Court Opinion

ID: 9658880
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:20:10.548427+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:01.072919
License: Public Domain

Heffernan, J.
(concurring). I agree with the conclusion reached by the majority. There appears to be no doubt that as a matter of fact the phrase, “children of the body,” clearly identifies not a class but Glen and Michael as the intended recipients of the testatrix’s bequest. They are identifiable, however, not because of the biological relationship to their father, but because that is what Rose Zastrow chose to call them at the time she wrote her will. If, from extrinsic circumstances, we were able to determine the identity of the intended recipients, it would have made no difference what she chose to call them. The Will of Adler (1966), 30 Wis. 2d 250, 140 N. W. 2d 219, makes it clear that, following an adoption, *396the prior biological relationship has no legal relevance. These children had no legal status relating them to either their natural father or their father’s aunt as “children of the body” following their adoption by Nelson. They are identifiable in this instance not because of the legalistic class term used to describe them, but because we know that the testatrix specifically intended these two boys as beneficiaries. The description of the legal class (children of the body) would not have permitted an after-born grandchild, after adoption by another, to take his father’s share, for he could not have been the specific object of testatrix’s bounty at the time the will was drafted. If the bequest were to a class, the bequest would fail under the facts herein.
I believe that the majority would follow this same rationale, but I am concerned that the language of the majority, if taken literally, would lead to the erroneous conclusion that some status was conferred upon these beneficiaries from the very terms of the will, rather than as the result of the testatrix’s provable subjective intent as extrinsically proved.