Opinion
No. 2-239 / 01-0728
Filed September 25, 2002
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, James L. Beeghly, Judge.
The executor of a will appeals a district court ruling concluding the will was procured using undue influence. AFFIRMED.
Russel A. Neuwoehner of Lange Neuwoehner, Dubuque, for appellant.
Darin S. Harmon and Dean J. Konrardy of Kintzinger Law Firm, P.L.C., Dubuque, for appellee.
Heard by Hecht, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and Eisenhauer, JJ.
This will contest proceeding pits the two surviving children of an eastern Iowa farm family against each other. Wilfred Bradshaw, the decedent, initially wrote a will that left the bulk of his estate to his son Roger Bradshaw and $50,000 to his daughter Charlene Decker. Shortly before his death, he executed another will that left everything to his daughter. Upon his father's death, Roger petitioned to have this final will set aside on grounds of undue influence. The district court granted the petition.
On appeal, Decker contends the court's decision is unsupported by substantial evidence. See In re Herm's Estate, 284 N.W.2d 191, 200 (Iowa 1979) (stating district court's findings on undue influence are binding if supported by substantial evidence). To establish undue influence, Roger was required to show: 1) the decedent's susceptibility to undue influence, 2) an opportunity to exercise undue influence and effect a wrongful purpose, 3) a disposition to influence unduly to procure an improper favor, and 4) the result was clearly the effect of undue influence. In re Estate of Davenport, 346 N.W.2d 530, 532 (Iowa 1984). Roger easily satisfied these elements.
Through medical records and testimony, Roger established that Wilfred Bradshaw had suffered a head injury, experienced depression for which he had previously undergone shock therapy, had been placed in a nursing home because he was unable to independently manage his daily needs, misinterpreted what people said to him, was sometimes "half out of it," and believed everything certain people said to him, all factors bearing on his susceptibility to undue influence.
As for Decker's opportunity and disposition to unduly influence her father, Roger established that she began visiting him at the nursing home with the express purpose of influencing him to change his will. Decker secretly scheduled an appointment with a law firm of her choosing, checked her father out of the nursing home, drove him to the law office, and had him meet with a legal assistant who drafted and presented the will to Wilfred Bradshaw without any attorney input. After the will was executed, Decker took it and kept it under her control until Bradshaw died.
Finally, Roger established that the will was clearly effected by the undue influence. The final will gave everything to Decker despite the fact that Wilfred Bradshaw had earlier expressed an intent to give her $50,000. There was also evidence that Wilfred had considered and rejected the option of giving Decker half his estate, after concluding that his deceased wife's negative assessment of her was correct.
There is substantial evidence to support the district court's findings on the issue of undue influence.