108 N.J. Eq. 188 | N.J. Ct. of Ch. | 1931
The bill is for the construction of the will and codicil of Mary T. Morrell. The inquiry presented is whether by the provisions of her will testatrix intended to execute the power of testamentary appointment which she enjoyed touching certain property held in trust under the will of her father, Richard H. Morrell. *189
Nowhere in the will or codicil does testatrix make specific reference to the power, but the will contains a residuary gift in which the language used is: "The balance of my estate." It is accordingly urged that the gifts contained in her will and codicil were intended by testatrix to embrace not only her individual property, but also the property held by trustees under her father's will, and was therefore an execution by her of her power of testamentary disposition conferred by her father's will over the trust property.
It is settled in this state that a testamentary gift of "my estate," unaided by extrinsic circumstances adequate to clearly disclose an intent to embrace in the gift an estate over which testatrix had only a power of testamentary disposition, will not be operative to execute the power. Farnum v. Pennsylvania Co.,
The testimony introduced touching the conversations between testatrix and the man who drew her will must be deemed incompetent under the views declared in Mayer v. Tucker,