Opinion ID: 1292125
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Vested or Contingent Remainder

Text: The first question presented in this appeal is whether Richard had a vested or a contingent remainder in the trust fund once he survived Alfred. [1] Contrary to the district court, we think the plain and unambiguous language of Alfred's will indicates Richard's remainder interest in the trust fund vested at Alfred's death.
This appeal involves a remainder interest, long one of the law professor's favorite instruments of torture. Stated in its most general terms, a remainder is a future interest created in someone other than the transferor that, according to the terms of its creation, will become a present estate (if ever) immediately upon, and no sooner than, the expiration of all prior particular estates created simultaneously with it. Thomas F. Bergin & Paul G. Haskell, Preface to Estates in Land and Future Interests 62 (1984) (footnotes and emphasis omitted) [hereinafter Bergin & Haskell]. Alfred's will clearly gave Richard a remainder interest in the trust fund. Richard's interest was a future interest that could become a present estate immediately upon and no sooner than when Pearl's prior interest expired, i.e., when Pearl died, remarried, or renounced her life interest, but only if Richard survived Alfred. A remainder is either vested or contingent. Moore v. McKinley, 246 Iowa 734, 745, 69 N.W.2d 73, 80 (1955). A vested remainder, whereby the estate passes by the conveyance, but the possession and enjoyment are postponed until the particular estate is determined, is where the estate is invariably fixed to remain to certain determinate persons. Contingent remainders are where the estate in remainder is limited to take effect either to a dubious or uncertain person or upon a dubious or uncertain event, so that the particular estate may be determined and the remainder never take effect. Id. at 746-47, 69 N.W.2d at 81 (citing Fulton v. Fulton, 179 Iowa 948, 957, 162 N.W. 253, 256 (1917)); see also In re Estate of Ruhland, 452 N.W.2d 417, 419 (Iowa 1990) (same definitions); Pringle v. Houghton, 249 Iowa 731, 741, 88 N.W.2d 789, 794-95 (1958) (same); Dickerson v. Morse, 200 Iowa 115, 117, 202 N.W. 601, 603 (1925) (same). A remainder may be vested even when enjoyment is postponed until the happening of some future condition; it is contingent only if the remainder interest is dependent on some dubious circumstance, through which it may be defeated.... Taylor v. Taylor, 118 Iowa 407, 409, 92 N.W. 71, 71 (1902) (emphasis added). Vested remainders are devisable and alienable. Moore, 246 Iowa at 746, 69 N.W.2d at 80. To determine whether a remainder is vested or contingent, our well-settled canons of will interpretation apply. We need not repeat all of those familiar maxims here. See Rogers, 473 N.W.2d at 39 (reciting basic principles). It will suffice to simply remark that whether a testamentary remainder is vested or contingent must be determined by the intent of the testator as expressed by the language of the will, if it is plain and unambiguous, and nothing else, considering the will as a whole, and giving effect to every provision thereof if it is reasonably possible. Moore, 246 Iowa at 749, 69 N.W.2d at 82. Whether a remainder is contingent or vested must also be constantly reassessed as time passes, events happen, and contingencies are fulfilled. 28 Am. Jur. 2d Estates § 255, at 273 (2000); see, e.g., Katz Inv. Co. v. Lynch, 242 Iowa 640, 654, 47 N.W.2d 800, 809 (1951) (holding previously contingent remainder vested upon a death).
To decide the nature of Richard's remainder, the parties direct our attention to Item VI, paragraph 3(a) of the will. That provision states: (a) In the event that my son, Richard E. Uchtorff shall survive me, I appoint the [trust fund] to the said Richard E. Uchtorff, as an indefeasibly vested interest in fee. This provision of the will initially rendered Richard's remainder interest contingent, because appointment of the trust fund to Richard was expressly conditioned upon one uncertain event, i.e., that Richard survive Alfred. Once Richard survived Alfred, this condition, the only uncertain event upon which appointment of the trust fund to Richard was predicated, was fulfilled. Richard's interest in the trust fund vested when Alfred died and needed only to wait until Pearl's interest ended to become an estate in possession. See 28 Am. Jur. 2d Estates § 255, at 273 (2000) ([U]pon the happening of the contingency upon which the estate in remainder is limited, the remainder becomes vested in right and awaits only the termination of the precedent particular estate to become an estate in possession.).