Chase Manhattan Bank v. Mitchell

The testator died in 1929. By his will made in 1925 he provided for his widow for life, and for each of his children for their lives, with the corpus of each child’s trust to go to that child’s “descendants * * * per stirpes.” His daughter Lucia and her husband adopted two children, one in 1934 and the other in 1938, both less than two years of age at the time of adoption. Lucia died in 1967, and the question is whether her adopted children take or whether there is gift over to Lucia’s brother, her two sisters, and children of three brothers who predeceased her. The trial court held for the…