Title: Merrill v. Wimmer
Citation: 481 N.E.2d 1294
Docket Number: 885S326
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: August 21, 1985

481 N.E.2d 1294 (1985)
Dennis A. MERRILL and Walter O. Merrill, in Their Capacities As Two of the Three Co-Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Newell M. Merrill, Deceased; Dennis A. Merrill and Walter O. Merrill in Their Capacities As Trustees of the Trust Purported to Be Established by Item 3 of the Last Will and Testament of Newell M. Merrill, Deceased; Dennis A. Merrill; Walter O. Merrill; Judith I. Yarling; Richard Dennis Merrill; Kathryn Jo Anderson; Margaret Yarling Ruegg; Cynthia Lou Rink; and Virginia Beth Yarling, Appellants (Petitioners below),
v.
Wayne O. WIMMER, Co-Executor of the Estate of Newell M. Merrill, Deceased; Barbara Jean Merrill; and the Unborn Grandchildren of Newell M. Merrill, Deceased, Appellees (Respondents below), Pamela Sue Yarling, Appellee (Petitioner below), and Erpha B. Merrill, Appellee (Non-Participating Interested Party below).
No. 885S326.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
August 21, 1985.
*1296 Dan R. Winchell, Baker &amp; Daniels, Indianapolis, and Philip S. Cooper, Busby, Austin, Cooper &amp; Farr, Anderson, for appellants.
Larry E. Swick, Wimmer, Lockwood &amp; Swick, Elwood, for Wayne O. Wimmer.
Stephen D. Clase, Braddock &amp; Clase, Anderson, Guardian Ad Litem.
PRENTICE, Justice.
This case is before us upon the petition of the Petitioners (Appellants below) to transfer the cause from the Court of Appeals, Fourth District, that court having reversed the judgment of the trial court by decision and opinion published at 453 N.E.2d 356. Said decision is in conflict with the decisions of that court in Weishaar v. Burton (1962), 132 Ind. App. 597, 179 N.E.2d 211, Gardner v. Grossman (1944), 115 Ind. App. 135, 57 N.E.2d 440, and Szulkowska v. Werwinski (1941), 109 Ind. App. 511, 36 N.E.2d 948, and contravenes ruling precedents of this Court, including Thomas v. Thomas (1896), 108 Ind. 576, 9 N.E. 457, proscribing the judicial rewriting of wills. Accordingly, transfer is granted, and the aforementioned decision and opinion of the Court of Appeals are ordered vacated.
The Testator, Newell M. Merrill, died leaving the following quoted will, which was admitted to probate:
This appeal is from the construction and modification of said will by the Superior Court of Madison County. No fact is in dispute. The will speaks for itself, as well to us as to the trial court; hence, we review it de novo.
Testator's wife, Maizie, predeceased him; hence Item Three (3), the residuary provision, in essence, constitutes the entire will. Surviving Testator were a second, childless wife, and three children, Judith I. Yarling, Dennis A. Merrill and Walter O. Merrill. Also surviving Testator were five grandchildren, by Judith, ranging in age from thirteen years to twenty-nine years and two grandchildren by Dennis, who were eighteen and eleven years old respectively. Walter was childless.
The trial court, adopting the probate commissioner's findings, correctly held that the trust provisions as to the two-thirds (2/3) share designated for Judith and Dennis and their children were invalid under the rule (statute) against perpetuities (Ind. Code § 32-1-4-1 [Burns 1980 Repl.]), but incorrectly awarded that portion in equal shares to them outright. It also incorrectly upheld the entire trust provision regarding the one-third (1/3) share designated for Walter.
The Court of Appeals also correctly held that the trust provisions violated the statute against perpetuities. It was critical of the trial court for extinguishing the grandchildren's interest in two-thirds (2/3) of the corpus and vesting it immediately in Judith and Dennis, and it referred to this as the trial court's having "rewritten Newell's will." Yet, under the claim of merely construing the will, the Court of Appeals, itself, has rewritten it by changing certain *1298 of the beneficiaries from the Testator's grandchildren (regardless of the time of their births) to his grandchildren alive at the time of his death. Its justification for this impermissible action was to avoid intestacy, which results under the will as written. In essence, the Court of Appeals put into effect a testamentary plan that it perceived would have been preferred by the Testator, had he known that his own plan could not be carried out. However, resort may be had to rules of construction only for the purpose of ascertainment of a testator's intent when there is an actual or latent ambiguity.
Attica Bldg. &amp; Loan Assn. v. Colvert (1939), 216 Ind. 192, 202, 23 N.E.2d 483, 488.
Gibson v. Seymour, et al. (1885), 102 Ind. 485, 489-90, 2 N.E. 305, 307.
Gardner v. Grossman (1944), 115 Ind. App. 135, 142, 57 N.E.2d 440, 443.
Here, there is no ambiguity whatsoever in the will, with regard to either the identity of the beneficiaries or the time of termination of the trust.[1] The beneficiaries were the Testator's children and grandchildren, all of them, and the trust was to terminate, as to two-thirds (2/3), when the youngest grandchild attained the age of twenty-five (25) years. What could be more clear? The problem is not one of ascertaining the Testator's intentions, as to time for vesting, but simply that our statute will not permit such intention to be carried out.
The statute provides, "An interest in property shall not be valid unless it must vest, if at all, not later than twenty-one years after a life or lives in being at the creation of the interest." Ind. Code § 32-1-4-1 (Burns 1980 Repl.) (Emphasis added.)[2]
*1299 Since a grandchild can only be born within the life of a child, there was no problem with measuring the time until vesting of the corpus of the trust upon the life of a grandchild, even though unborn. However the maximum period of delay to be so measured is twenty-one (21) years, not twenty-five (25). Hence the gift may not vest within the period allowed by law and is void.
It is argued that the trial court's construction subverts the Testator's intent, but this is not a correct statement. It is the statute against perpetuities that subverts his intent. This is always the case when the testator's intent is one that cannot be carried out.
The trial court was in error in holding that the two-thirds (2/3) interest intended for Judith and Dennis and their children would pass to Judith and Dennis outright.
95 C.J.S. Wills § 586, pp. 710-713. See also Weishaar v. Burton, supra; Gardner v. Grossman, supra; Szulkowska v. Werwinski, supra.
Property not effectively disposed of by will must pass by the laws of intestate succession, regardless of the cause of the non-disposal. This was recognized in Stephens v. Evans' Admx. (1868), 30 Ind. 39, and Sipe v. Merchants Trust Co. (1941), 109 Ind. App. 566, 34 N.E.2d 968.
Stephens, 30 Ind. at 52.
The trial court also held that the trust for Walter terminated upon the death of Walter and, hence, did not violate the statute. The parties appear to accept this notion, but Petitioners argue, and we believe correctly so, that even if the provisions for Walter be valid, they are so interrelated with those for Judith and Dennis that they cannot be permitted to stand alone, because such would result in significant distortion or defeat of the Testator's underlying objectives. Sipe v. Merchants Trust Co., supra. It will be noted that the underlying plan of Testator was for his three children to have equal shares in the income for a term of years, after which the corpus of Judith's share would be divided between her and her children, and the corpus *1300 of Dennis' share would be divided between him and his children, but the share for Walter would continue in trust, until his death, so that he would continue to receive the income for life but not the corpus. If the provisions for Walter are permitted to stand, notwithstanding the failure of those for Judith and Dennis, however, Walter will share equally with Judith and Dennis, under the laws of intestate succession, in the two-thirds (2/3) intended for them and their children, while also receiving the income, for life, in the remaining one-third (1/3)  a grossly distorted result. 61 Am.Jur.2d Perpetuities § 87, p. 95.
We disagree, however, with the trial court's decision that the corpus of Walter's trust share could vest within the time limitation of the statute. The provisions for vesting upon Walter's death cannot come into play until the Testator's youngest grandchild has attained the age of twenty-five (25) years. The wording of Item 3(E) permits no dispute. "* * * when my youngest grandchild reaches the age of twenty-five years, said Trust shall terminate as to two-thirds (2/3), * * * shall be divided * * *; one-third (1/3) of the corpus of said Trust * * * shall be continued * * *." (Emphasis added.) Said one-third (1/3) continued share is then to be distributed upon the death of Walter. The use of the word "continued" as to the one-third share following the provisions for termination as to the two-thirds share permits no conclusion other than that the one-third share will not vest until some time subsequent to the vesting of the two-thirds share. Obviously, if the corpus of two-thirds cannot vest within the time allowed, and the vesting of the remaining one-third may be deferred until an even later date, the gift of the one-third interest fails for the same reason as does the gift of the two-thirds interest.
"Where an entire gift or devise of property is made in such a way that to carry it out a perpetuity may be created, the orthodox rule causes such property to go to the residuary estate, or to the heirs or next of kin, * * *." 61 Am.Jur.2d Perpetuities § 86, p. 94. Here, the intended trust was of the entire estate and the will made no alternative provision. There is no alternative to the conclusion that Newell Merrill died intestate, and we so hold. The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause is remanded to the trial court with instructions to vacate its order of November 12, 1982 denying the motion of the Petitioners (Appellants) Dennis A. Merrill, Co-Executor, et al. to correct errors and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
GIVAN, C.J., and HUNTER, DeBRULER and PIVARNIK, JJ., concur.
[1]  It may be noted that the will in the instant case also suffered from another perplexing infirmity. By Item 3(E) the trust was to terminate, as to two-thirds, when Testator's youngest grandchild attained the age of twenty-five (25) years, at which time one-half of two thirds of the corpus was to be distributed to two of Testator's children. Since the identity of the youngest grandchild cannot be determined until all of Testator's children have died, the intended gift to these two children fails and inflicts a major, if not fatal, blow to the testamentary plan.
[2]  The common law Rule Against Perpetuities (adopted by statute in Indiana) is noted for its harsh consequences. Despite its mischief, however, it is generally believed, and the American Law Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws both agree, that the rule serves important social functions and should not be abolished altogether.

The generally recognized method of avoiding total defeat of the testator's general plan is by means of a savings clause in the will itself, which unfortunately was not provided here. In some jurisdictions, where the rule exists only by virtue of the common law, courts have taken certain liberties, such as accelerating the time for vesting from the prohibited one stated to one that the rule will permit. Matter of Estate of Chun Quan Yee Hop, etc. (1970), 52 Ha. 40, 469 P.2d 183; Carter, et al. v. Berry, et al. (1962), 243 Miss. 321, 140 So. 2d 843; Edgerly, et al. v. Barker, et al. (1891), 66 N.H. 434, 31 A. 900; Berry Exec., etc. v. Union Ntl. Bank, etc. (1980), W. Va., 262 S.E.2d 766. In these cases, however, it should be noted that only the time of vesting was altered, not the beneficiaries. Statutory reformation has also been employed in some jurisdictions. Pearson Estate (1971), 442 Pa. 172, 275 A.2d 336.
The American Law Institute approved reformation in 1983 as part of the Restatement (Second) of Property (Donative Transfers). The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws currently has the matter under consideration, and a proposed draft was presented at its August 2-9, 1985 meeting.