Fine Arts Museums Foundation v. First National in Palm Beach

Charles Norton Adams, decedent, executed a will in 1991 devising one-sixth of the sale proceeds of his Palm Beach property to the De Young Museum Art School. The will named Olean General Hospital (Olean) (defendant) as the residuary beneficiary. When Adams executed his 1991 will, the corporate entity called the De Young Museum Art School had already been dissolved and the De Young Museum and associated art school were instead operated as part of the Fine Arts Museums Foundation (the Foundation) (plaintiff). As personal representative of Adams’s estate, First National in Palm Beach filed a petition for construction of the will to determine whether Olean or the Foundation was entitled to the bequest designated for the De Young Museum Art School. Olean filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that it was entitled to the bequest because the De Young Museum Art School no longer existed as a corporate entity and that, as the residuary beneficiary, it was entitled to all lapsed gifts. The Foundation opposed the motion for summary judgment and submitted an affidavit from Charles Crocker, Adams’s stepson and the Foundation’s president, regarding Adams’s intent. Crocker testified that (1) Adams believed the De Young Museum and the associated art school to be one singular entity; and (2) the intent was to benefit the De Young Museum and devising a bequest to the De Young Museum Art School was simply the way Adams chose to transmit his gift. The probate court granted Olean’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that Adams’s will was not ambiguous, that the gift to De Young Museum Art School failed because it no longer existed as a corporate entity, and that the bequest therefore passed to Olean as the residuary beneficiary. The Foundation appealed.