Employing the term spouse in trust instruments: An unambiguous term can still be “textually” ambiguous
By EsqSocial Corporation 01/05/21
A trust term can be unambiguous and ambiguous at the same time. Consider the term spouse. In Trust Agreement of Johnson, 194 N.J. 276, 944 A.2d 588 (2008), the court wrestled with the issue of whether a class of trust beneficiary characterized as “spouses” of certain designated individuals included their surviving spouses, i.e., their widows and widowers. While the trial court found the word spouses to be “unambiguous on its face,” the appellate courts disagreed. They saw the term spouses as...
By: Charles E. Rounds, Jr.