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Descent And Distribution--The 'Worthier Title" Doctrine In Iowa--A Limitation Established, Lewis R. Williams, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Testator left his entire estate of less than $7,500 to his wife who had predeceased him. Defendants claimed the estate through operation of the anti-lapse statute, as heirs of the wife. As the distribution statute gave the widow of an intestate the first $7,500 of the estate, plaintiffs, heirs at law of the testator, claimed title on a basis of the "worthier title" doctrine, arguing that the widow, had she lived, would have taken by descent and not by purchase, and therefore the anti-lapse statute did not apply. On appeal from a denial of defendants' motion to transfer the proceeding …