Guaranty Trust Co. of NY v. Stevens

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Hei-ier, J.

At issue here is the legal sufficiency of the donee’s appointment by an unwitnessed holographic will valid and judicially proved as such in California, the state of the donee’s domicile, under a power to appoint a trust res consisting of intangible personal property created by the will of the New Jersey domiciled donor, established as such in the state of his domicile.

The essential question is stated to be whether the “formal requisites” governing the execution of a testamentary power of appointment are determined by the law of the donor’s…