Opinion ID: 2742090
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The 2002 Letter

Text: On November 1, 2002, Dr. and Mrs. Conklin left their rural Missouri home for the Kansas City airport. From there, they planned to fly to Arizona to help Dr. Conklin’s mother close her home there. Afterward, they planned to drive one of the mother’s cars back to Iowa, drop it off, and return to their home in Missouri. On the way to the airport, Dr. Conklin wrote – and both he and Mrs. Conklin signed – the following: 3 NOV 1, 2002 Cari, Carla, David & Alisha, Am writing this in the car on the way to KC, MO so excuse the penmanship. If you are reading this it means that Jo & I have met our demise either going to or coming back from Phoenix. The trust has not been updated for several years so I will express my desire on how I wish everything to be handled. My life insurance (250,000) is to be used to pay off the loan against the apartments (120,000). The balance of it (after taxes) to be used to pay off the mortgage [sic] (at NEMO bank) against the house. Cash flow from the apartments will meet the payments on the Zimmerman farm (16,000/yr on Mar 1, 2003, 2004 & 2005) to Bob Zimmerman and will make the portion of the Glidwell farm payment to Donald Glidwell on Dec Trust today, let alone which assets were transferred to the Trust prior to the November 2002 Letter. 3 There was no dispute at trial regarding the authenticity of this handwritten letter or the accuracy of the following transcription. 5 31, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005 that the farm doesn’t generate. Farm generates around 10,000 clear/yr - payment is 33,000/yr. After the farms are paid for, I want David and Alisha to have the apt at 710 S. First Street and Cari and Carli to have the apt at 708 S. First St. The farm north of Novinger by Lee Kittles will go to Cari and Carli. The Zimmerman farm will go to Cari, Carli, David & Alisha, ¼ undivided interest to each. If one of the four or two of the four wants to purchase the farm, I would want them to have it at a fair market appraised value to be fair to those selling their interest. If all decide to sell, I would think keeping it for several years & then maybe splitting it In to smaller parcels would be the best alternative for maximum selling price. The rental income will more than pay the taxes and general expenses so there would be no need to sell it. I don’t want the Glidwell farm sold. I wish all four of you (Cari, Carli, David, Alisha) to have an undivided ¼ interest. Later in your lives you can all decide whether to pass it to your families or to sell. We wish to have the proceeds of Jo’s life insurance (100,000) given to Davie & Alisha. We wish to have Parkview Animal Hospital sold and the proceeds to Cari and Carli. We wish to have the residence at 406 Suburban Drive sold and the proceeds first used to pay all student loans for Carli, David & and those that Alisha will incur through college, hoping she doesn’t desire to study in France or England ☺the remainder to be split equally between you four children. All tractors and equipment to stay with the farms. All of my personal tools I would like to have kept by any of you children or your spouses that will use them. All vehicles are to be sold at fair market value & the proceeds equally divided. I wish to have all of my collector guns (pistol shotguns & rifles) to be entrusted to my brother Ron to sell through someone who knows and can get the best price for them. I wish for the proceeds to be divided 1/5 for each child & 1/5 for Ron for his assistance. I wish for my modern guns (4 pistols, 4 High Powered rifles, 2 short barreled shotguns) to be equally distributed on a fair market value monetary basis between all four children. Each may elect to keep or sell the guns. 6 Above all, I wish to have no fighting or bickering between the four of you - You will all do well in life if you crawl before you walk, use your common sense, plan, manage and be patient. It has been our pleasure to be your parents. /s/ KR Conklin /s/ Jo Conklin Because the Stepchildren are not beneficiaries of the Trust – and have no claim to any Trust assets – under the terms in the 1996 Agreement, their three-count amended petition rests entirely on their allegation that Dr. Conklin intended the foregoing handwritten letter (the “2002 Letter”) to be an amendment to his Trust. 4 As indicated, the letter is addressed to the Children and the Stepchildren, collectively. There was no evidence that Dr. Conklin ever attempted to deliver it to these addressees, however, either when it was written or at any time prior to his death. Instead, Dr. Conklin sealed the letter in an envelope, addressed it to Cari Conklin alone, and left the envelope in the glove compartment of his car in the airport parking lot. Sometime after returning from Arizona, Mrs. Conklin found the letter (unopened) in the car. Rather than delivering it to Cari Conklin or the other addressees, however, she apparently returned it to Dr. Conklin. Following 4 Article VI of the Trust authorizes the trustee to “make specific distributions of trust property to any beneficiaries under this Trust agreement upon my death … as may be set out in a memorandum for Distribution of Tangible Personal Property, letter or other writing executed by me which is in existence at the time of my death.” The Stepchildren, however, do not assert Article VI as a stand-alone basis for their claims, independent of the 2002 Letter. Because this provision only authorizes distributions to those individuals who are identified in the Trust as “beneficiaries,” it can only be invoked by the Stepchildren if they can establish that Dr. Conklin intended for the 2002 Letter to amend the Trust and make them beneficiaries. 7 Dr. Conklin’s death, the letter (opened) was discovered among his records (though not, the Stepchildren concede, with or as a part of Dr. Conklin’s Trust papers).