## Facts

- Ella Stevenson, an Ohio domiciliary, owned a farm in Miami County, Indiana.
- Her will gave her husband, G. Curtin Stevenson, lifetime management and the full use of farm proceeds, and directed that at his death the farm be sold and the proceeds divided equally between her sister, Cora Lease, and her brother, H. A. Duckwall.
- Cora Lease and H. A. Duckwall both died before Ella.
- Ella died in 1927; her will was probated in Ohio and later admitted as a foreign will in Indiana.
- The husband did not renounce the will, served as executor, later died testate, and his will left the bulk of his estate to his nieces and nephew.
- Heirs of H. A. Duckwall sued in Indiana to partition the farm and quiet title, arguing that the direction to sell created an interest in personalty preserved by Ohio’s anti-lapse statute.
- The husband’s devisees and the executor cross-claimed that Indiana law governed the Indiana land; the gifts to the predeceased remaindermen lapsed, so the remainder passed to the husband and then to them.
- The trial court ruled for the husband’s devisees; the Duckwall heirs appealed on stipulated facts.

## Issues

1. Whether Indiana or Ohio law governs the devolution of title to Indiana real estate devised by an Ohio domiciliary.
2. Whether a direction to sell Indiana land upon a life tenant’s death and divide proceeds causes an equitable conversion at the testatrix’s death, preventing lapse and permitting application of Ohio’s anti-lapse statute.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed judgment for the husband’s devisees.
- Indiana law (law of the situs) controlled succession to the Indiana farm.
- The will did not effect a present equitable conversion of the land into personalty at Ella’s death.
- The interests given to the sister and brother were contingent on surviving to the time of sale; because they predeceased the testatrix, their devises lapsed under Indiana law.
- The remainder interest therefore passed to the husband and, upon his death, to the beneficiaries under his will.

## Legal Principles

- Devolution of title to real property is governed by the law of the state where the land is located, notwithstanding the decedent’s domicile or foreign probate.
- A testamentary direction to sell land at a postponed future time tied to termination of a life estate does not, without clear contrary intent, convert the property into personalty at the testator’s death.
- Under Indiana law, a contingent remainder to named devisees who predecease the testator lapses, leaving the remainder to pass according to Indiana succession rules.
- A foreign anti-lapse statute does not control the transfer of title to Indiana real estate when Indiana law treats the devise as a lapsed interest in land.

## Conclusion

Indiana situs law governed the Indiana farm, the will’s postponed sale directive did not produce a present equitable conversion, and the contingent gifts to predeceased remaindermen lapsed; the remainder passed to the husband and then to his devisees.


Duckwall v. Lease, 106 Ind. App. 664, 20 N.E.2d 204 (1939)