Gill

Gill v. Stone

Good Law
1971 Cal. LEXIS 220·6 Cal. 3d 311·98 Cal. Rptr. 801·491 P.2d 385
Supreme Court of CaliforniaDecember 15, 1971L. A. No. 29922California5,542 words

Opinion

lead Opinion

Tobriner, J.

—■ Appellant Barbara Gill appeals from an order of the Ventura County Superior Court determining the division of the estate of James W. Dodge. That court held that a bequest of “personal property” in paragraph 7 of the will of James Dodge encompassed only personal effects, and that cash, bonds, notes and trust deeds owned by testator passed into a testamentary trust for the benefit of testator’s children and his housekeeper Dolores Stone, the respondent on this appeal. We have examined the testator’s last will and earlier wills on which that last will was based; we have reviewed the testimony of the parties and of the attorneys who drafted the last and prior wills. We conclude that the interpretation adopted by the trial court accords with the intention and objectives of the testator and should be affirmed.

The testator, James W. Dodge, died March 21, 1968, leaving as his last will a document executed on July 29, 1963, and which has been admitted to probate without contest. The will provides for Frank C. Dodge, Thomas S. Dodge, and Barbara Dodge Besser [Gill], the testator’s three children, for John Besser, Barbara’s former husband, and for Dolores Stone, the testator’s…

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