In re the Accounting of Chemical Bank New York Trust Co.

We should be concerned here with the matter of the proper construction of the trust indenture, executed and delivered in 1931, rather than with the rendering of a judicial declaration that Craig Vought is a legitimate child of the settlor’s son. Craig’s right to succeed to a remainder interest in the trust fund depends upon the terms of the instrument and those terms may not be broadened by court decree. A judicial determination conferring upon him the status of legitimacy, if authorized by statute and proper in this proceeding, may not serve to modify the settlor’s donative intent when she…