Kovar v. Kortan

209 N.E.2d 762, 3 Ohio Misc. 63, 32 Ohio Op. 2d 302, 1965 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 326
CourtCuyahoga County Probate Court
DecidedApril 2, 1965
DocketNo. 663398
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 209 N.E.2d 762 (Kovar v. Kortan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Cuyahoga County Probate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kovar v. Kortan, 209 N.E.2d 762, 3 Ohio Misc. 63, 32 Ohio Op. 2d 302, 1965 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 326 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1965).

Opinion

ANdrews, Chief Referee.

Plaintiff is the executrix of the last will and testament of Joseph Novak. She has filed a petition to construe his will and the first codicil thereto.

The petition seeks the direction of the court with reference to the proper distribution of certain portions of the estate.

By item 2 of his will, testator directs that all his real estate be sold by his “executor” without order of court, “in order to pay all the following bequests in cash.”

Item 6 directs that all the rest and residue of testator’s estate be distributed “to the following organizations and people; in equal shares.”

Three organizations are listed as a, b, and c. These will be referred to in more detail later. The “people” are listed as follows:

“d. Ed Kortan and wife
“e. Claire Kortan
“f. Ruth Kortan
“g. William Kortan and wife”
Item 1 of the first codicil reads:
“I hereby revoke paragraphs d., e., f., and g. of item 6 of said will and substitute for those four provisions the following.
“I bequeath the sum of $2,000 to my nephew Ed Kortan, and his three children Claire, Ruth and William, each to share and share alike in this sum.”

Claire, whose actual name was Clarise, and who married Arnold Long, predeceased the testator, leaving two minor children.

Although in his will the testator referred to Ed Kortan as his nephew, the evidence shows that Ed Kortan was not in fact his nephew, nor otherwise related to him by blood. Neither were Ed Kortan’s children. The relationship of all these beneficiaries was to the testator’s deceased wife.

The anti-lapse statute, Section 2107.52, Revised Code, states:

“When a devise of real or personal estate is made to a relative of a testator and such relative was dead at the time the will was made, or dies thereafter, leaving issue surviving the testator, such issue shall take the estate devised as the devisee would have done if he had survived the testator.”

To come within the statute, the “devise” must have been [65]*65made to a “ relative. ’ ’ As used in the statute, the word ‘ ‘ relative” is limited to persons related to the testator by consanguinity, and does not include those “related” by affinity. Schaefer v. Bernhardt (1907), 76 Ohio St. 443; Everhard v. Brown (1945), 75 Ohio App. 451; Hewes v. Mead (1947), 81 Ohio App. 489; Schuck v. Schuck (Prob. Ct. 1958), 80 Ohio Law Abs. 394.

It is true that before the adoption of the Revised Code, the section in question used the term “child or other relative” (Section 10504-73, General Code; Section 5971, Revised Statutes), and that the decision of the Supreme Court in the Schaefer case, supra, stressed that point, as shown by the following excerpt from the first paragraph of the syllabus:

“* * * the phrase ‘other relative’ should, in accordance with the maxim noscitur a sociis, be restricted to relationships of the character indicated by the associated word ‘child,’ and regarded as including those which are consanguineous, but excluding those which are affinitive merely.”

At first blush it might appear that the Schaefer case does not apply to the present statute, Section 2107.52, Revised Code, which uses the term “relative,” instead of “child or other relative.” However, as pointed out in Schuck v. Schuck, supra, the change in wording between the General Code Section and the Revised Code Section was not intended to change the law. The Revised Code is merely a restatement of the previous law. See Section 1.24, Revised Code. Accordingly, the Schaefer case is as much the law under the present statute as it was under the former statutes.

The general rule is that the word “relative” in an anti-lapse statute is limited to persons related to the testator by consanguinity, and apparently it makes no difference whether the statute uses the term “child or other relative” or merely “relative.” See 115 A. L. R. 444; 63 A. L. R. 2d 1195; 6 Bowe-Parker, Page on Wills (1962), Section 50.13; Atkinson, Wills (2d Ed. 1953), 779-780, Section 140.

I hold that the phrase, “relative of a testator,” contained in Section 2107.52, Revised Code, does not include those “related” by affinity. Consequently, Clarise Long was not a “relative” of the testator, and her surviving children are not entitled to her share of the $2,000 bequest.

[66]*66Inasmuch as the antilapse statute, cited above, does not govern, we must look to the common law to determine who is entitled to Clarise Long’s share of the $2,000 bequest, which share amounts to $500.

As already noted, the gift is of an aggregate sum, to be divided equally between four named legatees, three of whom compose a “class,” namely, the children of Ed Kortan. If this constituted a class gift, those members of the class who survived the testator would share the whole $2,000.00 equally, and Clarise Long’s share would not lapse. 56 Ohio Jurisprudence 2d, Section 857; Jewett v. Jewett, 21 C. C., 278, 12 C. D., 131 (1900), affd, 67 Ohio St. 541; Mather v. Copeland (Com. Pl. 1898), 5 N. P. 151, 7 O. D. (N. P) 257; Bensing, The Ohio Anti-Lapse Statute, 28 Univ. of Cincinnati L. Eev. (1959), 1, at p. 3; 4 Bowe-Parker, Page on Wills (1961), Section 35.15, p. 540.

However, the $2,000 bequest is not a class gift, but rather a gift to individuals. In the first place, only three of the four beneficiaries are in the same class. But even overlooking that point, and treating the bequest as though all four of the named individuals were of the same class, the bequest is still to individuals and not to a class.

The case of Jewett v. Jewett, supra, is in point. The bequest in that ease was “to my brothers,” naming each of them, “share and share alike.” At page 282, the court said:

“It seems obvious to us that this is a gift to them as individuals, and not as a class. It is true that they were a class— but the gift to them is in words to them as individuals, and the rule of law is, that when the gift is made to persons designated by name, that is individually; it is a gift to them as individuals, and not as a class, even though the persons designated may constitute a class * * *”

The Jewett case was followed in Bishop v. Jones (App. 1929), 7 Ohio Law Abs. 484. See, also, Starling’s Executor v. Price (1864), 16 Ohio St. 29.

The Ohio decisions are in line with the general rule. Of course, a will may contain other language manifesting an intention to create a class gift even though individuals are named. However, this is unusual, and no such language appears in Mr. Novak’s will. In the absence thereof, the designation of the beneficiaries by name is regarded as showing an intention to [67]*67make individual gifts rather than a class gift. And when the group of beneficiaries are named and the number of them given, as occurred in Mr. Novak’s will (“and his three children Claire, Euth and William”) the intent to make gifts to individuals, rather than a gift to a class, is even more apparent. See 75 A. L. E. 773; 105 A. L. E.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
209 N.E.2d 762, 3 Ohio Misc. 63, 32 Ohio Op. 2d 302, 1965 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kovar-v-kortan-ohprobctcuyahog-1965.