Domke v. McCue

249 N.E.2d 287, 110 Ill. App. 2d 1
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided April 29, 1969·No. Gen. 52,128·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinions

ON REHEARING

MR. JUSTICE BURKE

This appeal is taken from a judgment entered against plaintiff, Joan Domke, on her complaint for the construction of a will.

Testatrix, Agnes S. Graser, died on September 13, 1964, and her will was admitted to probate on October 22, 1964. The pertinent paragraphs of the will read as follows:

“THIRTEENTH: I give and bequeath unto ROSE SULLIVAN, a widow of DR. F. J. SULLIVAN, deceased, now residing [sic] at 4501 North Malden Street, Chicago, Illinois, if living at the time of my death, the sum of FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($5,000.00). In the event of the death of MRS. ROSE SULLIVAN prior to my decease, then and in such event, I give and bequeath unto her daughter, MRS. HERBERT (JOAN S.) DOMKE, now residing c/o Kane Hospital, Pittsburgh 16, Pennsylvania, if living at the time of my death the sum of ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000.00).
“NINETEENTH: In the event of insufficiency of the assets contained within my estate to pay in full the legacies mentioned in articles first to sixteenth, inclusive, then and in such event, the legacies enumerated in the preceding two paragraphs shall lapse and legacies in paragraph [sic] three to fifteen inclusive shall be abated pro rata.
“TWENTIETH: All of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal or mixed, or [sic] which I may die, [sic] seized or possessed or in any wise entitled to, I give unto ANDREW W. SULLIVAN, now residing at Buena Park Hotel, 4145 Broadway, Chicago, Illinois, if living, otherwise to be distributed equally among my nieces and nephews as enumerated in Paragraphs 1 to 13 or the survivors thereof.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Andrew W. Sullivan, testatrix’s brother and only living collateral relative at the time the will was executed, predeceased testatrix and, pursuant to paragraph 20 of the will, the residual estate was to be shared equally by her “nieces and nephews as enumerated in Paragraphs 1 to 13” of the will.

On July 8, 1965, Jean Sullivan, et al., heirs of George Sullivan (who was one of the legatees named in the will and who predeceased the testatrix), filed a complaint to construe the will. Plaintiff entered her appearance in those proceedings, but filed no pleadings nor took any action to establish herself as a residuary legatee or otherwise assert a claim in the estate. Motions to dismiss the Sullivan will construction proceedings were filed by several of the defendants therein; the motions were sustained by the trial court on March 30,1966.

The executor of the estate elected to construe paragraph 20 of the will to exclude paragraph 13, thereby excluding plaintiff, a niece of the testatrix, from participation in the residual estate. This was reflected in the executor’s final account which was filed on August 16, 1966. Apparently on the same day plaintiff filed objections to the final account, contending that the wording of paragraph 20 includes paragraph 13, thereby entitling her to a share in the residual estate. Some of the defendants herein filed answers, together with an affidavit and exhibits, to plaintiff’s objections and plaintiff filed a reply thereto.

On October 7, 1966, plaintiff commenced this proceeding for the construction of the will. Her complaint was dismissed on motion of the defendants, the judgment stating in part that “the words ‘paragraphs 1 to 13’ set forth in Paragraph 20 of the will exclude the plaintiff Joan Domke as a beneficiary of the residuary estate of the testatrix, in light of all the language of the entire will.” It was further held that defendants’ claim of res judicata and laches on plaintiff’s part was without merit. From this judgment plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.

Plaintiff maintains that the word “to” in the phrase “Paragraphs 1 to 13” in paragraph 20 of the will is to be construed as a word of inclusion in keeping with the intention of the testatrix to benefit all her nieces and nephews as manifest by the provisions in the will, and that the trial court erred in construing the word as one of exclusion.

Courts are without power, under the guise of interpretation, to alter a testator’s will or to make a new will for him. Vollmer v. McGowan, 409 Ill 306, 99 NE 2d 337. In every will construction case, the question for the court is “not what the testator meant to say, but what he meant by what he did say.” Hull v. Adams, 399 Ill 347, 352, 77 NE2d 706. In Turek v. Mahoney, 407 Ill 476, 95 NE2d 330, the court stated at pages 481 and 482.

“The intention of a testator is to be ascertained in two ways, either from the words employed by him, to which all rules of construction give way, or by finding his presumed intention gathered by the application of rules of construction applicable to all cases where the meaning is obscure, doubtful or uncertain.”

It is apparent that when the testatrix wanted a paragraph to be included within a specific grouping of paragraphs, she employed language rendering it unmistakably clear that such was her intention. Thus, in paragraph 19 she provides that in the event there should be an insufficiency of assets in the estate to cover the legacies set out in paragraphs “first to sixteenth, inclusive,” those legacies provided for in “the preceding two paragraphs,” i. e., 17 and 18, were to lapse and the legacies provided for in paragraphs “three to fifteen inclusive” were to be abated pro rata.

It is also apparent from an analysis of the entire will that the testatrix had a very exact understanding of her will, its structure and its contents. Paragraph 1 provides that all taxes due by reason of the testatrix’s death shall be paid out of the residual of her estate. Paragraphs 2 through 15 contain specific legacies to relatives of the testatrix. Paragraph 2 provides that a stated sum of money go to one of testatrix’s nieces to be used for the benefit of testatrix’s brother, Andrew, who was her only living collateral relative at the time the will was executed and who was also the primary residual beneficiary named in paragraph 20. Further, of those legacies designated by testatrix to lapse or to abate pro rata in the event of insufficient funds, the legacy in paragraph 2 for Andrew’s benefit was not one.

Only those legacies to the more distant relatives and to nonfamily beneficiaries were to lapse or to abate pro rata. The legacies in paragraphs 17 and 18, which were designated to lapse in the event of insufficient funds, were specific legacies to a doctor and to a charity, non-family beneficiaries. The legacies in paragraphs 3 through 15, which were to abate pro rata in the event of insufficient funds, were specific legacies to the more distant relatives of testatrix. It should also be pointed out that the only other devise which was not designated to abate pro rata or to lapse for lack of assets in the estate, as the bequest in paragraph 2 for the benefit of Andrew, is contained in paragraph 16 which provides for a specific bequest of money for Masses to be said over a period of years for the repose of testatrix’s soul. It is therefore clear that testatrix had a complete understanding of the structure and contents of her will, and that what she did and what she said was what she meant to do and say.

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Domke v. McCue, 249 N.E.2d 287, 110 Ill. App. 2d 1 (Ill. Ct. App. 1969).

249 N.E.2d 287 (Domke v. McCue) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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