Digest: Kohlman Estate, Re, 2018 SKQB 133

• Date: May 01, 2018

Reported as: 2018 SKQB 133

Docket Number: QBG 309/18 JCS , QB17525

Court: Court of Queen's Bench

Date: 2018-05-01

Judges:

• Dovell

Subjects:

• Wills and Estates � Will � Interpretation

Digest: The executors of the estate of their deceased father applied pursuant to Queen�s Bench rule 3-31 and s. 3(1(b)(ii) of The Administration of Estates Act for direction in the interpretation of his last will and testament. The testator was a farmer. His wife had predeceased him and at the time of his death he had ten children. Within months of the testator�s death, one of his surviving adult children died. The executors had not applied for letters probate because they and their siblings could not agree as to who were the beneficiaries of the estate. One clause in the will stated if a child should die before being entitled to their share in the estate, the share would form part of the residue and be distributed amongst the surviving children. Another clause in the will set out a 15-year term during which time one of the testator�s children could purchase the farmland and, in the event he did not, another question arose whether the deceased son�s estate or the estates of any other of the testator�s children who might die before the expiry of the 15-year period would share in the farmland if sold or not.
HELD: The court interpreted the will in accordance with the known wishes of the testator because it found that the will had been sloppily and poorly drafted. It found that the testator wanted all of his children to benefit and that he wanted the family farm to continue to exist. The deceased child�s estate was entitled to its share of the rent for the farmland received by the estate in 2017 and beyond until it was sold or the farmland distributed. That estate was also...