Kellar v. Kasper’s Empirical Analysis
1956
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 4 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently February 2016
6 federal appellate · 4 district · 1 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 26 U.S.C. § 812
Relies on Kasper v. Kellar · Partridge v. Von Ahnden · Briggs v. Briggs · Carter v. Frahm · 103 Cal. App. 243 - Clarke v. Duffield
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““I give and bequeath to my wife, Floy B. Kellar, if living at the time of the distribution of my estate, the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000) in money or at her option in securities to be selected by her, at their market value; if she then be dead this legacy to lapse and become a part of my residuary estate. It is my will and I do so direct that this legacy shall be paid in full prior to the payment of any other legacy, bequest or devise.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““I can reach no other conclusion but that the wording of Mr. Kellar’s will is ambiguous, and that, while a court in construing such a will must try to determine the intention of the testator from the face of the will itself, looking to the four corners thereof, this will must be construed and the ambiguities determined by not only looking to the face of the will to determine the intention of the testator, but also by looking to the circumstances involved.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Lamar v. Bookwalter““The rule in South Dakota is that title to property, both real and personal, passes immediately to the heirs and beneficiaries upon the death of the intestate or testator, subject only to the control of the County Court for the purpose of administration, and a decree of distribution vests or grants no title, but merely releases the property from probate and confirms the title already passed to the heirs or beneficiaries.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Lamar v. Bookwalter
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.