Jackson v. Schrader

676 N.W.2d 599, 2003 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 210, 2003 WL 22669040
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 13, 2003
Docket01-2056
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 676 N.W.2d 599 (Jackson v. Schrader) 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
Jackson v. Schrader, 676 N.W.2d 599, 2003 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 210, 2003 WL 22669040 (iowa 2003).

Opinion

CARTER, Justice.

Janice Schrader, the daughter of Martha Schrader, deceased, who enjoyed a confidential relationship with her mother, appeals from a decree requiring her to reimburse Martha’s estate for sums placed in joint tenancy with Janice or gifted to Janice during the time that the confidential relationship existed. Janice’s sister, Kathleen, cross-appeals urging that a larger reimbursement of Martha’s estate should have been ordered.

After reviewing the record and considering the arguments presented, we conclude that the standard for rebutting a presumption of undue influence that was stated in In re Estate of Todd, 585 N.W.2d 273, 275 (Iowa 1998), is unreasonably demanding and, if followed, may cause the invalidation of bona fide transfers to a dominant party in a confidential relationship. In applying a more appropriate standard, which focuses on whether the end result was the product of undue influence, we conclude on our de novo review that the evidence fails to show that many of the challenged transactions were the product of undue influence. The district court’s decree requiring reimbursement of Martha’s estate is reversed in part and affirmed in part. With respect to the additional transactions of which Kathleen complains on her cross-appeal, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

Kathleen and Janice are the children of Elmer and Martha Schrader who were married for more than fifty years. At least as early as 1973, substantial animosity developed between Kathleen and the other family members. Kathleen on two occasions sued Elmer and Martha for monies owed on a note and for conversion of personal property. When Elmer and Martha entered Kathleen’s home during her absence, she caused them to be arrested. Following her father’s death, Kathleen brought an action asserting a claim to certain real and personal property. Martha later sued Kathleen for forcible entry and detention of real property.

Elmer and Martha executed wills on April 19, 1974. The will of each gifted $1 each to Janice and Kathleen and designated the surviving spouse as the residual beneficiary. Each will provided that, if Elmer and Martha died in a common disaster, all property bequeathed and devised to a surviving spouse should go to *601 Janice. In 1982 Elmer and Martha made Janice the contingent beneficiary on a life insurance policy. After Elmer’s death, this was changed so as to make Janice the sole beneficiary. Elmer died in August 1992. At this time, he and Martha held nearly all of their property in joint tenancy. Ten certificates of deposit totaling $189,235 were held in joint tenancy. These certificates were designated as payable to Janice on the death of the surviving joint tenant. Prior to his death, Elmer had made gifts totaling $28,000 to Janice and none to Kathleen.

Shortly following Elmer’s death, an attorney advised Martha that, if she disclaimed certain property, she could effect a substantial tax savings in the next generation. She learned that this would result in half of her property passing to Kathleen. She rejected the idea for that reason. The attorney also advised Martha at this time that, except for the limited situation involving simultaneous death, her will did not provide for a gift over in the event her spouse did not survive her. He advised her that the consequence of this omission would be that her property would pass equally to Janice and Kathleen on her death. Finally, in that meeting, the attorney counseled Martha with respect to the tax benefits of annual gifting of $10,000 to her children. The attorney testified at trial that Martha was receptive to this idea with respect to Janice but not as to Kathleen.

Sometime thereafter, Martha, together with Elmer’s brother, Ray, went to a different attorney for purposes of making a new will. She advised that attorney that she was inclined to give Kathleen only $1.00, but that in order to avoid litigation she would bequeath to her the sum of $100,000. Martha indicated that the balance of her property was to go to Janice. On September 29, 1992, a newly drafted will reflecting those terms was executed by Martha. The attorney drafting the will testified that she appeared to be fully competent and understood the terms of the will as he went over each of the paragraphs with her. They were alone at the time of this discussion. At this same meeting, the attorney prepared a power of attorney authorizing Janice to act as attorney in fact for Martha in the carrying out of her affairs.

Martha made eight annual gifts of $10,000 to Janice between December 10, 1992, and January 4, 1999. The first two checks were signed by Martha, and the last six checks were signed “Martha Schrader by Janice M. Schrader POA.” Prior to Martha’s death, the certificates of deposit that had been jointly owned with Elmer and were payable on death to Janice matured. Subsequently, new certificates of deposit totaling approximately $399,000 were purchased by Martha and placed in joint tenancy with Janice. Martha died on July 17,1999.

In 1986 Martha had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The area of the brain affected involved speech, memory, and comprehension of oral and written communication. In 1990 radioactive seeds were implanted in the tumor, but her problems continued, and in addition, she developed a seizure disorder. Martha had a second surgery to implant radioactive seeds in April of 1994.

On April 7, 1992, Martha was tested by a clinical psychologist. She scored in the impaired range across the board on all tests, and her full scale IQ was 64, in the mild mental retardation range. The clinical psychologist testified at trial that Martha had a significant global impairment and would require assistance in supervision on a daily basis for her own safety. Other doctors testified that Martha suffered from dementia. Although one doctor *602 testified that she had the mental capacity to conduct her ordinary financial affairs, other doctors testified that she lacked such capacity.

Kathleen contested Martha’s will of September 1992. The jury found that Martha was not competent to execute a will at that time. The jury also found that the will was the product of undue influence. A motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was granted with regard to the undue-influence finding but denied with respect to the finding of lack of competency. The court of appeals affirmed the district court on the issue of Martha’s competency to execute a will and did not reach the issue involving undue influence.

In addition to contesting Martha’s will, Kathleen also challenged several inter vi-vos transactions between Martha and Janice in this equitable proceeding. After hearing evidence, the district court expressed the view that Martha was not shown to have been incompetent to execute the challenged transactions until sometime near the end of 1996. The court observed in this regard:

Martha was not an average late Twentieth Century American woman. She apparently functioned quite well in her own role, but she had little desire or need to expand beyond that role. There was probably no time in her life when she would have performed well in fifteen-minute interviews with a psychiatrist or in the type of testing which was conducted during her illness. To a substantial extent she was tested with respect to matters which were irrelevant to her life.

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Bluebook (online)
676 N.W.2d 599, 2003 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 210, 2003 WL 22669040, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jackson-v-schrader-iowa-2003.