Also known as: natural objects
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person whom a testator or donor would naturally regard as a beneficiary of a donative transfer on account of a close familial or personal relationship.
Neil Nair, an elderly widower, meets with his attorney to execute a new will. During the meeting Neil accurately describes his real estate holdings and names his two adult children as primary beneficiaries while explaining why he is reducing a gift to a distant nephew. The attorney notes that Neil understands both the extent of his property and the natural objects of his bounty.
Nolan Nunez, domiciled in State X, owns land in State Y and executes a will leaving most of the property to a local charity rather than his children who live in State X. When a dispute arises, the court weighs the purposes of each state's rules and concludes that State X has the stronger interest because the natural objects of Nolan's bounty and the testator himself are most closely connected to that state.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Nikhil Narayan holds a power of appointment that fails to meet the formal requirements set by the donor. In equity the court validates the appointment because the appointee is Nikhil's daughter, a natural object of his affection, and the appointment substantially follows the donor's prescribed manner.
Noelle North executes a will during a family dispute and leaves her lakeside cottage to her adult daughter rather than a neighbor. The court upholds the gift after confirming that the daughter is a natural object of Noelle's bounty and that Noelle understood the disposition at execution.
Nicole Navarro executes a revocable trust naming her domestic partner as sole remainder beneficiary. The drafting attorney confirms that the partner qualifies as a natural object of Nicole's bounty under applicable family-dissolution principles.
Nadia Novak, an elderly testator, executes a new will that disinherits her stepchildren. The court finds lack of capacity because Nadia could no longer identify or understand her natural objects of bounty at the time of execution.
The testator must be capable of knowing and understanding in a general way the natural objects of his or her bounty and of relating that knowledge to the nature and extent of the property and the disposition being made.
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No. The law does not impose a per se rule that any cognitive impairment automatically defeats capacity. The question is whether, at the time of execution, the testator could understand in a general way the natural objects of bounty and relate that understanding to the overall plan.
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Yes. The natural objects of a testator's bounty include the testator's closest family members and are not limited to blood or adoptive relatives. Stepchildren may qualify when the testator was close to them.
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A state where the testator and the natural objects of bounty are most closely related may have a stronger interest in applying its own rules even when the land is located elsewhere, particularly when the issue involves limits on charitable bequests.
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…a claim for relief. It is insisted in argument, that a photograph being a reproduction on paper of the exact features of some natural object or of some person, is not a writing of which the producer is the author. Section 4952 of the Revised Statutes places photographs in the same class as things which may be copyrighted with…