What is the test for interpreting language in a will?

Prince Edward Island, Canada


The following excerpt is from Estate Phillip John Kinch, 2017 PESC 31 (CanLII):

In Widdess Estate v. Cunningham, [1984] B.C.J. No. 3052 (S.C.), Finch J., stated at para. 7: In construing the language of a will the court looks to the meaning which the words used would have had for the Testator. The court places itself, so far as is possible, in the position of the Testator when he made the will, and construes it in light of the facts and circumstances then known to him. The Testator’s intention is to be gathered from a construction of the will, as a whole, and not solely from words used in that part of the will said to be unclear or ambiguous. And, the will is taken to speak as of the date immediately before the Testator’s death.

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