My colleague, Ryan McKeen of A Connecticut Law Blog fame, and I were speaking last week on the general issue regarding interpretation of a Last Will and Testament. Intent of the Testator, four corners of the document, etc.
Our law school textbooks covered many issues of Will interpretation and construction: Acts of Independent Significance, Incorporation by Reference, and other common law rules.
The problem in Connecticut? There is very little (if any) caselaw on probate issues.
Why?
Probate court hearings are not reported. The only times a probate-related case shows up is when it is appealed to the Superior Court. And even then, it is considered a unreported case. I tend to think that the vast majority of these cases are not appealed, so those decisions are often simply filed away with no real record for future use.
So the question is: will Probate Court reform at least bring the reporting of probate cases to the level of those cases heard in the Superior Court? I tend to hope so.
