Traphagen v. Paddock

203 N.W. 347, 186 Wis. 544, 1925 Wisc. LEXIS 272
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 7, 1925
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 203 N.W. 347 (Traphagen v. Paddock) 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
Traphagen v. Paddock, 203 N.W. 347, 186 Wis. 544, 1925 Wisc. LEXIS 272 (Wis. 1925).

Opinion

Doerfler, J.

The first issue presented involves the construction of the will. Nelsona L. Traphagen having ex[549]*549pressed a desire that the trust as to her shall be finally settled, the question arises whether two thirds of the stock in the insurance company shall be directed to be delivered to her in specie, or whether the entire stock be ordered sold and the proceeds thereof divided as follows, to wit: two thirds to Nelsona L. Traphagen, and one third to the trustees for the benefit of the widow and of Paul Paddock.

In the construction of wills the principal canon to be observed is to ascertain the intention of the testator from a review and consideration of the entire will. Smith v. Smith, 116 Wis. 570, 93 N. W. 452; Will of Cramer, 183 Wis. 525, 198 N. W. 386. The organization and the operation of the business affairs of the Time Insurance Company, from the time of its inception up to the time of the death of the deceased, constituted the life work of Jerome Orlando Paddock, deceased. During all this time he not only had the controlling stock interest in the company, but was also its president and general manager and a member of the board of directors. He shaped the policy of this company, and during the long period of time in which he was engaged in this business he had without dispute succeeded in building up and maintaining a large and highly successful institution. The deceased left him surviving his widow, Anna P. Paddock, and four children by a former marriage, namely, Nelsona L. Traphagen, Paul E. Paddock, J. O. Paddock, Jr., and B. B. Paddock. With the exception of a few years, one Emil Giljohann, who had been insurance commissioner of the state of Wisconsin for a period of four years, was associated with the deceased in the conduct of the business of the insurance company, up to the time of his death, since 1903. Giljohann was the secretary and treasurer of the company and also a director. At the time of his death the deceased owned 1,730 shares of the insurance company stock, the latter company having a capital stock consisting of 2,500 sharés of the par value of $10 a share. Nelsona L. Trap-hagen owned 500 shares, and the balance of the stock was [550]*550held by various parties m small amounts. At the time of the hearing the widow, Anna P. Paddock, was seventy-six years of age. C. G. Traphagen, one of the executors and trustees, was a son-in-law of the deceased and the husband of Nelsona L. Traphagen. He had occupied for over thirty years an important position at Duluth as manager of the Northwestern branch of the R. G. Dun Company, a commercial agency, and for upwards of five years prior to the death of the deceased he had been a director of the insurance company. In the light of these surrounding facts and circumstances we will endeavor to arrive at the true intent of the testator as expressed in his will.

Nothing that appears from the record would indicate that' the deceased and his wife had not lived happily and in perfect harmony. If any discord or unpleasantness existed in the family it was with reference to two of the sons of the deceased, for whom he made no provision in the will and as to whom he directed that they shall in no manner participate in the conduct of the business. True, he gives his widow the income during her life of but one third of the estate, with remainder over to the son Paul, while he gives to Nelsona, if she survive the five-year period referred to in the will, two thirds of his entire estate. This evidently, on the face of it, has a tendency to create the impression that he has not adequately made provision for his widow. The widow, however, at the time of the death of the deceased, was seventy years of age, and at the time of the hearing had arrived at seventy-six years of age. The widow had a claim upon his bounty at least to the extent of a reasonable provision in her behalf that would meet her necessities during the remainder of her life.- The capital stock of the insurance company, having a par value of $25,000 according to the appraisal made in the matter of the estate, shows an actual value in excess of $65,000. Besides his stock in the insurance company there was other property worth approximately $7,500. During the five-year period after the death of the deceased, [551]*551large and substantial dividends were earned and paid by the insurance company, of which the widow received one third. This demonstrates clearly that the deceased, in bequeathing to his widow the income from one third of his estate during the remainder of her life, reasonably and adequately provided for her wants and needs.

While the son Paul did not receive as generous treatment by the will as his sister Nelsona, yet after the death of his stepmother the remainder of the one third was bequeathed to him. The deceased also realized the possibility of the death of Nelsona during the five-year period, and, evidently being desirous that his property shall remain in his family, he provided that in the happening of that event such two-thirds interest shall pass to the son Paul. So that no complaint can properly be made on the part of Paul that he was not fairly considered by the deceased in the distribution of his bounty.

Nelsona, however, was the favorite member of his family, and in the distribution of his property she received primary consideration. That he placed great faith and confidence in her is shown by the provision in the will that upon the death of either of the executors or trustees Nelsona shall have the power of naming the successor. Her husband, C. G. Trap-hagen, a man in the prime of life, with a great many years of experience in a prominent commercial enterprise, and who had been for upwards of five years prior to the death of the deceased a director of the insurance company, was the one whom the deceased evidently had in mind as his successor in the conduct of the business. In any event the trustees exercised their power under the will to name and appoint him as such successor. Giljohann, a prominent insurance man, who had served two terms as insurance commissioner of the state and who had been associated with the deceased for over fifteen years as one of the principal officers of the company, was selected and appointed by him as one of the executors and trustees of the will.

[552]*552The succession and continuance of the business of the insurance company was at all times near and dear to the deceased’s heart. Therefore he concluded, at the time he executed the will in 1912, to continue the business not only up to the time of his death but for a definite and specified term of five years thereafter, and in and by his will express directions were given to maintain the estate intact during this period. Nelsona, his daughter, at the time of the death of the deceased was the owner in her own right of 500 shares of the stock of the company. He evidently realized that by giving to his widow and his son Paul one third of his estate and to Nelsona the remaining two thirds (she owning at that time 500 shares of the stock in her own right), it would give her controlling interest of the affairs of the company. It is not unlikely, but on the contrary is highly probable, that the deceased concluded that the actual conduct of the business after his death, for a period of five years, would demonstrate the ability of the trustees to conduct the business successfully.

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Related

Estate of Paddock v. Paddock
251 N.W. 229 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1933)
Coca Cola Bottling Co. v. Shipp
297 S.W. 856 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1927)
Ritchie v. Brindley
208 N.W. 880 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1926)

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Bluebook (online)
203 N.W. 347, 186 Wis. 544, 1925 Wisc. LEXIS 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/traphagen-v-paddock-wis-1925.