Burnett v. Younger

[376]Opinion

FLEMING, J. Appeals from a judgment determining distribution of the estate of Gertrude Elkeles, deceased. The issue is whether decedent intended to include certain choses in action (checking account, savings account, savings bond, and 10 savings certificates) in a bequest of “my personal property and effects located at my residence.” The papers evidencing decedent’s ownership of these choses-in-action were found in her apartment after her death.

Gertrude Elkeles died on 27 January 1977, leaving an estate valued at $46,700.56. The bulk of the estate ($38,479.30) consisted of the choses in action. Other assets included corporate stock and mutual fund shares (total value $7,471.26) found in a bank safe deposit box, and miscellaneous personal effects (total value $750) located in decedent’s residence.

By her will dated 13 September 1968, Elkeles, who was never married, provided for distribution of her estate as follows: First, several small cash bequests in amounts of $150 and $350 were made to various relatives, including a $350 bequest to Bette Singerman, a niece. Second, Bette Singerman was to receive “my personal property and effects located at my residence, including my jeweliy, and specifically by way of example and not limitation, my ring containing the diamond and topaz stone.” Finally, the residue of the estate was left to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (Cedars-Sinai) for the purchase of medical equipment as a memorial to decedent’s parents. On 4 April 1972, Elkeles executed a holographic codicil in which she designated $3,000 to Cedars-Sinai for “the medical education of deserving young people.”

On 27 June 1977, Bette Singerman, as administratrix of the estate, filed a petition for determination of entitlement to distribution (Prob. Code, § 1080). Statements of interest in response to the petition were filed by Cedars-Sinai as residuary legatee and by the Attorney General as representative of the indefinite and unascertainable beneficiaries of the charitable bequest. The trial court found that “ ‘personal property and effects located at my residence’ includes the decedent’s savings and checking accounts found in her residence after her death, but does not include the contents of her safe deposit box or any other property not found in her residence.”

On appeal, Cedars-Sinai and the Attorney General argue that the trial court’s construction of the will was erroneous and would defeat dece