Cumulative Legacies - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition cumulative-legacies

Definition :

Cumulative legacies, legacies so called to distinguish them from egacies which are merely repeated. In the construction of testamentary instruments, the question often arises, whether where a testator has twice bequeathed a legacy to the same person, the legatee is entitled to both, or only one of them; in other words, whether the second legacy must be considered as a mere repetition of the first, or as cumulative, i.e., additional. In determining this question, the intention of the testator, if it appears on the face of the instrument, prevails; but if it does not so appear, the following rules of contruction have been laid down:

(I.) If the same specific thing be bequeathed tweice to a legatee, whether by the same instrument or not, he is entitled to one legacy only.

(II.) If the legacies be not of a specific thing, but of quantity, e.g., a sum of money--

(1) If they are bequeathed by the same instrument, and are of equal amount, the second legacy is nto cumulative, but the legatee is entitled to one legacy only.

(2) If they are bequeathed by the same instrument, but are of unequal amount, the second legacy is cumulative.

(3) If they are bequeathed by different instruments, whether they are equal or unequal in amount, the second legacy is cumulative. Consult Roper on Legacies; Theobald on Wills