Carpenter v. Smith

I cannot agree with the court’s construction. It holds that Mabel had a vested equitable life estate in income not used by the trustees for her support. This means that Mabel in her lifetime could have demanded that the trustees pay over such income to her. I submit that it is difficult to find good warrant for such a construction in the language of the residuary clause itself. There is nothing in that clause which even suggests that the trustees are obligated to pay anything to Mabel. The direction to them is to use the income and if need be the principal “for the comfortable support of my…