Precatory Language

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page 56

Words in a will or a trust used by the testator (the person making the will) or settlor (the person making a trust) to express a wish or desire to have his or her property disposed of in a certain way or to have some other task undertaken, which do not necessarily impose a mandatory obligation upon anyone to carry out the wish.

Precatory language in a will or trust usually includes such terms as the testator's "request," "hope," or "desire" that property be given to a certain person or be disposed of in a particular manner. Whether such language can be viewed as mandatory, thus creating an enforceable will or trust, or whether it merely expresses the testator's wish to have something done has been a difficult issue for the courts. The...