26 Nov 2021
RE ESTATE OF ANDREWS [2021] NZHC 3179
- Citation
- [2021] NZHC 3179
- Court
- High Court
The Court held that the will's provisions must be read as an accounting mechanism to equalise the three sons by bringing inter vivos advances (termed "loans" and including specified professional costs) into account when calculating residuary shares; read in context (notably clause 15) and supported by contemporaneous extrinsic evidence of the testatrix's intentions, those advances are to be accounted for notwithstanding that related legal debts may have been extinguished on Stephen's discharge from bankruptcy, and therefore the bankruptcy/discharge had no effect on the will's operation in thi…