In re Estate of Carr

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court considered whether the residue of Mabel Carr’s estate should pass to the descendants of Melville Owens under 14 V.S.A. § 558 after Owens predeceased the testatrix. The court held that the will did not require a different disposition and that the statute applied, entitling Owens’s issue to the share he would have received had he survived Carr. The court vacated the relevant portion of the probate court’s decree and remanded for distribution accordingly.

Holdings

1. Section 558 applies because the will made an unconditional devise of the residue to Melville Owens, a kindred of the testatrix, and Owens died before the testatrix leaving issue who survived her. Owens's issue therefore take the estate Owens would have received had he survived the testatrix.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the probate court erred by failing to distribute the residue under 14 V.S.A. § 558 to the issue of Melville Owens, who was a devisee under Carr's will and died before Carr.

Disposition

vacated