WILLS - PROVISIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE WILL BY UMPIRE NAMED BY TESTATOR

Authors

Alfred I. Rothman, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Testatrix created a trust and bequeathed one-fifth of the income to her son W and to S, his wife, with a proviso that if S survived her husband such income should not be paid to her in case she remarried. S divorced Wand remarried. Under a clause in the will giving them the power to determine with finality any question as to the construction or administration of the will, the executors and trustees construed the will to mean that S was not to receive any further share of the income, that testatrix would consider the divorce and remarriage during W's lifetime the same as if the wife predeceased the son. S brings a bill for the construction of the will. Held, that the construction placed on the will by the executors and trustees was not binding on complainant. Under such a clause a decision by the executors and trustees may not be contrary to a clear provision in the will, and the court will further interfere in case of a gross mistake or error in judgment. Taylor v. McClave, 128 N. J. Eq. 100, 15 A. (2d) 213 (1940).

Recommended Citation

Alfred I. Rothman, WILLS - PROVISIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE WILL BY UMPIRE NAMED BY TESTATOR, 39 Mich. L. Rev. 1255 (1941).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol39/iss7/25