Dittmer v. Schmidt’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 12 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 26 U.S.C. § 2001 (Excise, Estate, and Gift Tax Adjustment Act of 1970)
Relies on Lantz v. City of Lawrence · In Re Estate of Laue · In Re the Estate of West · Central Trust Co. v. Burrow · Spurrier v. First National Bank of Wichita
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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is a fundamental rule of testamentary construction that, whenever possible, the testamentary plan or scheme of the testator be upheld and given effect. The primary function of a court in the interpretation of a will is to ascertain the testators intent as derived from the four comers of the will. Extrinsic evidence of the testator’s intent may not be admitted to give unambiguous language of his will a different meaning.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.