Execution of a Codicil After a Beneficiary’s Death Does Not Create an Ambiguity
The testator executed two codicils, both of which changed the disposition of her residuary estate but included as one of the residuary beneficiaries a person who had died after execution of the will but before the execution of the first codicil. This beneficiary was not a descendant of the testator and therefore the anti-lapse statute did not apply. In affirming the rejection of the contention of the deceased beneficiary’s heirs that the beneficiary’s share should pass to them, the intermediate Indiana appellate court held that the inclusion of the gift to a deceased beneficiary in the codicils did not create an ambiguity allowing the consideration of extrinsic evidence.