McElligott v. Murray

The sole goal in the transfer of property as directed by will is to carry out the expressed intent of the person who made the will. Ordinarily this requires no more than judicial compliance with the express directions of the will. In what this court termed the “mine run of cases,” this involves no more than following the plain, unchallenged and explicit directions of the will.1 However, there are three situations in which this cannot thus easily be done:

1. Ambiguity. Where there is language in a will which is unclear and requires judicial construction to determine its meaning, the court…