Jackson v. Estate of Jackson

Frank Holt, Justice.

This appeal results from the refusal of the probate court to construe a will as a valid instrument. On appeal the appellant raises only one question: “Where the intention of a testatrix may be ascertained from a reading of an instrument purporting to be a will, does the absence of a formal distributive clause render it invalid as a testamentary disposition?”

In September 1966 an instrument designated as the “Last Will and Testament Of Otis R. Jackson and Rhea C. Jackson” was made by them as husband and wife. Mrs. Jackson’s death in 1969 occurred nineteen months after that…