Key legal question
How should the inheritance contract clause valuing the house at half of its official market value be interpreted with respect to the mortgage debt?
Extracted holding
The clause did not exclude the ordinary method of calculating net assets; the mortgage had to be counted in full among liabilities, and the house was merely taken into assets at half of its official market value.
Extracted reasoning
The term 'official market value' denotes the gross market value, not the net value. The clause regulates only the treatment of the house as an asset and contains no indication that the parties intended a special rule for liabilities.