In re Estate of Doe

Citations

• 1 Coffey 54

Syllabus

<p>Wills—Construction as to Intestacy.—Of the two modes of interpreting a will, that is to be preferred which will prevent a total intestacy; but if the legal effect of the expressed intent of a testator is intestacy, it will be presumed that he designed that result.</p> <p>Construction of Statute Adopted from Another State.—The rule that a statute adopted from another state will be given the construction placed upon it by the courts of that state prior to its adoption, is not absolute, especially where there has been a single decision which has since been questioned or repudiated in the foreign state.</p> <p>Trusts—Construction as to Duration.—In determining the duration of a trust term, the inherent character of the trust and its essential limitations may form an element in the construction to be given to the language creating it.</p> <p>Trusts—On Whose Lives Term may be Limited.—A trust created under subdivision 3 of section 857 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to receive the rents and profits of real property, and apply them to the use of designated beneficiaries, may be limited on lives of persons other than the beneficiaries.</p> <p>Trusts—Duration Limited by Purposes.—A trust in real property to pay the rents and profits thereof to designated beneficiaries cannot endure longer than the lives of the beneficiaries, where, upon the assumption that they will outlive the trusts, the lives of the latter are made the measure of the trust.</p> <p>Trusts—Whether Bare and Void.—A devise \in trust\ for others is not invalid as a bare trust, when it imposes on the trustee the duty of paying the rents and profits of the property to the beneficiaries.</p> <p>Trusts—Effect of Partial Invalidity.—An invalid provision in a trust, which is not an integral or essential part of the trust scheme, will not necessarily vitiate the other provisions.</p> <p>Trusts—Unlawful Accumulations.—A direction to trustees to pay taxes, street assessments, and other charges and expenses incurred