Smith v. Lynch

The question presented on this appeal is whether or not Irene Smith, adjudicated bankrupt on petition filed Febrnary 25, 1932, had on that day an interest in certain property which, under section 70a of the Bankruptcy Act (11 USCA § 110(a), passed to her trustee in bankruptcy, or whether her interest therein was acquired after the filing of the petition and therefore remained her own property.

The answer depends primarily upon the interpretation of the will of her uncle, Fred E. Bright, who, a resident of New York, died there in 1925. Under the will duly probated in New York, the residue of his estate, after certain specific legacies, was directed by the ninth clause to be divided into four equal parts, one for each of his surviving sisters; two of these parts were to be paid outright; the other two were given on trusts. 1 By another residuary clause, tlie eleventh clause of the will, the residue of the estate was devised in equal shares to the sisters surviving the testator. 2 All of his four sisters survived Bright. In 1926, one of them, Mrs. Sibley, died intestate, leaving as her next of kin her two daughters, appellant herein and her sister. Shortly after appellant had been…