Estate of Jacobus v. Rogers

252 N.W. 583, 214 Wis. 143, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 66
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 6, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 252 N.W. 583 (Estate of Jacobus v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Jacobus v. Rogers, 252 N.W. 583, 214 Wis. 143, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 66 (Wis. 1934).

Opinion

Fritz, J.

In addition to the matters stated in the preceding statement, it is necessary to note the following undisputed facts: On December 16, 1925, Mrs. Jacobus, who was then of sound mind, applied, in writing, for admission to the Masonic Home at Dousman, Wisconsin, which was under the management of the Trustees of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Wisconsin (hereinafter referred to as the “Trustees”). Her application was accepted and she entered the Home on January 6, 1926, received good care and attention, and remained there until her death. In a will made prior to her admission to the Home she designated her grandson, Paul H. Coon, as executor and sole beneficiary. Their relations were intimate and affectionate. Before she entered the Home he had maintained her in his personal household in St. Louis, until his work required him to reside elsewhere. [146]*146In the application which she signed as a condition far admission to the Home, there was the following agreement:

“As a condition for admission to the Wisconsin Masonic Home, I hereby agree ... to transfer to the Trustees . . . all property, real and personal, I may now be possessed of or entitled to, and all which may hereafter come to me from any source whatever. . . . The return of property is to be made to me as provided in paragraph 14 of the Rules for Admission to the Home.”

The only provision in respect to the return of property, which was embodied in paragraph 14, is as follows:

“If any resident, who has surrendered such property or income, shall withdraw from the Home, or shall be discharged therefrom for cause, the Grand Lodge shall withhold from the amount so transferred or surrendered the sum of ten dollars per week for the time said resident has been living in the Home, and the remainder, if any, of said amount shall be returned to the said resident upon such withdrawal or discharge.”

Preceding that provision in paragraph 14, there was also the following provision:

“The Home having been established for the care of the destitute only, all persons who shall be admitted as residents must transfer all their property, real and personal, to the Trustees ,. . . to be added to its Masonic Home Fund, and in the event of their receiving by legacy, bequest, or in any other manner while such residents, any real or personal estate, such estate, property, or property rights, must in like manner be transferred to said Grand Lodge Trustees, except that such resident may have the option of so doing or of accepting honorable discharge from the Home.”

However, the provision last quoted was not in any manner, by express words of reference or otherwise, made part of the contract between Mrs. Jacobus and the Trustees.

Upon her entry into the Home, she turned over to the Trustees the sum of $125, which was all she then had. Sub[147]*147sequently she became mentally incompetent. In 1929 Coon learned that she had become entitled to a legacy of $5,000 under the will of Jennie A. Thorne, deceased. He established the identity of Mrs. Jacobus as a legatee, and then in order to have a guardian appointed for her in St. Louis, he went to the Home to obtain her written consent to such an appointment. He was not permitted to obtain her signature, but upon the petition of the superintendent of the Home, and without any actual notice to Coon, Frank F. Kipp was appointed general guardian by the county court of Wau-kesha county. As guardian, Kipp placed $5,181.65, which he had received as guardian for Mrs. Jacobus, in a certificate of deposit in a bank, payable to himself individually, and it remained in that form until attention was called to the form of the certificate on a hearing in the county court. After the appointments of the guardian and the executor, the Trustees filed petitions in both the guardianship and the probate proceedings for the performance of the contract between them and Mrs. Jacobus by the transfer of her after-acquired property, as stated above. Kipp’s activities as guardian had been confined to the receipt and deposit of the money, and he had exercised no functions as guardian of Mrs. Jacobus’ person. He saw her only casually when other duties in connection with the operation of the Home took him there. At no time while Mrs. Jacobus was in the Home did she ask to withdraw, and her guardian did not make any application for her withdrawal. Some time after the legacy became payable to her, Coon attempted to make an application for her withdrawal, but that was never carried out.

Mrs. Jacobus’ obligation to transfer property to the Trustees was fixed by the terms embodied in her written, signed application, which constituted the contract between her and the Trustees. Those terms required her to transfer to the Trustees “all property, real and personal, I may now be [148]*148possessed of or entitled to and all which may hereafter come to me from any source whatever.” That requirement as to the transfer of property by her is definite and absolute, without any provision or condition as to any option or election on her part. Neither by any words embodied in the contract, which can be considered as part thereof, or by reason of any words of reference therein, is her obligation to transfer property conditional or optional in any respect. On the other hand, in relation to the return of property, there is in the contract the following express provision:

“The return of property is to be made'to me as provided in paragraph 14 of the Rules for Admission to the Home.”

Upon examining that portion of paragraph 14 which relates to the return of property (which has hereinbefore been quoted), it will be noted that that provision as to the return of property relates only to property which has previously been transferred to the Trustees. By virtue of the words “if any resident, who has surrendered such property or income,” in that provision, its effect is confined to property which had been surrendered. “If any resident, who has surrendered such property or income, shall withdraw from the Home or shall be discharged therefrom for cause,” then— and only then, as to the property which has theretofore been transferred — does the provision as to the return of property become operative. It is only then that “the Grand Lodge shall withhold from the amount so transferred or surrendered the sum of ten dollars per week for the time said resident has been living in the Home, and the remainder, if any, . . . shall be returned to the said resident upon such withdrawal or discharge.”

True, in paragraph 14 there is also a provision that, in the event of a resident’s receiving property while a .resident, it “must in like manner be transferred to said Grand Lodge Trustees, except that such resident may have the option of [149]*149so doing or of accepting honorable discharge from the Home.” However, that provision is no part — either by incorporation therein, or by words of reference therein — of the contract which Mrs. Jacobus signed. Under that contract as signed, there is nothing which makes the provision in paragraph 14 as to the transfer of property a part of that contract. Under the familiar rule of construction, Expres-sio unius est exclusio alterius,

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Bluebook (online)
252 N.W. 583, 214 Wis. 143, 1934 Wisc. LEXIS 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-jacobus-v-rogers-wis-1934.