Article 21: Special Proceedings and Actions · Last amended 1929 · Last verified July 22, 2026
Laws 1929, c. 75, § 2, p. 257; C.S.1929, § 20-21,141; R.S.1943, § 25-21,150.
Section 25-21,150 identifies who can walk through the door that section 25-21,149 opens. It reaches two overlapping groups. First, anyone interested under a deed, will, written contract, or other writing that constitutes a contract may have the court determine a question of construction or validity arising under that instrument. Second, anyone whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise may seek the same kind of ruling on that statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise.
Either way, the relief available is the same: a declaration of rights, status, or other legal relations under the instrument, statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise in question. A beneficiary unsure what a will’s language means, a business unsure whether a city ordinance applies to it, or a party to a franchise agreement unsure of its own obligations can all use this section as the doorway into a declaratory action, so long as the document or law truly affects their own rights or status.
A person interested under a deed, will, written contract, or other writing constituting a contract, or a person whose rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract, or franchise.
Yes. Section 25-21,150 lets an interested person obtain a determination of a question of construction arising under a will.
Both. The section covers questions of construction and questions of validity arising under the instrument, statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise.
Yes, if the business’s rights, status, or other legal relations are affected by that ordinance, it may seek a declaration of its rights under it.
A declaration of rights, status, or other legal relations under the instrument, statute, ordinance, contract, or franchise at issue.