41. Who is the owner of the home?

There is no applicable statute.

Following the admission of the will to probate, both the nephew and the niece claimed ownership of the home.

For 12 years after executing her will, the woman lived on her farm. Then she sold it and used the sales proceeds to purchase a home in the city, in which she lived until she died, never having changed her will.

A woman duly executed a will under which she devised her farm to her nephew and bequeathed the residue of her estate to her niece.

The nephew, because of the doctrine of ademption
The nephew, because of the doctrine of equitable estoppel
The niece, because of the doctrine of lapse
The niece, because she is the residuary legatee

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Ademption, or ademption by extinction, is a common law doctrine used in the law of wills to determine what happens when property bequeathed under a will is no longer in the testator's estate at the time of the testator's death. For a devise (bequest) of a specific item of property (a specific gift), such property is considered adeemed, and the gift fails. For example, if a will bequeathed the testator's car to a specific beneficiary, but the testator owned no car at the time of his or her death, the gift would be adeemed and the aforementioned beneficiary would receive no gift at all.

D is correct. The woman's will specifically devised the farm to her nephew and the residue of her estate to her niece. At the time of her death, the woman no longer owned the farm, meaning the gift of the farm failed. Because her will left the residue of her estate to the niece (which would include the home the woman bought with the proceeds of the sale of the farm), the niece gets the home.

A is incorrect. This is the correct rule but the incorrect conclusion. As discussed above, the woman specifically devised the farm to her nephew in the will. She no longer owned the farm at the time of her death, so the gift of the farm to the nephew fails, and is not replaced by the home.

B is incorrect. Equitable estoppel applies when one party has induced another, through false language and conduct, to act to his detriment. Equitable estoppel will prevent disadvantage to the injured party. Here, there is nothing in the facts that suggest the nephew was induced into action based on false language or conduct by the woman. Therefore, equitable estoppel is not applicable here.

C is incorrect. At common law, lapse occurs when the beneficiary or the devisee under the will predeceases the testator, invalidating the gift. The gift would instead revert to the residuary estate or be granted under the law of intestate succession. Here, the nephew is still alive at the time of the woman's death, and the doctrine of lapse is not applicable.

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41. Who is the owner of the home?

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