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Matter of Sparacio

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
May 3, 1979
47 N.Y.2d 771 (N.Y. 1979)

Opinion

Argued March 23, 1979

Decided May 3, 1979

Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the Second Judicial Department, NATHAN R. SOBEL, S.

Bernard Meyerson and Herman M. Goldberg for appellant.

Roy Rudd and John G. Nicholas for respondent.


MEMORANDUM.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs to all parties appearing separately and filing separate briefs payable out of the estate.

We agree that the testamentary disposition in this instance was precatory rather than mandatory. The testator, knowledgeable in matters of legal drafting, chose to employ the classic words of precatory import — "wish and desire". Additionally, the substantive disposition is internally incongruous with a testamentary mandate; the ultimate distribution was not to daughter and friend "in equal shares" but "as in their mutual agreement they decide" — an apportionment impossible of judicial implementation.

Chief Judge COOKE and Judges JASEN, GABRIELLI, JONES, WACHTLER and FUCHSBERG concur in memorandum.

Order affirmed, etc.


Summaries of

Matter of Sparacio

Court of Appeals of the State of New York
May 3, 1979
47 N.Y.2d 771 (N.Y. 1979)
Case details for

Matter of Sparacio

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of the Estate of CHARLES M. SPARACIO, Also Known as…

Court:Court of Appeals of the State of New York

Date published: May 3, 1979

Citations

47 N.Y.2d 771 (N.Y. 1979)
417 N.Y.S.2d 461
391 N.E.2d 296

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