Fiduciary Trust Company of New York v. Fiduciary Trust Company of New York

Summary

The Delaware Supreme Court considered whether a second codicil created a partial intestacy by reducing specified trust distributions without allocating the remaining percentage. The court held that the testamentary documents, read as a whole, effectively disposed of the undesignated 30% by necessary implication in favor of Cleveland Charities and reversed the Court of Chancery.

Holdings

1. The will and codicils did not create a partial intestacy because the undesignated 30% was effectively disposed of by necessary implication as part of the overall testamentary scheme.
2. The 30% undesignated portion of the Residuary Trust corpus must pass to Cleveland Charities.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the second codicil created a partial intestacy by failing expressly to designate a beneficiary for 30% of the Residuary Trust corpus.
2. If the 30% was not disposed of by express language, whether the testamentary scheme nevertheless disposed of it by necessary implication.
3. Whether the undesignated 30% should pass to Cleveland Charities as the remaining beneficiary under the overall testamentary scheme.

Disposition

reversed