Martin v. Beatty

While this is a real-estate partition suit brought by plaintiff, one of the beneficiaries under his grandfather’s will, against the other benefited grandchildren, the nub of the controversy is whether the testamentary beneficiaries took interests in the property per capita, as the trial court held, or per stirpes.

The relevant facts are not in serious dispute. S. C. Story died testate on April 20, 1899, at age 85. His wife, Emma Story, died August 6, 1907. They had two daughters, Eudora and Lizzie. Eudora married Swayne Beatty in 1888 and they had six children, five of whom are defendants and…