Yivo Institute for Jewish Research v. Zaleski

Karski promised YIVO Institute (plaintiff) a $100,000 endowment, to be fulfilled either through his will or through lifetime gifts of cash or securities. His will, executed the next year, left YIVO stock worth roughly $100,000. In the years before his death, Karski gave YIVO a series of gifts in other companies' stock totaling $99,997.69, then topped it off with a final $2.31 cash gift to reach exactly $100,000 — without ever amending his will. After he died, the originally bequeathed stock remained in the estate, and Zaleski (defendant), the personal representative, denied YIVO's claim to it, arguing the lifetime gifts had already satisfied the bequest.

Whether, if a bequest is for a particular purpose, a testator's subsequent inter vivos gift to the legatee for the same purpose and of the same kind creates a presumption that the gift adeemed the legacy by satisfaction.