Brunner

Edessa Hartley Rose died in November 1981, leaving a legacy to Claremont McKenna College. The amount of the legacy was disputed between the estate administrators and the college. The parties finally agreed as to the principal of the legacy but continued to dispute the amount of interest on the legacy due the college. The superior court found the applicable interest rate to be 4 percent per annum. The college appeals.

At the time of Ms. Rose’s death, Probate Code section 162 provided for interest at 4 percent on general pecuniary legacies not paid prior to the first anniversary of the testator’s death. In 1982, the Legislature amended section 162 to provide for interest at the same rate as money judgments: 10 *1452 percent. (Stats. 1982, ch. 520, § 1.) However, an uncodified section of the 1982 statute provided: “The amendment to Section 162 of the Probate Code . . . shall not affect the estate of any person dying before the effective date thereof.” (Id., at § 12.) The effective date of the statute was January 1, 1983.

The 1982 statute created two classes of legatees awaiting distribution of their legacies: (1) those, such as the college, whose testator died before the…