Ritter Estate

Shoyer, J.,

Willard E. Ritter died a widower leaving his daughter, an only child, and 10 first cousins to survive him as heirs and next of kin. His will, dated February 26, 1926, was written in a verbose, stilted style and apparently by his own hand. In the fourth paragraph he required 112 words to give his daughter, Evelyn Lenore Ritter, a legacy of $500 “no more and no less as her share in my Estate.” In the same identical language, the fifth paragraph gives $500 to “a maiden lady”, a “friend of my mother.” Each of these paragraphs provided that if the legatee should predecease testator, the…