Court Opinion

ID: 9667813
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:55:31.069731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:40.977970
License: Public Domain

MacLaughlin, Justice
(dissenting).
I concur in the dissent of Mr. Justice Peterson for the following reasons:
(1) The principle issue is the settlors’ intent as to the meaning of the term “issue” on November 30, 1921, the date they executed the trust agreement.
(2) It seems clear that in 1921 the term “issue” was understood at common law to exclude illegitimates. See Mr. Justice Peterson’s dissenting opinion. Further, the statutory law in Minnesota at the time, G. S. 1913 § 9412(8), stated as follows:
“The word ‘issue,’ as applied to the descent of estates, shall include all the lawful lineal descendants of the ancestor.” (Italics supplied.)
(3) Therefore, the court must find language in the trust agreement indicating that the settlors did not use the word “issue” in the sense contemplated by the common law and the statute. Nowhere in the trust agreement can I find language indicating the intent of the settlors that they were using the word *252“issue” in a different sense than that accepted at the time by the common law and the statutory law of Minnesota. The trust agreement itself is several pages in length and I believe that the court unduly strains its interpretative power when it determines the intent of the settlors to include illegitimates through the use of one paragraph of the instrument which is entirely devoted to the question of the rights of an adopted child and the issue of an adopted child. I cannot find justification in that paragraph for the decision of the court.
My study of this case leads me to conclude that neither the law nor the facts support the conclusion that in 1921 the settlors intended to include illegitimate children within the terms of their trust agreement. Therefore, I would affirm the trial court.
Rogosheske, Justice (dissenting).
I agree with the dissenting opinions of Mr. Justice Peterson and Mr. Justice MacLaughlin.
Kelly, Justice (dissenting).
I join in the dissents of Mr. Justice Peterson and Mr. Justice MacLaughlin.