CLYMER V. MAYO
393 Mass. 754, 473 N.E. 2d 1084 (1985)
NATURE OF THE CASE: This was a petition for instructions regarding the impact of
decedent's divorce on the administration of her estate. Appealed.
FACTS: Decedent executed a will leaving all her personal property to her husband, Mayo
(D). The will contained a pour-over provision, whereby the residue of her estate was to go
into an inter vivos trust she created at the same time. The trust estate was divided into
two parts: trust A, a 'marital deduction trust, which was to be funded with 50% of
decedent's Adjusted Gross Estate. Mayo was the beneficiary of Trust A. Trust B provided for
the payment of five specific bequests. The remaining assets were to be held for the benefit
of D during his life, then to the nephews and nieces of decedent until they reached the age
of thirty. The trusts were not funded at the time they were created: their assets were to
consist of decedent's life insurance proceeds and retirement annuity. Decedent and D
divorced. Under their property settlement, D waived his rights to decedent's 'securities,
savings accounts, savings certificates, and retirement fund'. Upon decedent's death, the
court-appointed administrator of her estate petitioned for instructions regarding the effect
of the divorce on the dispositions provided in decedent's estate plan. The lower court found
1)the trusts were valid despite the fact that they were not funded at the time of creation;
2) that D was not entitled to take under Trust A because it was created for Estate Tax
purposes; 3) that D was entitled to take under trust B because the purpose of the trust was
to create a life estate in him, and because the law regarding revocation of bequests to a
former spouse applied only to testamentary dispositions; and 4)that the nieces and nephews,
who were relatives of D, were entitled to take under trust B because they were intended
beneficiaries.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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