By: Derek Hawkins//December 27, 2018//
WI Court of Appeals – District IV
Case Name: Mickey Owen, et al. v. Michael Kozlowski, et al.
Case No.: 2018AP290
Officials: Blanchard, Sherman, and Kloppenburg, JJ.
Focus: Estate – Trust Beneficiary
Mickey Owen appeals the circuit court’s judgment determining that Mickey is not a beneficiary of the Patsy L. Kozlowski Survivor’s Trust. He argues that, read in light of the surrounding circumstances, a Will executed by Patsy Kozlowski amended the Trust to include Mickey as a beneficiary. In the alternative, he argues that extrinsic evidence shows that Patsy intended to include Mickey as a beneficiary of the Trust.
We conclude that the Will, read in light of the surrounding circumstances, is ambiguous because it is unclear as to what benefits Patsy intended Mickey to receive under the Will. We also conclude that the circuit court’s determination that Patsy did not intend to use the Will to include Mickey as a beneficiary of the Trust is not against the great weight and clear preponderance of the extrinsic evidence presented at trial. Accordingly, we affirm.