This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Link (Ds) are the executors and trustees under the will and codicil of Mildred A. Kingsmill. Mildred left, as her sole heirs at law, two brothers, Orson Adams, Jr., and Alvin P. Adams, and a sister, Ethel A. Martin (Ps). A paragraph in the will disposed of the residue by a trust. It provided for the payment of the net income for life, in monthly or quarterly installments at their written election, to Joan K. Pringle and Mayes M. Foeppel, neither of whom was an heir at law. At the death of the survivor, the trust was to terminate, and distribution of the corpus was to be made to The New York Association for the Blind. Pringle predeceased Mildred, leaving Mayes M. Foeppel as the sole income beneficiary and entitled, under the terms of the trust, to the entire net income for life. A compromise agreement was entered into between Mayes and The New York Association for the Blind along with the three heirs at law of Mildred. Fifteen percent of the residuary estate would be paid outright to the three heirs at law in equal shares; 37 percent would be paid outright to The New York Association for the Blind; and 48 percent would be paid outright to Mayes M. Foeppel less a deduction of $15,000 which would be used to establish a new trust. The agreement was made subject to the approval of the Superior Court. The court found the agreement invalid, and Ps appealed.

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