125 N.J. Eq. 106 | N.J. Ct. of Ch. | 1939
Since the filing of the opinion in this case, reported in
I. The testator's declarations regarding his testamentary intentions are inadmissible except in case of latent ambiguity in the naming of a person or thing in the will when such declarations may be proved to identify the person or thing.
II. Proof is generally admissible of the situation existing when the will was made — the surroundings of the testator, his property and the condition of the persons taking under his will. Such proof is used to enable the court to understand the meaning and application of the language found in the will.
III. But extrinsic evidence is not allowed to override the will or to set up an intention inconsistent with it. Where the intention of the testator, as disclosed by the will, is entirely clear — where, as it is sometimes put, there is no room for construction — the court will disregard or may even refuse to hear evidence of surrounding circumstances. In other words, the court will not reform a will under guise of construing it.
Our cases illustrating these rules are legion. I will cite only some very recent ones:
Federal Trust Co. v. Ost,
But counsel for complainant argues that the will by itself should first be studied and unless the study ends in doubt of the testator's meaning, proof of the surroundings of the testator should be excluded. While support for this thesis may be found in the authorities (see Wigmore, Evidence § 2470), I think it is not upheld by our New Jersey courts, especially in recent years. A more liberal course is followed charted by such early decisions as Leigh v. Savidge, 14 N.J. *109 Eq. 124, where Chancellor Green deduced from extrinsic evidence that legacies were charged on land, though he found no real ambiguity in the will; "if, then, the intent of the testator must be sought in the will alone, to the exclusion of all extrinsic facts, it must, I think, be held that the real estate cannot be sold for the payment of the legacies."
Study of the will is conducted from the outset in the light of the situation existing when the testament was made; the presumptions of the law, such as the one favoring the heir, are given due weight, and from the whole the meaning of the will is deduced. I adhere to my conclusion that extrinsic evidence was admissible in the suit before me to show that the annuities were intended for the support of the annuitants.