Estate of Rehwinkel
Court of Appeals of Washington
71 Wash.App. 827, 862 P.2d 639 (1993)
- Written by Mary Pfotenhauer, JD
Facts
The decedent, Leo Rehwinkel (“Rehwinkel”), executed a will giving the residue of his estate to a list of relatives “who are living at the time of my death,” which included his living brother and sister, the children of his deceased siblings, and the children of a deceased niece and nephew. One of Rehwinkel’s nieces named in the will, Helene, predeceased Rehwinkel. After Rehwinkel’s death, Helene’s son, Ronald Fossum (plaintiff) petitioned the court to be considered an heir of Rehwinkel, and the estate (defendant) objected. Under Washington’s anti-lapse statute, RCW 11.12.110, if a beneficiary who is a relative of the testator predeceases the testator, the beneficiary’s lineal descendants who survive the testator are entitled to the deceased beneficiary’s share. The trial court agreed with the estate, and dismissed Fossum’s petition. Fossum appealed, arguing that under Washington’s anti-lapse statute, he was entitled to the share Helene would have received if she had survived Rehwinkel.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
