Maryland Family Law Maryland family law opinions and commentary
ESTATES & TRUSTS: LATENT AMBIGUITY IN WILL: EXTRINSIC EVIDENCE OF INTENT
CSA No. 2430, September Term, 2010. Reported. Opinion by Watts, J. Filed March 30, 2012. RecordFax #12-0330-00, 30 pages. Appeal from Anne Arundel County. Result: Reversed.
Extrinsic evidence of the testator’s intent should have been admitted to resolve the ambiguity of two bequests in her computer-generated form will, including (1) the latent ambiguity of a bequest of “any such property,” and (2) the facial ambiguity of a separate bequest to “surviving members in order of succession,” which did not specify whether she intended distribution to be per stirpes or per capita.
