JUDGMENT

NH Chan JCA:

We heard this appeal on 25 January 1999 and gave our decision the same day. We allowed the appeal. We give our reasons below.

On 18 April 1972, Lee Guat Cheow (since deceased) made a will in which he left his residuary estate to his wife and to his two sons. Clause 6 of the will states:

I hereby devise and bequeath all my remaining estate both real and personal whatsoever and wheresoever absolutely to my said wife Low Ai Lean and my sons Lee Eng Eow and Lee Eng Hai in equal shares.

One of the sons Lee Eng Hai predeceased his father. He died on 6 July 1977. It appears that at the time of his death he left issue. The testator Lee Guat Cheow died on 5 September 1980. The effect, it seems, is that at the time of the testator's death his residuary estate devolved on his wife, his son Lee Eng Eow and the issue of the late Lee Eng Hai who have survived the testator (s. 25, Wills Act 1959).

The executors of the will of the late Lee Guat Cheow (when the will was probated) were the wife of the testator Mrs Lee Ai Lian, nee Low and his son Lee Eng Eow. Subsequently, on 29 December 1996 Low Ai Lian died and that left Lee Eng Eow as the remaining executor.

In late 199