In this case, a wife executed her last will and testament in 2008 and passed away in 2009. The wife made a specific bequest of certain assets to her husband “per stripes.” But, he had predeceased her leaving four children from a prior marriage. Under the wife’s will, the residue of her estate was to pass by trust to be administered by a bank in South Dakota. The beneficiaries under the trust were four other people (the court did not state who they were). In late 2009, the executor of the wife’s estate filed an application for the court to order that the specific bequests to the husband be distributed in equal shares to his children. Of course, the beneficiaries of the wife’s trusts resisted the distribution and asserted that the specific bequests to the husband lapsed upon his death and that the residue of the estate be transferred to the trust.
The trial court determined that the wife clearly did not intend for the specific bequest to lapse and ordered the proceeds to be distributed amongst the husband’s children. The beneficiaries of the trust appealed and the Iowa Court of Appeals discussed the law of specific bequests in Iowa. According to Iowa Case law, when a specific bequest is made to someone who predeceases the testator, the bequest lapses and the property falls into the residuary estate. However, there is a spousal exception where the specific bequest does not fail in this situation if the intent under the will is “clear and explicit to the contrary” (Iowa Code §633.274). The appellate court found that the wife’s use of “per stirpes” was not clear and specific enough to direct that the bequest shall not lapse. According to the court, the use of the legal phrase “per stirpes” does not designate who will share in the estate, but how the estate will be divided. Thus, the court reversed the trial court’s ruling and ordered that the specific bequest be transferred into the trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries of the wife’s trust. In re Estate of Larson, No. 0-694/10-0704, 2010 Iowa App. LEXIS 1366 (Iowa Ct. App. Nov. 10, 2010).