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Terms Used In 15 Guam Code Ann. § 609

  • Bequest: Property gifted by will.
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
A clear and distinct devise or bequest can not be affected by any reasons assigned therefor, or by any other words not equally clear and distinct, or by inference or argument from other parts of the will, or by an inaccurate recital of or reference to its contents in another part of the will.

SOURCE: Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 104.

§ 611. Correction of Mistakes and Omissions; Use of Extrinsic
Evidence to Arrive at Testamentary Intent.

When there is an imperfect description in a will, or no person or property exactly answers the description in a will, mistakes and omis- sions must be corrected, if such error appears from the context of the will or from extrinsic evidence. When an uncertainty arises upon the face of a will, as to the application of any of its provisions, the testator‘s intention is to be ascertained from the words of the will or from extrinsic evidence, taking into view the circumstances under which the will was made.
AExtrinsic evidence,@ as used in this Section, may include the oral
declarations of the testator as to his testamentary intent, but such oral
declarations may be considered only when no other evidence is available apart from the words of the will.

SOURCE: Guam Law Revision Commission.

COMMENT: Section 105 of the Probate Code of Guam (1970), like § 611, set out certain rules of construction for the interpretation of wills. The Commission is of the opinion that § 105 of the Probate Code of Guam (1970) was too restrictive as to what evidence the Court might consider, in that it prohibited the consideration of the testator’s oral statements concerning his intentions. Similar concerns are voiced
by Professor Lowell Turrentine in his AIntroduction to the California Probate
Code,@ which appears in 52 West’s Annotated California Codes, Probate Code, §§ 1 – 399, at p. 1 et seq. The Commission has thus drafted § 611, which allows the
Court to consider a testator’s declarations as to his intent, but only if that is the only

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CH. 6 INTERPRETATION OF WILLS

evidence available going to that issue. That is, the Court must exhaust all other avenues and find them completely lacking before it may consider extrinsic evidence consisting of the testator’s own declarations as to his intent.