WANGANUI WOMAN CONCERNED IN £64,750 ESTATE CASE

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 October 1946, Page 6

WANGANUI WOMAN CONCERNED IN £64,750 ESTATE CASE

(P.A.) Wellington, Oct. 30. An estate with an estimated value of £64,750 was involved in a case which came before Mr. Justice Fair, in the Supreme Court to-day, when the Public Trustee as plaintiff, asked for probate in solemn form concerning the will and codicil of the late Vilhehn Jensen or letters of administration in the estate. It was disclosed that the will and codicil were torn in half when they were received by plaintiff, who was appointed as executor under the will and a question before the Court was whether the will had thus been revoked. It was said in a statement of claim that the will was dated March 9, 1925, and the codicil May 8, 1929. It was said also that after deceased’s death the will and codicil were received by plaintiff from deceased's solicitors and they were torn into two pieces. Plaintiff had no knowledge of the circumstances under which the documents were torji. The defendants in the action were the widow, Mrs. Henrietta Frances Jensen, of Wellington, and the children, Mrs. Elsie Alice Downing, Mrs. Irene Alma McNaughton, Mrs. Ida Alexandra Eton, and Mr William Nordane Jensen, all of Wellington; Mrs. Hilda May Munn, of Dargaville; Mrs. Hettie Frances Johns, of Wanganui; and Mr. Charles Ernest Jensen, of Sydney. Statements of defence for Mesdames Jensen, Eton, and McNaughton submitted that the backing sheets of will and codicil when they were received by plaintiff both bore in deceased’s handwriting the inscription “out o£ date. V. Jensen, August, 1943.” As a further defence it was submitted that documents were voluntarily revoked by deceased by tearing them on May 6, 1946. No knowledge of the tearing of documents was claimed by other defendants. It transpired at the proceedings that deceased had named other persons and institutions in Denmark and New Zealand as beneficiaries. The amount of £250 was mentioned for each of the grandchildren who were not represented at the proceedings. Sums of £5OO for a children’s home in Aalborg, Denmark, £lOO for a friend in Aalborg, £lOO to be applied the 10 poorest pupils at a school in Aalborg, £3O for the Wellington Hospital Board, for maintenance of the children’s ward and £lOO for the Plunket nursing home, Wellington, were also mentioned. After legal discussion His Honour adjourned the case. He directed that the Danish consul should be served on behalf of the charities in Denmark, the Government of Denmark to be notified if no charity could be identified, authorising the consul to accept service and appointing the consul if he consented to represent the other beneficiaries named as residents of Denmark.

It was directed that charities in New Zealand and. each of the grandchildren shoud be served. AJI beneficiaries not already joined were made parties to the action and leave w r as given to file a joint defence if any so desired. Leave was reserved for application to be made in respect of any matters arising from the orders. It was directed that statements of defence were to be filed by 14 days after service in New Zealand and 28 days in the case ol beneficiaries in Denmark.