Benedict's Estate
Benedict's Estate
Opinion of the Court
While it is true that we must search for the intent of the testator only within the four corners of his will when we come to consider it and interpret its meaning, we must do so in the light of all the circumstances by which he was surrounded when he made it, and by which he was probably influenced: Hermann’s Est., 220 Pa. 52. Where the words of the will are free from ambiguity and the intention is plainly manifest through the use of apt words, the courts will not attempt to reform the testator’s disposition of his property by substituting their ideas for his in a distribution of his estate. The opinion of the court below satisfies us of the correctness of its conclusion in confirming the account and the statement of distribution made in the adjudication.
The decree is affirmed.
Reference
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Wills — Trust and trustees — Life estate — Remainderman—Children living at death of testator. Where a testator creates a life estate for a daughter by trust, and directs that after her death the trustees shall transfer the property held in trust “to such of the residuary legatees hereinafter named as may then be living share and share alike their heirs and assigns forever,” and he gives to his sons and daughters, naming them, all of his residuary estate, or “to such of them as may be living at the time of my death......share and share alike their heirs and assigns forever,” children of a child of the testator who died after the testator and before the life tenant are not entitled to share in the distribution of the corpus of the trust fund upon the death of the life tenant.