A WILL to be Interpreted

by

Shanti Howard and Audrea Bankston



Problem: A Will to be Interpreted

"A client of mine," said a lawyer, "was on the point of death when his wife was about to present him with a child. I drew up his will, in which he settled two-thirds of his estate upon his son (if it should happen to be a boy) and one-third on the mother. But if the child should be a girl, then two-thirds would go to the mother and one-third to the daughter."

"As fate would have it, after his death, twins were born -- a boy and a girl. A legal point then arose. How was the estate to be equitably divided among the three -- the mother, the son, and the daughter -- in the closest possible accordance with the spirit of the dead man's will?"

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.



I tell you, this one touched home. I was just involved with a court case that involved my brother against me....with that said, let's argue.

When I was in the office of the mediator/judge, we had to present sides. In this case, I believe that the son will fight first, because it seems as if he has more at stake. Next, we will look at the view from the daughter's perspective. Last, we will see what the mother's defense would say. Finally, the judge must make some sort of judgement on behalf of the estate.



The Son's Attorney:

If arguing the case from the point of view of the son, his attorney would bluntly say:

seeing as though the son's father eagerly wanted to have his legacy live on and to pursue all his dreams and admirations as well as carry on the "....." name, the father most humbly wanted his estate settled in a most timely fashion and with these things in mind:

the father wanted his only begotten son to have two-thirds of the estate...

this means:

the son's fair share would be six-ninths of the estate

the daughter shall receive one-ninth of the estate

the mother shall receive two-ninths of the estate


The Daughter's Attorney:

If arguing the case from the point of view of the daughter, her attorney would bluntly say:

seeing as though the daughter's father wanted to have his only daughter live a life of luxury and no problems to think of,

her father would most eagerly want his estate to be settled quite quickly and without any undue problems...I believe he had these thoughts upon his death bed:

the daughter should get nothing less than one-third of the estate...

this means:

the daughter's fair share would be three-ninths of the estate

the son shall receive four-ninths of the estate

the mother shall receive two-ninths of the estate


The Mother's Attorney:

If arguing the case from the point of view of the daughter, her attorney would blatantly say:

seeing as though this woman endured all the hardships and hard work of living and being with this man for such a looooong time, it is only just that the mother of his children receive the best of care and be given the fair amount due to her...

the mother of his children should absolutely get nothing less than two-thirds of his estate

 

(this would be argued if and only if the attorney is a greedy attorney...find out what a fair attorney might say...)

 

this means:

the mother's fair share of the estate would be a total of sixth-ninths

the son shall receive two-ninths of the estate

the daughter shall receive one-ninth of the estate

 

now, had the mother had a more fair attorney, here is what he/she may have asked for:

the mother's fair share of the estate would be a total of three-sixths

the son shall receive one-third of the estate

the daughter shall receive one-sixth of the estate

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