance with K.R.S. 394.-080, and should be held valid. K.R.S. 394.-080 provides in pertinent part:

No will or codicil, or any part thereof, shall be revoked except: (4) by the person who made the will, or some other person in his presence and by his direction, cutting, tearing, burning, obliterating, cancelling or destroying the will or codicil, or the signature thereto, with the intent to revoke. (Emphasis added.)

Appellants cite the following three cases to support their contention that Mary Jett intended to revoke her bequest to Marjorie Brewer and did so properly: Russell v. Tyler, 224 Ky. 511, 6 S.W.2d 707 (1928); Flora v. Hughes, 312 Ky. 478, 228 S.W.2d 27 (1950); Stuart v. McWhorter, 238 Ky. 82, 36 S.W.2d 842 (1931). Each testatrix in the cases cited was found to have revoked a part of her will while the remainder of the will was probated.

Appellants acknowledge that the revocations in the above cases did not result in an increase in the gifts to others named in the wills. However, this is because the statute in effect at the death of those testatrixes provided that void or lapsed gifts passed as in case of intestacy. Section 4843, Kentucky Statutes (later K.R.S. 394.500). In 1974, K.R.S. 394.500 was amended to read:

Unless a contrary intention appears from the will, real or personal estate, comprised in a devise or a bequest incapable of taking effect, shall be included in the residuary devise contained in the will.

Appellants contend that the bequests that Mary Jett revoked, in accordance with K.R.S. 394.500 as amended, would pass to Joseph L. Jett and Ezra Craycraft, the residuary beneficiaries.

The statutory right to revoke includes the right to revoke a portion of the residuary clause. In Stuart v. McWhorter, supra, the testatrix revoked the entire residuary clause. Appellants contend that Mary Jett’s acts amounted to a revocation of Item IV and a revocation of Marjorie Brewer as a beneficiary under the residuary clause. The fact that Mrs. Jett wrote the words “Take out Item IV” and “one-half (Vz)” does not change this revocation into something more. These words were sur-plusage.

Appellants next address the case of Carpenter v. Wynn, 252 Ky. 543, 67 S.W.2d 688 (1934), which appellee uses as support for applying the doctrine of dependent relative revocation in the case at bar and which is the only case cited by Judge Hinton in his opinion. In Carpenter, the testator left numerous gifts to his children, including gifts of $500.00 to each of two sons. Shortly after executing his will, the testator summoned the draftsman, who was also an attesting witness, and in his presence the testator struck out the word “five” and wrote “seven.” Neither the testator nor the draftsman re-signed the will. This will was probated as changed.

Among other issues raised in Carpenter on appeal, it was contended that the will as changed should not have been probated because of the manner in which the bequests were changed from $500.00 to $700.00. The court first considered whether this was a revocation. To be given effect, the testator’s act of revocation must [753]*753be done with an intent to revoke. Next, the court discussed the situation wherein a testator cancels or mutiliates a part of his will intending to affect a change in the will, and the testator does not thereafter republish his will. In such a case, the doctrine of dependent relative revocation says the act of cancellation is disregarded because of failure to republish and thereby validate the change. The court is careful to point out that the intent of the testator is paramount; the doctrine applies when the testator intended his cancellation to take effect only if his changes are also valid. When the change is not valid because of lack of republication, the cancellation fails also because of lack of intent to revoke.

In Carpenter, the Court found there was no revocation because of the testator’s lack of intention to revoke if his change to $700.00 was invalid. The Court does not specifically decide whether the change was invalid.

Appellants next point out a crucial difference in the case at bar and the facts of Carpenter. The bequests in Carpenter were raised by the testator whereas the bequests to Joseph L. Jett and Ezra T. Craycraft were augmented by the act of revocation. Furthermore, Carpenter stands for recognizing the testator’s intent as the controlling factor.

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666 S.W.2d 751, 1983 Ky. App. LEXIS 404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conley-v-brewer-kyctapp-1983.