TESTATORS' FAMILY MAINTENANCE ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11780, 9 October 1901, Page 7

TESTATORS' FAMILY MAINTENANCE ACT.

AN INTERESTING CASE.

[BY TELEGRAPH.PKKSS ASSOCIATION*.] New Plymouth, Tuesday. At the Supreme Court to-day a case of more than usual interest was heard, being Micheli against Fookes, brought under the Testators' Family Maintenance Act, 1900. Mr. Weston appeared for the plaintiff, the widow of Alex. Micheli, at one time a resident of Stratford, and applied for an order that adequate allowance be made for her. Micheli went home to Austria some time since, leaving his wife at Stratford, and died in October last year. He left property worth roughly. £2000. He left an unusual will, bequeathing to John Taufera and Joseph Guelf, both at one time residents in South Tyrol (Austria), £200 each, "in memory of good times spent together in the summers of 1878 and 1879," or, if dead, to their heirs. To his wife he left £500, and the residue to his brother Dominicus, who, when last heard of, resided at Boyen, in South Tyrol, or, if dead, to his next-of-kin. Mr. Richmond represented beneficiaries, and Mr. Fookes (Stratford) defended as a trustee and executor of the will. His Honor held that under the Act he had power to remodel the will and do what was just. He ordered the widow's portion to be increased to £1000, to be paid to the Publice Trustee, the income to be paid to the widow during her life, and the capital amount to go to the child at the mother's death, or if the child predeceases before 21, the mother is to have power to appoint an heir. His Honor also ordered Taufera's and Guelf's legacies to be reduced to £100 each, the testator's brother receiving the residue, about £650, the costs of all parties to come out of the estate. The case is interesting as the second under the Act. The points raised in the previous one being different. Mr. Justice Conolly expressed the view that the case might have been dealt with in Chambers.