In Re Estate of Beaver

• UHLENHOPP, Justice.

Does Merl Beaver have an option to purchase 80 acres of land formerly owned by his father, Ernest Beaver? Is Ida Zajec entitled to the proceeds if Merl Beaver exercises the option or to the 80 acres if he does not exercise it? These are the questions in this de novo appeal.

Testator Ernest Beaver was born in 1877 and died in 1970. He and his wife had four children, Merl, Zilpha, Grace, and Marie. His wife died many years ago, and he did not remarry. After her death he lived in a home he purchased in Eddyville, Iowa.

Upon achieving adulthood, Merl married and thereafter…