In Re Estate of Iwers

280 N.W. 587, 225 Iowa 389
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 21, 1938
DocketNo. 44012.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 280 N.W. 587 (In Re Estate of Iwers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Estate of Iwers, 280 N.W. 587, 225 Iowa 389 (iowa 1938).

Opinion

Stiger, C. J.

— Henry Iwers, the testator, was a son of Hans and Caroline Iwers. Hans Iwers came to this country from Germany as a youth and settled in Cedar County where he engaged in the business of farming. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Iwers, and ‘their sons, William, John, and Henry Iwers. None of the brothers married. They all lived together and accumulated 880 acres of land, residence properties, and a large amount of personal property. Through the death of his brothers, *391 Henry became the owner of all the property accumulated by the family which was valued at his death at $375,000. On June 6, 1935, Mr. Iwers went to the office ¡of his attorney, D. H. Snoke, where the will in question was drawn. It purports to be signed by Henry Iwers and witnessed by Mr. Snoke and. Miss Geerts, stenographer for Mr. Snoke. The will gave all of the testator’s propeidy to Louis and Mary Voss. Mary Voss was a cousin of the testator.

Henry Iwers lived alone after the death of his brothers until January, 1936, when the proponents, Louis and Mary Voss, who were then living on one of the Iwers’ farms, moved into the home of Henry Iwers and lived with him until his death five months later.

The (objections to the probate of the will relied on by contestants are that the instrument was not signed and executed by the decedent and was not witnessed and signed by the persons whose names appear thereon as witnesses in the manner required by the laws of the State of Iowa.

The jury found for the proponents and that the will '¡offered for probate was the valid will of Henry Iwers.

At the time of the trial, Miss Geerts was the only surviving witness to the will. She testified to conversations occurring between the testator and Mr. Snoke and further testified that Iwers signed the will in the presence of the witnesses and that they, at his request, signed as witnesses in his presence. 'The contestants do not question the signature of Miss Geerts.

Two handwriting experts, Mr. Faxon and Mr. Scovill, witnesses for contestants, classified the signature of Mr. Iwers on the will as a traced forgery. Four lay witnesses for the contestants testified that the signature of D. H. Snoke appearing on the will was a simulation. Three handwriting experts, Mr. Gesell, Mr. Courtney, and Mr. Steen, and several lay witnesses testified the signatures of Iwers and Snoke appearing on the will were genuine.

I. The first assignment of error relied on by appellants for reversal is that the surviving witness to the will of the decedent, Mary C. Geerts, was incompetent to testify concerning the making and execution of the purported will under Code section 11257, known as the dead man’s statute, and that said will should not have been admitted in evidence because its admission was based upon the evidence of an incompetent witness.

*392 Miss Geerts was, at tbe time of tbe trial the only surviving witness to the will.

In Objecting to the competency of the. witness, counsel for contestants stated:

“The proponents base their claim of right in this matter upon the testimony of this witness. My thought ¡on that is this: ‘It now appears that Snoke (the other witness to ..the will) is dead, therefore, to sustain the burden upon the proponents in this case they must necessarily depend upon the testimony of this witness, and therefore any rights they have in this matter will depend upon the testimony of this witness, and she is incompetent by reason of the dead man’s statute’ ”.

The material portion of section 11257 is as follows:

" 11257. Transaction with person since deceased. No party to any action or proceeding, nor any person interested in the event thereof, nor any person from, through, or under whom any such party or interested person derives any interest or title by assignment or otherwise, * * * shall be examined as a witness in regard to any personal transaction or communication between such witness and a person at the commencement of such examination deceased, * * * against the * * * heir at law * * * of such deceased person * * (Italics supplied.)

The contention of contestants is that Mary C. Geerts testified, over objection, to. the making and execution of 'the will, and that proponents base their claim of right to the admission of the instrument to probate solely upon her testimony, and they allege’that because the testimony of Miss Geerts was necessary to establish the due execution of the will, under which proponents claim title to the property of decedent, it follows that Miss Geerts was the person from whom proponents derived an interest or title by assignment or otherwise. Contestants especially claim that while proponents did not derive their interest in the subject matter of the action by assignment from Miss Geerts they did derive title from Miss Geerts “otherwise”, because she was indispensable to the establishment of the due execution of the will and therefore proponents derived title from her, not by assignment, but “otherwise”. In support of their position, contestants rely on the following loose phraseology contained in the case of McClanahan v. McClanahan, 129 Iowa 411, *393 105 N. W. 833, in which case the court purports to define the word otherwise found in Code section 11257 as follows (page 413 of 129 Iowa, page 834 of 105 N. W.) :

“It is not necessary that the interest should be derived by transfer or assignment. It may be ‘otherwise,’ and, as used, that word is one of broad significance. It means that, if the right asserted by a claimant depends for its existence and validity upon a transaction between the deceased and a third person, the evidence of such third person shall not be allowed to prove the transaction.”

The above language in the McClanahan case is entirely too broad and if the definition of the word “otherwise” is correct, it would prevent to a substantial degree the proof of due execution of wills by the witnesses thereto', for in the great majority of cases, the right asserted by proponents of and beneficiaries under a will depends for its existence upon the transaction between the deceased and the witness or witnesses to his will. The construction found in the McClanahan case is manifestly not in harmony with the express provisions of the statute which provide that in order to render a witness incompetent, the party to the action must derive his interest or title in the subject matter of the action from the witness. Manifestly the proponents did not derive their interest in the subject matter of the action from Miss G-eerts or through any transaction with her. Whatever interest proponents have will be derived from the last will and testament of decedent.

We approve and affirm the construction given Code section 11257 and especially that portion that is under special consideration here in the case of Stiles v. Breed, 151 Iowa 86, at page 97, 130 N. W. 376, at page 380, in which the court states:

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280 N.W. 587, 225 Iowa 389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-iwers-iowa-1938.