Opinion ID: 1292125
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Other Evidence of a Vested Remainder

Text: The structure of the devise in Article VI bears the telltale signs of a vested remainder. First, the remainder was invariably fixed to a determinate person, Richard, whose only impediment to taking possession and enjoyment of the trust corpus was based upon a certain event, at the very latest his mother's death. See Moore, 246 Iowa at 746, 69 N.W.2d at 81. Second, nothing in Article VI states that Richard's interest was contingent upon surviving his mother. Dickerson presents similar facts in this respect. We stated: The devise is not to the son in case he survives his mother, or is living at her remarriage, or at the termination of the trust. The devise of the remainder after the termination of the particular estate is to the son, to be his sole and absolute property, subject to the trust. No disposition is made of the estate in case of his death before the termination of the trust. 200 Iowa at 118, 202 N.W. at 603; cf. Johnston v. Boothe, 234 Iowa 201, 205, 12 N.W.2d 176, 178 (1943) (finding vested remainder in absence of language ... expressing contingency such as if living, then in being, or if he survive). Third, the will does not explicitly provide any alternate beneficiaries who should take on the condition that Richard failed to survive his mother. The failure to do so is evidence of a vested remainder. See Dickerson, 200 Iowa at 119, 202 N.W. at 603 (failure to make provision for the disposition of the remainder, if the son should die before the termination of the trust, is a circumstance entitled to weight as indicating that the condition is not precedent to the vesting of the estate); Schrader v. Schrader, 158 Iowa 85, 90, 139 N.W. 160, 162 (1912) (same); see also Johnston, 234 Iowa at 205, 12 N.W.2d at 178. Fourth, an alternative arrangement was provided in the will only for the circumstance in which Richard did not survive his father, which, as we have shown previously, was the only uncertain event upon which Richard's interest was predicated. Fifth, Article VI is different than another part of the will. Article IV of Alfred's will stated Richard was entitled to other assets [i]n the event [he] shall outlive the survivor of myself and my said wife.  (Emphasis added.) Article VI, on the other hand, simply says [i]n the event that my son, Richard E. Uchtorff shall survive me.  (Emphasis added.) Unlike Article VI, Article IV also provided for the disposition of the Article IV property in equal shares to Richard's children should Richard predecease Pearl. Divining testator intent is never an easy task, but looking at the whole of the will in this case it is clear Alfred knew how to make Richard's interest contingent upon Richard surviving Pearl but did not do so with respect to the trust fund. See Elkader Prod. Credit Ass'n v. Eulberg, 251 N.W.2d 234, 237-38 (Iowa 1977) (indicating testamentary instrument must be considered as a whole and each part given meaning and effect if possible).