Estate of Leighton

ROBERTS, Justice.

The State of Maine appeals from a judgment entered in the Penobscot County Probate Court (Woodcock, J.) authorizing Thomas Russell, as successor personal representative, to dispose of Violet Leighton’s estate. The State argues that the Probate Court erred in finding that the power of appointment in Leighton’s will survived the death of the executor named in the will. We agree and vacate the judgment.

Violet Leighton was born in 1888. She died in 1992 at 104 years of age. In 1922, when she was thirty-three years old, Leigh-ton executed her last will and testament. She made four…