Bill tn Equity, for the construction of the will of Alexander Mclnfire. Facts agreed, and case transferred from the February term, 1902, of the superior court by Young, J. The testator devised to his wife, Mary W. Mein tire, who is also one of the executors, “ all of my estate, both real and personal, ... to be used by her for her comfort, maintenance, and support during her natural life.” The remainder, if any, is devised to other parties.
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1902-04-01
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently October 1977
8 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.
¶1
The plaintiffs’ contention, that Mary has a life estate in the land, devised to her, with the right to dispose of it by deed whenever she may deem it necessary to do so “ for her comfort, maintenance, and support,” does not appear to be disputed, and may be a correct statement of the testator’s intention. But it is not the province of the court to determine the validity of Mary’s title, which is derived not from the executors but from the testator, and with reference to which the executors have no duty to perform. A prospective decision of the question suggested, whether in accordance with, or against, the plaintiffs’ claim, would not aid the executors in the performance of a fiduciary duty imposed upon them in their official capacities. They have no such interest in the determination of that question as to require the advice of the court.
Greeley
v.
Nashua,
62 N. H.
166; Gafney
v.
Kenison,
64 N. H. 354;
Ellis
v.
Aldrich,
70 N. H. 219, 222;
Carr
v.
St. Paul’s Parish, ante, p.
231.
