WILL ALTERED BY COURT

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29170, 2 April 1960, Page 16

WILL ALTERED BY COURT

Estate Left To Missionary (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. April 1. He was not unmindful of the warning that it was not the function of the Courts to make a new will, but he felt bound in the circumstances of the present case to make drastic alterations to the testator’s will, said the Chief Justice (Sir Harold Barrowclough) in the Supreme Court today when dealing with an application under the Family Protection Act by a widow and her two children. The plaintiffs in the action were Alfreda Marshall, a widow, of Auckland, Josephine Marshall, unmarried and John Senior Marshall, of Auckland, and the defendant was Anne Harrison Maclean, a missionary, of Gisborne. His Honour .said it was a very small estate amounting to Only £llOO and the will clearly showed that the testator, George John Marshall, retired, of Auckland, completely overlooked his obligations to his widow and family. He felt justified in taking liberties with the will and would make an order which, in effect, would make it a very different will from the one admitted to probate. His Honour said the testator married the first plaintiff in 1953 and a year later left the matrimonial home to join a religious sect of which Maclean was a member. He had left his entire estate to Maclean. His Honour made an order that the first plaintiff and Maclean each receive a lump sum payment of £ 100, that the first plaintiff receive an annuity of £lOO a year and that on her death the residue of the estate go to the daughter.