Estate of Ganier

402 So. 2d 418
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 27, 1981
Docket79-200
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 402 So. 2d 418 (Estate of Ganier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Ganier, 402 So. 2d 418 (Fla. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

402 So.2d 418 (1981)

ESTATE of Emma Geer Davis Kennedy GANIER, Deceased.
Connie Davis DOOLAN, As Personal Representative of the Said Estate, Appellant,
v.
Estate of Frederic F. GANIER, Deceased, Appellee.

No. 79-200.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

May 27, 1981.
Rehearing Denied June 12, 1981.

*419 Richard S. Graham, Daytona Beach, for appellant.

Ollie Lancaster, Jr. and John R. Godbee, Jr., Daytona Beach, for appellee.

SHARP, Judge.

The personal representative of Emma Kennedy Ganier's estate appeals the lower court's judgment declaring Frederic Ganier was a "pretermitted spouse" pursuant to section 732.301, Florida Statutes (1979) and allowing him to receive one half of Emma's estate.[1] Frederic died before the conclusion of the proceedings below, and his personal representative was substituted in his place. We reverse the judgment.

Emma, a 79 year old widow, met Frederic, a 76 year old widower, in 1973 at a boarding house in Daytona Beach. They became "inseparable" shortly thereafter. Emma received $12,000.00 a year in dividend income and social security, and Frederic had an annual income of approximately $4,800.00 from social security and a pension from General Dynamics, where he had worked as a chief maintenance man. They pooled their resources and paid their joint living expenses out of a joint account at the *420 Atlantic First National Bank. Emma retained in her sole name a checking account at the Atlantic First National Bank and a savings account at the Security First Federal Savings & Loan Association, in Daytona Beach. Frederic testified that Emma gave him her two diamond rings in 1977 to sell to a friend for cash to pay their joint bills. Frederic kept his more valuable diamond ring however.

Emma made her will in 1977. She left her bank accounts at Security First Federal and the Atlantic Bank to Frederic, various specific bequests (including her jewelry) to her granddaughter and great-granddaughter, and the residue to her two granddaughters. Frederic made his will in 1976. Emma was his sole beneficiary, and her granddaughters were contingent beneficiaries. His 1978 will named Emma or his step-son as sole beneficiary.

In early 1978, Emma broke her hip and was unable to move about except with the aid of a walker. She required care by a nurse and Frederic. Frederic decided to marry Emma in July 1978. Shortly thereafter, Emma suffered a debilitating stroke. Frederic filed a petition to have her declared incompetent on November 28, 1978. He was appointed her guardian on December 15, 1978. She was then in the Halifax Hospital. She died on January 7, 1979.

After Emma had her stroke but before she was declared incompetent, Frederic had Emma close out her account at the Atlantic Bank. It had a balance of $1,756.00. These funds were deposited into the joint account. On December 15, 1978, Frederic took Emma's $4,500.00 dividend check, kept $1,000 in cash and put the balance in their joint account at the Atlantic Bank. On December 16, 1978, he withdrew $10,000 from Emma's savings account at Security First Federal and used it to open an account for himself at the Sun Bank. It was spent in full over a six month period, in small cash withdrawals. He withdrew another $2,750 from Emma's savings also on December 26, 1978, and deposited it in the joint account at the Atlantic Bank. He never accounted for any of these funds.

The trial court held that Frederic was a "pretermitted spouse" because no testimony or evidence was offered to support the view that Emma contemplated marriage to Frederic at the time she executed her will and because the two bank accounts specifically bequeathed to Frederic by Emma in her will "lapsed" when they were closed or reduced to small balances shortly before her death. The personal representative for Emma's estate proved that Frederic, acting as Emma's guardian after she was declared incompetent, expended or exhausted the bank account funds totalling some $17,000.00. Frederic did not account for these funds, and he testified that he thought these funds belonged to him. The trial court ruled that whether or not Frederic misappropriated or misspent Emma's funds was immaterial.

We reverse this judgment because the record clearly shows that Frederic was "provided for" in Emma's will, at least prima facie, within the meaning of section 732.301, Florida Statutes (1979). The "pretermitted spouse" statute provides:

When a person marries after making a will and the spouse survives the testator, the surviving spouse shall receive a share in the estate of the testator equal in value to that which the surviving spouse would have received if the testator had died intestate, unless:
(1) Provision has been made for, or waived by, the spouse by prenuptial or postnuptial agreement;
(2) The spouse is provided for in the will; or
(3) The will discloses an intention not to make provision for the spouse.
The share of the estate that is assigned to the pretermitted spouse shall be obtained in accordance with § 733.805.

Section 732.301, Florida Statutes (1979). The sole question in this case is whether Frederic was "provided for" in Emma's will,[2] as none of the other exceptions are applicable.

*421 Statutes in many states provide that under various circumstances a will is revoked or partially revoked by the subsequent marriage of a testator. 79 Am.Jur.2d Wills § 576 (1975). These statutes are in derogation of the general power to make a will and should be strictly construed. No exception should be extended to include a class not clearly comprehended in the statute. 79 Am.Jur.2d Wills § 576 (1975).

Section 732.301(2) simply and clearly says it is not applicable if the claiming spouse is "provided for in the will." It says nothing about the "gloss" superimposed by the lower court in this case — that this provision must have been made "in contemplation of marriage." The "contemplation of marriage" requirement originated as a part of the common law rule that a man's will would be revoked after marriage and the birth of a child, unless he made a provision in his will contemplating both events. Redfearn, Wills and Administration in Florida, § 8.10, (5th ed. 1977). Many statutes in other jurisdictions expressly retain the requirement that the provision be made in contemplation of marriage. Cases from those jurisdictions are not on point. See Annot., 97 A.L.R.2d 1026, § 3 (1964). There is no basis in Florida's pretermitted spouse statute to support the reinstatement of this common law rule.[3] Under a statute like section 732.301, a will which provides for the spouse is not revoked by the subsequent marriage of the testator, notwithstanding that there is no indication in the will or in the evidence that the testator contemplated marriage with such person when the will was made. Annot., 97 A.L.R.2d 1026, § 2[b] (1964). See In Re Livingston's Estate, 172 So.2d 619 (Fla.2d DCA 1965).

The trial court and the appellee rely upon In Re Steinert's Estate, 137 So.2d 856 (Fla.2d DCA 1962). That case held that even though the surviving spouse was left $30,000 in the will, the widow was entitled to an intestate share of the estate because "[n]o evidence was offered here to support the view that testator contemplated marriage to appellee at the time of the execution of his will ..." 137 So.2d at 858. However In Re Livingston's Estate,

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402 So. 2d 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-ganier-fladistctapp-1981.