Kelly v. Pennsylvania Railroad
Kelly v. Pennsylvania Railroad
Opinion of the Court
The paramount intention of the testator, John McClurg, was that his son William should take a fee in an undivided fourth of his farm. Though the devise passed the legal title to a trustee, it was to the trustee for the use and benefit of William McClurg and “his heirs.” This gave an equitable fee to William. What follows discloses no intention that this absolute devise should be cut down to a mere life estate. The father simply wished to throw around the devise to his son and “his heirs” some protection against the son’s improvidence. He had an unquestioned right to do so: Spring’s Est., 216 Pa. 529; and in doing so there was nothing inconsistent with the absolute devise: Boies’s Est., 177 Pa. 190. Nothing but a clearly expressed intention following the absolute devise to reduce it to a spendthrift trust, limited to the life of William, can have such an effect. No such intention appears. On the
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Kelly v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Will — Trusts and trustees — Spendthrift trust — Devise in fee. Where a testator devises a one-fourth interest in land to a trustee on a spendthrift trust to one of his sons and “his heirs,” the son to have the “usufruct and profits,” the trustee to sell only at the request of the son, and the interest is given without limitation over, the son takes an equitable fee.