I wonder if Thomas Jefferson was aware that he’d be named executor at the time the will was drafted. These days, under U.S. law, you can name someone an executor without their knowledge though the person is allowed to refuse the job (as Jefferson did).
In the article, second paragraph of the History section
>Several years after Kościuszko's death, Jefferson, aged 77, pleaded his inability to execute the will due to age[4] and the numerous legal complexities of the bequest.[5] Jefferson recommended his friend John Hartwell Cocke, who also opposed slavery, to be executor, but Cocke also declined to execute the bequest.[4] He wrote to Jefferson that there were "prejudices to be encountered" in their education and of "an effect which might be produced on the minds of my own people."[4] The federal court appointed an attorney, Benjamin L. Lear, to be executor of the estate. Lear died in 1832, the case still unresolved, and so his executor, Colonel George Bomford, became the executor as well of the Kościuszko estate.[6]
>Before the final Supreme Court decision, Gaspard Tochman, acting on behalf of Kosciusko's relatives, had found an 1816 will drawn up in Paris. This will, which revoked the one made in concert with Jefferson and the one concerning Kosciusko Armstrong, was authenticated.
>In September 1817, shortly before his death in October, he wrote a letter to Jefferson mentioning the bequest - "...of which money, after my death, you know the fixed destination."
And one of linked references https://books.google.pl/books?id=ZwqETEY0UiMC&pg=PA23&redir_... states: "Significantly, this paper writing not only revoked the American will of 1798[...]", but also weirdly "it made no specific disposition of American estate".
So it looks like case was resolved on some wording technicality of 1798 will, while Kościuszko still thought 1798 will is valid? (as evidenced by October 1817 letter)
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 26.3 ms ] thread>Several years after Kościuszko's death, Jefferson, aged 77, pleaded his inability to execute the will due to age[4] and the numerous legal complexities of the bequest.[5] Jefferson recommended his friend John Hartwell Cocke, who also opposed slavery, to be executor, but Cocke also declined to execute the bequest.[4] He wrote to Jefferson that there were "prejudices to be encountered" in their education and of "an effect which might be produced on the minds of my own people."[4] The federal court appointed an attorney, Benjamin L. Lear, to be executor of the estate. Lear died in 1832, the case still unresolved, and so his executor, Colonel George Bomford, became the executor as well of the Kościuszko estate.[6]
>Before the final Supreme Court decision, Gaspard Tochman, acting on behalf of Kosciusko's relatives, had found an 1816 will drawn up in Paris. This will, which revoked the one made in concert with Jefferson and the one concerning Kosciusko Armstrong, was authenticated.
>In September 1817, shortly before his death in October, he wrote a letter to Jefferson mentioning the bequest - "...of which money, after my death, you know the fixed destination."
And one of linked references https://books.google.pl/books?id=ZwqETEY0UiMC&pg=PA23&redir_... states: "Significantly, this paper writing not only revoked the American will of 1798[...]", but also weirdly "it made no specific disposition of American estate".
So it looks like case was resolved on some wording technicality of 1798 will, while Kościuszko still thought 1798 will is valid? (as evidenced by October 1817 letter)