Minary v. Citizens Fidelity Bank & Trust Co.
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
419 S.W.2d 340 (1967)
Amelia Minary's will placed her residuary estate in a trust paying income to her husband and sons for life, with the remainder to go, upon the last income beneficiary's death, to Amelia's 'then surviving heirs' under Kentucky's laws of descent and distribution; her son Alfred married Myra in 1934 and, having no natural children, adopted his own adult wife Myra in 1959 specifically to make her an heir eligible to take under the trust. After Alfred died in 1963, the trial court found Myra was a surviving heir of Amelia entitled to benefit under the trust, and the question came before the Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
Whether an adult adopted for the purpose of making that person an heir under a pre-existing testamentary instrument is entitled to inherit as though a natural heir.