From What Time Does a Will Speak?

Abstract

The testator had been married twice. By his first wife he had one child, the plaintiff. When he and his first wife were divorced she took the plain- tiff with her, and after the divorce the plaintiff went by his mother's name. The deceased and the plaintiff never visited with each other. The testator remarried and by his second wife he had seven children. In the will in question the testator "devised and bequeathed all of the residue" of his estate to his wife for life "then after her death, the estate and personal property is to be equally divided between my lawful heirs," naming the seven children by the second wife, but not naming the plaintiff. The latter claims an interest as one of the class of "lawful heirs." Held, that the plaintiff took no interest in the estate. Westerfelt v. Smith, 202 Iowa 966, 211 N. W. 380 (1926).