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In the Matter of the Max and Nelda Lauser Trust Created Under the Will of Max L. Lauser, Deceased.
Barbara Zellmer, Appellant
Attorney for Appellant
Alan R. Ostergren
Gregory J. Kreitner
Attorney for Appellees Kent Egel, Brian Egel, Kelli D. Egel Forbes, Linda Lauser Hunter, Tony Jarvis, and Don Lauser
Terry M. Giebelstein
Attorney for Appellee Liberty Trust & Savings Bank
Curt A. Oppel
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Jeffrey D. Bert, Judge. REVERSED. Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Langholz, J. (20 pages)
Barbara Zellmer appeals from the district court’s declaratory ruling interpreting the terms of Max Lauser’s will to hold that the remaining assets of the Max and Nelda Lauser Trust created under that will should be distributed in nine equal shares to any surviving issue of the beneficiaries named in the will as well as the named beneficiaries who are still living or in existence after the death of Lauser’s wife. OPINION HOLDS: Because the will includes a provision expressing an intent to limit the distribution of the trust estate to the named beneficiaries and not their issue, the assets remaining in the trust must be distributed in three equal shares to only the named beneficiaries still living or in existence after the death of Lauser’s wife. We thus reverse the district court.
