PROVISION FOR WIFE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 115, 19 May 1925, Page 3

PROVISION FOR WIFE

A WILL ALTERED

The provisions of a will were by. the Chief Justice; (Sir Robert Stout) in a will case; Duncan against 'Hazlett. Deceased left his wife an annuity ~o£ £200, from an estate worth £31,000. The wife' had a property which had beengiven to her arid mortgaged to the husband. . , ■ '• • , • ■

In his Honour's opinion the -maintenance provided for,..the..wife, by,,the will was not sufficient for :ht», 'corisiderinis how she lived during-her "husband's life. HeV. thought- a fair allowance would be to give her "£SOO :a. year, she to grve up the property which was mortgaged to the ' estate—that < ib, to give her £500 a year clear during her We. His Honour further said:; "I: only give it to her aVan annuity/,-but 1 do not make any condition' as to the annuity in the event of ; remarriage. She is 54 years.-of age, and. 1 think that would be a fair ■ allowance to give her: This would also leave sufficient to help the- husband's, sisters if they require help. Ther» are no children of the marriage,, and; looking at the circumstances of 'the> case I think £500 a year would be sum* cent for her maintenance." .The costs would have to be paid by the estate, the sum to- be fixed by. the: Registrar, and as'ther^ may^havß. been ■ some extra expenses incurred, the sum of £50 should be allowed to the wifefor extra expenses, which she might have been put to. The £500 would start from the date of the death of the husband, and the mortgaged property mnst be returned at once to the trnstees, they paying the rates, taxes, insurance, and other outgoings which may have been paid by the wife ' since the testator't decease. : .