The applicant Estate Trustees sought the court's opinion and advice on interpreting a clause in the testator's will that granted one of her sons an option to purchase her 'farming business' for a fixed price.
The son argued that the testator's rental of the farm property to him constituted carrying on the farming business.
Applying the armchair rule, the court found that the testator intended the phrase to mean the active farming business she and her late husband had previously operated, not the passive rental of land.
As the testator was not carrying on the active farming business at her death, the option to purchase was declared ineffective and the farm property fell into the residue of the estate.
