Opinion ID: 1292125
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alfred's Will Specifically States Richard's Interest Vested

Text: Alfred's will states with sufficient specificity that Richard's interest vested upon his mother's death. By its terms it states Richard took an indefeasibly vested interest in fee. It is true Alfred's will does not mimic the statute and state the interest of each beneficiary is not contingent on the beneficiary surviving until the date on which the beneficiary becomes entitled to possession or enjoyment of the beneficiary's interest in the trust. This is not surprising, however, since Alfred's will was written decades before the new trust code was a glimmer in the legislature's eye. We do not think the statute requires magic words. We must think things not words, or at least we must constantly translate our words into the facts for which they stand, if we are to keep to the real and the true. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Law in Science and Science in Law, 12 Harv. L. Rev. 443, 460 (1899). This is not so much a matter of interpretation than it is of translation. Translating the old-fashioned phrase indefeasibly vested interest in fee into post-trust code language, we find a specific statement that Richard need not survive Pearl. See In re Estate of Arends, 311 N.W.2d 686, 689 n. 2 (Iowa Ct.App.1981) ([I]ntention should be determined at the time the will is made, based upon the facts then existing.). This reading of the statute is consistent with the overall framework of the trust code. The provisions of a trust shall always control and take precedence over any section of this trust code to the contrary. Iowa Code § 633.1105. The provisions of Alfred's will that granted Richard a vested interest therefore trump any provisions in the trust code that would, by default, mandate a different result. Notwithstanding the enactment of the new trust code, the intent of the testator still reigns supreme in this instance.