Law of Wills, 2016A

Id.
Based upon the foregoing discussion, the requisites for incorporating a document into a will by
reference cannot be established. This legal doctrine exists in order to prevent a third party from
interfering with the intent of a testator by altering a document to be incorporated by reference by
fraud or undue influence once the will is executed. Although there is no allegation of wrongdoing or
fraud in the instant case, and although the testator may have intended her estate to be distributed in
accordance with the bequests identified in Exhibit A, that intent was frustrated by the failure to
follow these legal principles which have been developed to protect the sanctity and integrity of the
testamentary process. Therefore, the circuit court erred, as a matter of law, in allowing Exhibit A to
be incorporated by reference into the Decedent’s Will.
IV. Conclusion
Based upon the foregoing, we reverse the decision of the circuit court and remand this case for entry
of an order consistent with this opinion.
Reverse and remanded.
Clark v. Citizens Nat. Bank of Collingswood, 118 A.2d 108 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div 1955)
HANEMAN, J.S.C.
Plaintiff herein filed a suit seeking the construction of the will of Ernest W. Clark, deceased. In
answer thereto, the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey filed an answer in which it was
stated that it had no knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the allegations of the
complaint. The defendant Citizens National Bank of Collingswood, New Jersey, filed an answer and
stated, among other things, that it was presently in the process of liquidation and therefore
powerless to act in a banking or trust capacity except for the purpose of liquidation. Thereupon the
plaintiff moved for a summary judgment upon affidavits filed and testimony taken in open court. In
the light of the consent of the defendants to proceed in this matter, it will be considered as if the
same were submitted on final hearing. The facts in connection herewith are as follows:
On Saturday, March 1, 1952, Ernest W. Clark, then being ill and confined to his home, executed two
instruments, (1) an Inter vivos trust agreement, and (2) a last will and testament. The order in which
reference to these instruments is made is not to be deemed a conclusion as to the sequence of their
execution. The Inter vivos trust agreement, which was not executed as required for the execution of
a will, created a charitable trust, giving broad powers to the named trustee in the management and
conduct of the investments in said trust, and provided in addition, in part, as follows:
‘Witnesseth that: Whereas the Donor has this day deposited with the Trustee certain monies,
property, securities, investments and/or other assets, as set forth and enumerated in Schedule ‘A’
annexed hereto and hereby made a part hereof, in trust nevertheless for the uses and purposes, and
under and subject to the terms and provisions hereinafter set forth; which trust the Trustee is willing
to accept and assume; and the said parties desire to herein and hereby express and set forth and
define the nature and terms of said trust:
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