FLAW IN BANKER'S WILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20508, 8 March 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

FLAW IN BANKER'S WILL.

INFRINGEMENT OF LAW,

ERROR BEING CORRECTED

Some of' the intentions expressed in the will of the lato Lord Revelstoke. the famous banker, were rendered invalid as the . result of the discovery of a singular flaw in the document. Lord Revelstoke died last July, leaving £2,500,000 net personal estate. Apart from his large bequests to London hospitals and the National Gallery, ho left the greater part of his fortune to his relatives. The flaw in the will is stated to have been caused by his desire to create : 'a trust which would prevent those relatives and their children, or remoter issue, from touching any- portion of the capital under tho trust.

In trying to do this tho testator iiv fringed the law against porpetuities. This provides that where a trust is created under a will for the accumulation of income, the trust must become effective within 21 years Of tho-death of any one living at the date of the, testator's death. Tho errpr in tho. will is to be corrected by a deed of family arrangement. It has' always been supposed that Lord. Revelstoke was tho donor of the £500,000 gift to the nation in February, 1928,_ in the form of a trust in which the capital is to accumulate over a long periojl of years for the reduction of the National Debt. This also infringed the law of perpetuities, but the difficulty was overcome by a special Act of Parliament being passed. . ' ■ ,