Cunningham v. Davis

The executor of a decedent’s will, and the state of Washington, acting through the inheritance tax and escheat division of the state tax commission, have each appealed from the final decree of distribution entered by the superior court for King county, sitting in probate. The question presented to us in both appeals involves the interpretation of the residuary clause of the will. The facts in the case are not in dispute.

Charles Lidston, who will hereinafter at times be referred to as the decedent or as testator, was a bachelor residing in Seattle, Washington. On April 12, 1945, he executed an…