£1,000,000 WILL.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9469, 11 June 1909, Page 3

£1,000,000 WILL.

CLAIMED BY DISINHERITED SON. An extraordinary will suit, involving the distribution of £10,000,000/ has been decidedfagainst Mr William Copeland Rhinelander, the eldest son of the late celebrated millionaire of New York. Mr Copeland Rhinelander was disinherited for marrying in 1876 a servant girl named Margaret McGinnis, of the household of his patents. When his first wife died he further estranged his family by his second wedding. His father never forgave him, and when he died in January, 1907, bequeathed the bulk of £10,000,000 to his two youngest sons, Philip and Oakley Rhinelander. A codicil authorised the executors to pay Mr Copeland Rhinelander £IOOO yearly. The disinherited son immediately started a suit to have the will declared invalid. After a hearing lasting less than an hour the jury rendered a verdict in favour of the executors, who are now free to distribute the estates to the beneficiaries.