This is an appeal from a decree of the Probate Court allowing the will of A. Marion Merrill, late of Concord, deceased. The appellant is described in the petition for probate as an heir-at-law and next of kin of the deceased.
The will as executed consists — in addition to formal recitals — of four separate numbered parаgraphs. By each of paragraphs numbered I and II a pecuniary legacy was given to an educational institution. Paragraph numbered III was a residuary clause providing thаt “All the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate, of whatever nature or sort, and wherever the same may be situated . . . [including certain described royalty rights] I give, devise, and bequeath to my dear friend, Miss A. Laura Batt.” By paragraph numbered IV Miss Batt was named as executrix.
The decree appealed from states that “it appearing that the clauses numbered I and II of said instrument and the words ‘the rest, residue, and remainder of’ in the clause numbered III thereof, were cancelled by said testatrix with the intention of revoking said clauses numbеred I and II and cancelling said words, and it further appearing that said instrument excluding said clauses numbered I and II and said words ‘the rest, residue, and remainder of’ is the last will and testament of sаid deceased, and was legally executed, and that said testatrix was, at the time of making the same, of full age and sound mind,” it is decreed “that said instrument be approved and allоwed as the last will and testament of said deceased.”
A report of material facts made by the probate judge contains the following findings: “The testatrix died on March 9, 1940, in her eighty-sixth yеar. For many years she had been a teacher of English in the Wakefield and Somerville High Schools. ... On October 31, 1928, being of sound mind the testatrix executed the will offered for probatе in the manner required by law. A few years later, while of sound mind, she drew lines through the paragraphs numbered I and II of her will with the intention of cancelling and revoking them unconditionally, but with no intentiоn of revoking or defeating the other provisions of the will. She then drew a fine through the words, ‘the rest, residue, and remainder of’ in the paragraph numbered III of her will with no intention, howevеr, of making a new will or of changing the disposition of her property under her will as it was left after the revocation of paragraphs I and II.” The evidence is not reported.
No legatee or devisee under any paragraph of the will has appealed. No party now contends that paragraphs numbered I and II, respectively, havе not been revoked. Indeed, the appellant contends that these paragraphs have been revoked. However, she has no standing to make this
On the facts found by the probаte judge the effect of paragraph numbered III as a residuary clause has not been destroyed. Revocation in its last analysis is a matter of intention. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 191, § 8. Sanderson v. Norcross,
There is nothing in the record to show that the probate judge was wrong in finding that the testatrix “drew a line through the words, 'the rest, residue, and remainder of/ in the paragraph numbered III of her will, with no intention, however, of making a new will or of changing the disposition of her property under her will as it was left after the revocation of pаragraphs I and II.” The existence of this line is not inconsistent with this finding. Even if effect were given to the cancellation of the words “the rest, residue, and remainder of” there is nothing in the faсt of such cancellation, made at or after the effective revocation of the gifts by the preceding paragraphs, to indicate an intention on the part of the testatrix to destroy the effect of paragraph numbered III as a residuary clause into which upon revocation of the gifts by the preceding paragraphs would fаll the amounts previously disposed of by those paragraphs. The intention on the part of the testatrix — a long time teacher of English — that her drawing a line through the words naturally impоrts, was to make the will conform as a matter of correct English to the situation created by the revocation of the gifts by the preceding paragraphs rather than an intention to affect the disposition of the estate by paragraph numbered III considered as a residuary clause. The
The gift by paragraph numbered III was not revoked. We need not inquire whether it was error to allow the will with the words "the rest, residue, and remainder of” struck out of the paragraph. No harm can result to the appellant from the allowance of the will with these words out, since its legal effect and interpretation will be the same as if they had not been struck out, and in no event will the appellant take any part of the estate. See South-worth v. Southworth,
The appellant in her brief requests that costs аnd expenses be awarded to her counsel to be paid out of the estate. Clearly this is not a case for such an award. The appellee has made no such rеquest. Nor has she made any request for an award of costs and expenses to be paid by the appellant. See G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 215, § 45. No provision for costs and expenses is to be included in the decree.
Decree affirmed.
