Nicholson v. Fritz

109 N.W.2d 226, 252 Iowa 892, 1961 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 569
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 2, 1961
Docket50229
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 109 N.W.2d 226 (Nicholson v. Fritz) 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
Nicholson v. Fritz, 109 N.W.2d 226, 252 Iowa 892, 1961 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 569 (iowa 1961).

Opinion

Garfield, C. J.

Sole question on this appeal is whether, as the trial court held, our antilapse statute, section 633.16, Code, 1958, applies to the will of George Franke, deceased. We affirm the decision.

Testator, a bachelor whose parents predeceased him, died August 3, 1959, at the home of his sister Etta Nicholson in Des Moines. He lived there since 1943 although his legal residence remained in Ringgold County. Etta and her adopted daughter Mary Howell are plaintiffs in the action. Defendants are four children and heirs-at-law of Louise Blair, testator’s sister, who died June 26, 1955.

Item 2 of the will, made August 7, 1953, gives $200 to each defendant, naming them, and a like sum to each of the children *894 of Fred and John Franke and Emma Mowatt, deceased brothers and sister of testator, without naming such children. There were 20 of these children, so in all there are 24 bequests of $200 each to testator’s nephews and nieces.

Item 3 of the will makes some charitable bequests which need not be considered. Item 4 leaves the residue of the estate to Etta Nicholson and Mary Howell, plaintiffs, and Louise Blair, the sister who predeceased testator, share and share alike.

Code section 633.16 provides: “If a devisee die before the testator, his heirs shall inherit the property devised to him, unless from the terms of the will a contrary intent is manifest.” The word “devisee”, as here used, embraces “legatees”, and “devised” comprises the word “bequeathed.” Section 633.15; In re Estate of Everett, 238 Iowa 564, 566, 567, 28 N.W.2d 21, 22, and citations.

Since Louise Blair died before testator and defendants are her heirs it is obvious from 633.16 they inherit the property bequeathed to her “unless from the terms of the will a contrary intent is manifest.” We have pointed out many times that such intent must be manifest “from the terms of the will”, not otherwise. In re Estate of Everett, supra, 238 Iowa 564, 569, 28 N.W.2d 21, 23; In re Estate of Finch, 239 Iowa 1069, 1086, 32 N.W.2d 819, 827, 3 A. L. R.2d 1403; Fischer v. Mills, 248 Iowa 1319, 1324-5, 85 N.W.2d 533, 536, 537, 63 A. L. R.2d 1166; In re Estate of Warner, 249 Iowa 339, 342, 86 N.W.2d 881, 883.

The burden was upon plaintiffs to show the “contrary intent” claimed by them. In re Estate of Finch, Fischer v. Mills, and In re Estate of Warner, all supra; Benz v. Paulson, 246 Iowa 1005, 1012, 70 N.W.2d 570, 574.

Plaintiffs contend the general pattern of this will, particularly the bequests of $200 to each of 24 nieces and nephews, clearly manifests such contrary intent. It is said this shows a purpose to treat the nieces and nephews alike except for plaintiff Mary Howell, adopted daughter of testator’s sister, plaintiff Etta Nicholson. .Also that the residuary clause (Item 4) shows an intent to leave the bulk of the estate to the three persons, living when the will was made, who were closest to testator.

Plaintiffs call attention to this statement in an annotation *895 in 92 A. L. R. 846, 854: “Sometimes tbe intention of tbe testator with regard to the devolution of lapsed legacies is ascertainable from the general plan of the will, as where the will gives specific legacies to the children of a legatee, or where it makes provision for the children of some legatees and not for the children of others. Such inferred intention may be sufficient to defeat the statute against lapses.”

And a later annotation in 63 A. L. R.2d 1172, 1181, following the report of Fischer v. Mills, supra, 248 Iowa 1319, 85 N.W.2d 533, 63 A. L. R.2d 1166, states: “A testator’s general plan or philosophy of distribution indicated by his will taken as a whole may be indicative of an intention to effect a distribution other than that dictated by the application of the antilapse statute.”

None of the many decisions involving our own antilapse statute would support the holding plaintiffs ask from us. We will review the four precedents cited by them.

In In re Estate of Phelps, 147 Iowa 323, 325, 126 N.W. 328, 329, the will provided that in the event certain legatees predeceased testator the sum bequeathed to each should go to the heirs or children of such legatee. It contained no such provision regarding a bequest to a brother who predeceased testator but it did make other bequests to the brother’s heirs. The residuary clause disposed of the remainder of the estate “together with any of my estate that may fail, for any reason to pass under * * « this my will.” We held the bequest to the brother passed under the residuary clause, not to the brother’s heirs under the antilapse statute.

In Jensen v. Nelson, 236 Iowa 569, 577, 19 N.W.2d 596, 600, the will provided for substantially equal gifts to each of ten legatees who were also the beneficiaries under its residuary clause, in equal shares. This clause (paragraph 5 of the will) disposed of the rest of the estate, “including lapsed legacies.” We held a bequest to a brother who predeceased testator passed in equal shares under this clause, not to the brother’s heirs under our antilapse statute. The opinion refers to the equality of distribution of the bequest to the brother from this construction of the will and also says: “Further, we have the clearly ex *896 pressed intent of the testator in paragraph 5 that these ten heirs should acquire the residuary estate, includmg lapsed legacies, in equal shares. Similar language has been held a sufficient expression of intent that a ‘nonlapse’ statute should not apply. [Citation] As stated, the gift to [the brother] is a lapsed legacy.”

In re Estate of Gerdes, 245 Iowa 778, 62 N.W.2d 777, 70 A. L. R.2d 210, considers a devise of a homestead to testator’s wife “if she shall survive me.” It was agreed this manifested an intent that the devise would lapse if, as happened, the wife died before testator. We held the quoted phrase also applied to other bequests to the wife in the same paragraph of the will which would have been in two sentences except for errors in punctuation. Further support for this holding was found in the fact that three bequests to nephews and nieces provided that if any of them should predecease testator the share of such beneficiary should pass to his or her surviving children and no such provision accompanied the gifts to the wife.

In Fischer v. Mills, supra, 248 Iowa 1319, 1321, 85 N.W.2d 533, 63 A. L.

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Bluebook (online)
109 N.W.2d 226, 252 Iowa 892, 1961 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nicholson-v-fritz-iowa-1961.