Opinion ID: 901240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: [¶ 2.] Lawrence Holan died on April 11, 1998. A widower, Lawrence was survived by six children. His estate consisted of farm equipment, a house in Pukwana, and 1,358.5 acres of farmland. Shortly after his death, Lawrence's daughters, Judene Holan and Lynette Leiferman, offered for probate a will dated March 3, 1997. Dennis Holan contested the admission, arguing that the will was the product of undue influence. He offered instead, Lawrence's will of May 15, 1991 and its codicil. [¶ 3.] The significant difference between the two wills was the disposition of the farmland. Under the 1997 will, Lawrence devised to Dennis 80 acres in Brule County. The remainder of Lawrence's estate was to be divided in equal shares among the six children. Under the 1991 will, Lawrence left his home in Pukwana to the other five siblings and his farm property to Dennis, provided that he make payments over a fifteen-year period to his siblings equaling their share of the appraised value of the farmland at the time of Lawrence's death. [1] [¶ 4.] In November 1999, a jury ruled that the 1997 will was made through the undue influence of Lynette and Judene. We affirmed the verdict in Estate of Holan, 2001 SD 6, 621 NW2d 588. On remand, the 1991 will and its codicil were admitted to probate. On April 11, 2002, the court valued the farmland Dennis received under the will, and it ordered Dennis to pay each of the five devisees 13.3 percent of the value of the farmland. The payments were to be in fifteen annual installments, with interest at the rate of 5.98 percent calculated from the decedent's date of death, April 11, 1998, with the first of the annual payments due and owing as of April 11, 1999. [¶ 5.] On appeal, Dennis challenges the circuit court's decisions in ordering him to pay interest (1) calculated from the date of death of the decedent, and (2) at the rate permitted by the Internal Revenue Service at the time of Lawrence's death instead of the lower rate later approved by the IRS. [2] Under our standard of review, we will not set aside trial court findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. Estate of Dokken, 2000 SD 9, ¶10, 604 NW2d 487, 490 (citations omitted). Conclusions of law and rulings on statutory interpretation are reviewed de novo. Osloond v. Osloond, 2000 SD 46, ¶¶6-7, 609 NW2d 118, 121.