Vollmer v. Mcgowan

The plaintiffs, Lauren Vollmer, James D. Vollmer, and Marjorie Robinson, filed their amended complaint in the circuit court of Macon County against the defendant, Virgil B. McGowan, executor of the will of Thomas McGowan, deceased, the two testamentary trustees, and twelve others, seeking a construction of Thomas McGowan's will. The executor, the trustees, and six individual defendants interposed a motion to dismiss plaintiffs' pleading. Two minor defendants made a like motion, the motions were allowed, plaintiffs elected to abide by their pleading, and a decree was entered dismissing the amended complaint for the want of equity. Plaintiffs prosecute this appeal, a freehold being necessarily involved. Thomas McGowan, a resident of the city of Decatur, died testate on August 20, 1948. He left surviving as his only heirs-at-law, three sons, Emmett J., Edwin C., and Virgil B. McGowan, three daughters, Nellie F. Talbott, Mary E. Rief and Elizabeth J. White, and three grandchildren, Lauren and James D. Vollmer, and Marjorie Robinson, the children of Katherine I. Vollmer, who predeceased her father on April 5, 1947. McGowan's will was admitted to probate in the county court of Macon County. The estate consists of real and personal property valued in excess of $200,000.