What is the test to apply in cases such as this?

The test to be applied in cases such as this, is was there 'an absolute gift to designated persons then in existence, upon the termination of a precedent estate * * *.' Stringer v. Young, 191 N.Y. 157, 162, 83 N.E. 690, 692. The facts and circumstances of the case herein in each instance clearly come within the rule above set forth. Accordingly, all of the beneficiaries having survived the testator the court determines that the legacies became vested upon the death of the testator. With respect to the language 'in case of his (her) prior death' contained in subdivisions 'a' through 'g' of Article 'third', the court construes this phrase as referring to a death prior to that of the testator, rather than to a death prior to that of the life tenant. Connelly v. O'Brien, supra.