Royston v. Watts

LOWENSTEIN, Chief Judge.

This is a court tried matter on uncontested facts that seeks to determine via a partition of real estate, precisely whether the Anti-Lapse statute, § 474.460, RSMo.1986, applies to a will. In the will, certain legatees whose ancestor, also a legatee in the residuary estate, but who predeceased the testator, received specific shares in the residuary estate. Simplified, the main issue presented in this case is whether a specific residuary legacy keeps the legatee from also taking the share of an ancestor who died before the testator? The anti-lapse statute reads:

When any…