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Show ADDS ONE MORE DIVORCE QUIRK Decision Made by Referee May Be Good Law, But Tlie dowager duchess of Manchester Manches-ter left her residuary estate to her son. the present duke, and his wife $l,'.l."iO.O(K) in trust Willi an annual Income of $183,000. When the will was signed the wife of the duke was the former Helena Zimmermann, daughter of a Cincinnati millionaire. Now a referee appointed hy a Supreme Su-preme court justice In Manhattan decides that the present duchess is the beneficiary, the former Kathleen Ethel Dawes, of Greenwich, Conn., whom Manchester married the day his first wife's divorce decree was effective, December 17, 1031. The referee, attempting to interpret inter-pret r.ritish law, holds that the rights of the former duchess ended with her divorce. "The provision should not he considered as referring to the particular person who was the duke's wife at the time of the execution of the will." So the dowager duchess is In the legal picture as bestowing half benefits bene-fits In an estate of nearly two millions, mil-lions, not on the "wife," the mother of her grandchildren, whom she knew, but on some unknown woman whom the duke might later marry. Most reasoners will hold that the Intention In-tention of the te.'tator is Ignored. Incidentally, the fortune is lanrely American In origin. Consuelo, the dowager, was the dauirhtr of Antonio An-tonio Yznaga de Valle. of Ravens-wonil. Ravens-wonil. La. Apparently the mother had some idea of the marital instability of hf r ducal son. for she granted the use and enjoyment of a lot of family Jewels to ''the wife for the time being" be-ing" of the. duke "during her marriage mar-riage with my son." In these days complications of this sort may happen hap-pen in the best of families. Internationalism Interna-tionalism is rarely involved. Whether Wheth-er the report of this referee will be affirmed by the court we en only guess. It has a keen interest for students of modern divorce law. I'rooklyn Eagle. |
