In Re John T. Slack Trust

A residuary legatee predeceased the testator, John T. Slack, without issue. On distribution of the estate the share of the deceased residuary legatee, Ruth Merritt Waite, was decreed to the remaining residuary legatees, or their representatives or estates, as part of the residue of the estate. The widow and certain heirs challenged this distribution, asserting that a lapsed residual legacy should pass as intestate property.

Almost every jurisdiction that has dealt with the problem has announced its allegiance to the rule declaring that a lapsed legacy of part of the residue shall pass as…