A provision in the will of Louise Woodruff Johnston directed her executor to have her historic house in St. Louis’s Kingsbury Place neighborhood razed, the land underneath it sold, and the proceeds from the land sale transferred to the residue of the estate. Johnston’s beneficiaries did not object to the razing of the home, but the neighbors did object. One month after Johnston’s death, they convinced the city government to have Kingsbury Place declared a historic landmark. The neighbors then sought injunctive relief to prevent Johnston’s executor from razing the home.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. How would you have decided this case?

2. What if Johnston were a novelist and had requested that her executor burn all her unpublished manuscripts. May an executor refuse to honor such a request?