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Decided on May 18, 2006
Sur Ct, Nassau County

333765
Harvey Spizz, Esq. (Attorney for Petitioner, Anita Bernstein) Spizz & Cooper, LLP 114 Old Country Road Suite 644 Mineola, NY 11501 John B. Clarke, Esq. (Attorney for Simon LoPata, Executor) 35 Broad Street Williston Park, NY 11596
Attorney General of the State of New York (Attorney for Charitable Beneficiaries)
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
John B. Riordan, J.
In this construction proceeding, the decedent's daughter Anita, a distributee, contends that the residuary clause in the Will is void for indefiniteness and that the residue therefore passes in intestacy. The residuary clause is very brief and provides,
"I direct that my Executor/Executrix shall distribute
the residuary of my estate to charities of his/her choice."
The construction proposed by the decedent's daughter is opposed by the executor and by the Attorney General, who appears on behalf of the charitable beneficiaries.
As a preliminary matter, the executor contends that the proceeding must be dismissed because the petitioner does not have standing. SCPA 1420(1) provides that a fiduciary or "a person interested in obtaining a determination as to the validity, construction or effect of any provision of a will may present to the court in which the will was probated a petition..." for the construction of the Will. In order to have a sufficient interest to have standing to commence a proceeding for construction, the petitioner must have an interest in the property that will be affected by the construction; a person not having such an interest may not request a construction (11 Warren' s Heaton on Surrogate's Courts,

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