Hayden v. Burns

This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court of Will County construing a will of Mary B. Hayden which identified as the intended beneficiary Edmund Hayden, Jr. After the death of the testatrix, Mary B. Hayden, petitioner Edmund Hayden, Jr., filed a petition to construe her will. One paragraph of her will gave 40 acres of her farm to “Edmund Hayden.” The executor construed this provision to mean Edmund Hayden, Sr., who at this time was deceased, and the executor accordingly considered that the gift had lapsed. The petitioner Edmund Hayden, Jr., sought a construction of the provision to…