Keogh v. Jann

This appeal arises out of a dispute over the construction of the will of Grenville T. Keogh. The issue to be determined is whether the language of the will gave the testator’s second wife a life estate or a fee simple absolute estate in one third of the residue of his estate. The trial court concluded that she was devised a life estate.

The will was executed in 1975 when the testator was married to Jane Keogh. She predeceased him in 1980. In 1981, he married Joanne Keogh, who died six months after his death in 1982. At the time of his death, he had been married to his second wife for…