PROBATE RECALLED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 17 December 1936, Page 7

PROBATE RECALLED

IN WILL OF MISS ELIZABETH SMITH CONSIDERED NOT COMPETENT (By Telegraph—Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. In a lengthy judgment g lven to ; day Mr Justice Northcroft made an order recalling probate m the will of t late Elizabeth Smith, whose estate at the time of her death in July. 1935, war valued at £70,000. The Judge said that he was satisfied that on Bth July, 1934, Miss Smith was not competent to make a wi . , Miss Smith made her will she was 80 years of age and for a number of years before her death she had lived alone. Under her will Miss Smith named the Guardian Trust and Executors Co. as trustees and executors and the company was the defendant to the present action which was taken by two nieces of Miss Smith. Specific legacies to relatives and friends totalled £11.600. a total of £I6OO was left to charitable organisations, and the residue, approximately £45,000, after the deduction of death duties, was left in trust, the trustee company to make a periodical distribution for charitable purposes as it should, in its absolute discretion, determine.