Estate of Feinberg
Illinois Supreme Court
919 N.E.2d 888 (2009)
Max Feinberg's trust for his wife Erla's benefit provided that any grandchild who married a non-Jewish spouse would be treated as deceased and excluded from later trust distributions to grandchildren; Erla, exercising a limited power of appointment, redirected $250,000 to each child and to each grandchild not deemed deceased under that original restriction. When Erla died, four of five grandchildren were excluded because they had non-Jewish spouses; one excluded grandchild, Michele (defendant), challenged the restriction as an unenforceable restraint on marriage, and the lower courts agreed, invalidating it as contrary to public policy. Michael (plaintiff), the executor, appealed.
Whether a testamentary provision is invalid as contrary to public policy if it determines which potential beneficiaries qualify for a distribution based on the religion of their spouses, where the restriction has no prospective effect on a potential beneficiary's decision to marry or divorce.