Lori Pearman
EMT 725

For the entire problem see: A Will to be Interpreted on the EMT 725 web page.
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1. Argue the case from the point of view of a lawyer for the son.

The son should get most of the estate since he was going to get 2/3 of the estate if only he were born. The man wanted a son to get the majority of the estate (if a son was born). He should get 2/3 of the estate, and the mother and daughter should share the remainder of it. Since the man wanted the mother to get more of the estate than a daugher, one way to divide the remaining 1/3 would be to give the mother 2/9 (which is 2/3 of the remaining 1/3) and the daughter 1/9.
2/9 + 1/9 +2/3 =1


2. Argue the case from the point of view of a lawyer for the daughter.

The daughter was going to get 1/3 of the estate if just she were born, so she should still get 1/3. Daughter, son, and mother should each get 1/3 of the estate.

3. Argue the case from the point of view of a lawyer for the mother.
The mother did have a daugher, so she should still get 2/3 of the estate. Since the man wanted a son to get more of the estate than a daugher, you could split up the remaining 1/3 into 2/9 for the son and 1/9 for the daughter.



4. Develop an argument from the point of view of a judge who must weigh all of the alternatives and decide what is in closest possible accordance with the spirit of the dead man's will.

The man wanted a son to get more of the estate than a daughter, so with the twins, the son should get more of the estate than the daughter. A fair solution would be to give 1/3 of the estate to the mother, 2/9 to the daughter, and 4/9 to the son. This way, the son gets more of the estate than the daugher, which would have been the man's wish. Also, the son gets more than the mother, which would have been the case if only a son were born.


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