WILLS - PRECATORY GIFTS

Authors

Abstract

In the second item of the will testator gave to his wife all of his property "as her absolute property." In the third item the testator provided: "it is hereby directed that my sister [plaintiff in this case] . . . be given one hundred fifty and no/loo dollars monthly during her natural life and one hundred dollars monthly to my brother-in-law Charles E. McCarle . . . in the event that he survives his wife above mentioned." The fourth item provided that in case the testator's wife predeceased him, one hundred dollars monthly should be paid to each of his wife's four sisters, and named them. The fifth item read: "In the event that these foregoing bequests become a burden on the estate, it is decreed that they be reduced judiciously to comport with existing conditions and circumstances." Testator's wife, defendant in this case, was made executrix. She refused to pay the $150.00 monthly to plaintiff or any part thereof, and plaintiff sought a declaratory judgment construing the will of David E. Hasey, deceased. Held, the third item of the will merely expressed testator's wish or suggestion as to what the testator would like to have his wife do with the property left to her as "her absolute property," and the plaintiff took nothing. In re Hasey's Estate, McCarle et al. v. Hasey, 192 Minn. 582, 257 N. W. 498 (1934).

Recommended Citation

WILLS - PRECATORY GIFTS, 34 Mich. L. Rev. 144 (1935).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol34/iss1/27