The nieces and nephews of a married couple with no children contested their aunt’s last will and testament, claiming that the will should be set aside because the aunt was unduly influenced by her husband and lacked the requisite testamentary capacity to transfer her assets to his intervivos trust. The husband died in 2006, followed by his wife in 2009. One of the nieces was named executor. Anticipating a challenge to the wife’s will, the niece asked the trial court to appoint a bank to assume the executor’s duties. The wife’s will was admitted to probate and, indeed, the beneficiaries did challenge their aunt’s will in court. The case was transferred from the probate court and given a civil case number at that point. The trustee of the husband’s revocable trust sought dismissal of the civil case, arguing that the action should have been filed in the probate court.
The trial court held a hearing in late 2009 and ruled in favor of the trustees of the husband’s trust. The court determined that the entire will and trust contest case should be dismissed for failure to comply with the requirements of Iowa’s probate and trust codes. The beneficiaries appealed.
The Iowa Court of Appeals first addressed the issue of whether the filing of the will contest in civil court was merely a procedural misstep or whether it warranted complete dismissal. The appellate court examined several sections of the Iowa Code and particularly looked to Iowa Code §633.309- the code section directing how and when a petition should be filed. Basically, an action to contest or set aside a will must be filed in the court where the will was admitted into probate. In this case, the beneficiaries’ original petition indicated that they intended to file the action in the probate court, but it was altered by the clerk of court’s office and a civil case number was assigned to it. Thus, the court found that although the case was improperly filed, this was a mere “procedural informality” and the beneficiaries should have been allowed to amend and transfer the case to the probate court.
Next, the beneficiaries appealed the dismissal of the trust contest by the trial court. The appellate court found that the beneficiaries should have been allowed to amend their petition with respect to the trust challenge, as well. In re Estate of Moris, No. 0-894/10-0959, 2011 Iowa App. LEXIS 164 (Iowa Ct. App. Feb. 23, 2011).