Appeal of Reichard
Appeal of Reichard
Opinion of the Court
Opinion,
Subject to the provisions of the first seven paragraphs of his
The second codicil contains this clause, viz.: “ Item D., paragraph eight, wherein by my will I have directed my executors to collect and receive the annual income and profit arising out of the one sixth part of my estate and to pay over the same less costs and charges to my daughter Helena for and during-her natural life is hereby revoked. And instead thereof my said executors.....are hereby directed to pay to my said daughter Helena, now intermarried with J. H. Swoyer, as soon after my death as they conveniently can, the sum of two thousand dollars.”
The single question presented by the record is, whether the testator by this clause of the codicil intended to revoke the whole of item D. of his will above quoted, or only so much thereof as relates to the payment of the annual income and profit of the one sixth to his daughter Helena.
A strictly grammatical construction of the language employed favors the conclusion that testator intended to revoke the whole of item D.; but, in view of all the provisions of the will and codicils thereto, so far as they tend to shed light on the subject, we concur in the conclusion reached by the learned judge of the Orphans’ Court, that he intended to revoke
Having rightly concluded that the life estate given to testator’s daughter Helena was revoked by the codicil without disturbing the remainder given to her children living at the time of her death, etc., it necessarily follows that, as to the income and profit of the one sixth in question, during Mrs. Swoyer’s lifetime, her father died intestate and hence it was proper to award that portion to the trustees, in trust to pay the income thereof, during her lifetime, to the heirs of testator, and, upon her death, in trust for her children, etc., as provided in the unrevoked portion of item D., paragraph eight, of the will. The assignments of error are not sustained.
Decree affirmed and appeal dismissed at the costs of appellants.
APPEAL OF CRANE, GUARDIAN.
The questions presented by this' record are substantially the same as those that have been considered and disposed of in Reichard’s Appeal, No. 361, of this term. For reasons given in opinion filed in that ease, we are satisfied there is no error in the decree.
Decree affirmed and appeal dismissed at the costs of the appellant.
It has been decided in Reichard’s Appeal, No. 361, of this term, that so much of item D., paragraph eight, of the will under consideration, as relates to the provision therein made for testator’s daughter Helena, was revoked by the second codicil without in any manner interfering with tire residue of that item creating a trust in favor of such of her children as may be living at the time of her decease and'the issue of any deceased child or children, etc.
According to express terms of the will, the net annual income of the trust is payable to the children only from and after the decease of their mother. Indeed, it is not payable sooner for the further reason that the beneficiaries of the trust cannot be ascertained until that event occurs. The children now living may not survive their mother, and in that contingency they will never become beneficiaries. Their interest is therefore contingent and not vested, and the learned judge of the Orphans’ Court was right in so holding. As to the income from the one sixth, accruing during the lifetime of Mrs. Swoyer, her father died intestate, and hence it is distributable among his heirs under the intestate law. The assignments of error are not sustained.
Decree affirmed, and appeal dismissed at costs of appellants. '
Reference
- Full Case Name
- APPEAL OF GEORGE N. REICHARD APPEAL OF JOHN M. CRANE, GUARDIAN. APPEAL OF MARY HOLMES
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. A codicil should not be held to interfere with any of .the specific provis- ' ions of a will, unless its language naturally and obviously produce such result, or the terms of the codicil expressly recognize the alteration ; or to disturb the dispositions of the will further than is absolutely necessary for the purpose of giving effect to the codicil. A testator by his will devised and bequeathed one sixth part of his residnary estate to trustees in trust to pay the income to his daughter for life and on her death to pay said income to the child or children of his said daughter, who should be living at the time of her death, and the issue of any deceased child or children, until they reached respectively their majority, when their respective shares were to be paid over to them. By a codicil the testator provided: 1 ‘ Item (D), paragraph eight, wherein by my will I have directed my executors to collect and receive the annual income and profit arising out of the one sixth part of my estate, and to pay over the same.....to my daughter Helena, for and during the period of her natural life, is hereby'revoked. And instead thereof my said executors.....are hereby directed to pay to my said daughter.....as soon after my death as they conveniently can the sum of $2,000 ; ” Held, 2. That this codicil revoked simply the provision-of the will made for the daughter, without disturbing those made for her children or their issue; that the testator had died intestate as to the income of the one sixth of nis residuary estate during the life of his daughter, which income for that period was payable to his heirs, and that the interest of the daughter’s children was not vested at the testator’s death, but contingent on their surviving their mother.