Estate Of Stanford

315 P.2d 681 (1957)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Jane died in 1905 leaving $2,000,000 in trust for various purposes and her residuary estate to Stanford University. Some of the income from the trust was to be paid to Amy Hansen for life, remainder to her children. Walter was Amy's only child at the time, and he died in 1918 leaving his estate to Ruth Barton. In 1924, Amy adopted her adult niece and the niece's two minor children, all of whom survived Amy's death in 1954. The lower court ordered her trust share distributed to the three adopted children. Ruth and Stanford appealed. The university lost its bid to stop the adoptees from inheriting. The rest of the opinions in this casebook deal with the contention that Walter's share vested in Ruth when Jane died.