Vt. — Patricia Hayes v. Allison Hayes, Brian Hayes and LPL Financial, LLC

against it. One who accepts a bequest does so on condition of conforming to the will. No one is

allowed to disappoint a will under which he accepts a benefit.” O’Rourke’s Estate, 106 Vt. at 332,

175 A. at 26; see also In re Sharon’s Estate, 121 Vt. 322, 324, 157 A.2d 475, 476 (1960) (stating

that surviving spouse has no right to statutory share “in a testate estate unless such surviving spouse

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waives the provisions made for him or her in the will of the decedent”). As one court has explained,

“[e]lection . . . means a choice between two courses of action; acquiescence by the widow in her

husband’s disposition of his property, or disregard of it and assertion of the rights the law gives

her. There is no third or mixed course.” In re Cunningham’s Estate, 20 A. 714, 715 (Penn. 1890)

(internal quotation marks omitted). Wife acquiesced in the provisions of husband’s will and, thus,

§ 321 does not apply. Summary judgment was therefore properly granted to defendants.

Affirmed.

FOR THE COURT:

Associate Justice

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