Ashbridge's Estate

61 Pa. D. & C. 279, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 422
Pennsylvania Orphans' Court, Philadelphia County·Decided January 9, 1948·No. no. 73 of 1945·Published

Opinion

Ladner, J., Auditing Judge.

— Hon. Samuel H. Ash-bridge, a former mayor and for many years a coroner of Philadelphia, died March 24, 1906, having first made his last will and testament dated January 4, 1904, and codicils thereto dated October 26 and December 30, 1905, respectively. . . .

By item 7th of testator’s will he provided:

“Seventh. Upon the death of my said wife Anna J. Ashbridge I order and direct that the portion of the principal of my estate from which she shall have been deriving income at and immediately before her death shall be distributed as follows: ...

“The balance of that portion of the principal of my estate from which my wife shall have been deriving income at and immediately before her death shall be held and disposed of by my said executors as follows:

[280] “In consideration of the fact that many worthy women are left in destitute circumstances and in recognition of the many honors conferred upon me by the people of Philadelphia, amongst whom I have always lived, I direct my Executors and Trustees as soon after the decease of my wife as possible to found and establish a Home in the City of Philadelphia or its immediate suburbs, ,to be called the ‘Samuel H. Ashbridge Home for Indigent Widows and Single Women’ the sole object and purpose of which shall be for the support and maintenance of indigent and worthy widows and single women who, when first admitted to the Home, shall not be less than fifty years of age, and whose circumstances and necessities compel them to seek shelter and maintenance. The Home shall be,undenominational and non-sectarian, but the Board of Managers shall from time to time have religious services conducted therein by clergymen of the various denominations. No charge shall be made for admission, support or maintenance of any of the residents, and upon the death of any resident without relatives or means wherewith to bury her she shall be given a reasonable and proper burial from the income of said Home, and to that end I direct my Executors and Trustees aforesaid to transfer and convey for the purpose of the Home the two burial lots owned by me in Hillside Cemetery for a burial place for those who dying at the Home have no other place of burial. In admitting applicants preference shall in all cases be given first to those who are actual residents of the City of Philadelphia, and secondly to those who have been residents of that city, although at the time of making application they may reside elsewhere. The Home shall be managed and conducted by a Board of Trustees or Managers composed of nine citizens of Philadelphia, three to be appointed or elected by the Board of Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas of the County of Phil a[281] delphia; three to be appointed or elected by the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Pennsylvania, and three to be appointed or elected by the Pennsylvania State Council Order of United American Mechanics. The said Board shall serve for three years or until their successors are appointed or elected, and the appointing powers shall in all cases have the right to remove, with or without cause, and to fill vacancies caused by expiration of term, resignation, removal or for any other reason. In the event of one or both of the said Orders ceasing to exist, the Board of Judges aforesaid shall thereafter fill the vacancies caused by such contingency. The Board of Trustees or Managers shall alone have power to admit qualified applicants to said Home, and shall also have power at any time to discharge, with or without cause, any of those who may be admitted; the decision of said Board in all cases to be final. I order and direct my Executors to make application for and procure a charter of incorporation for said Home and to make such provision for the election of the necessary corporate officers as they shall deem proper; my preference being that the said corporate officers shall be elected by and from the Board of Trustees or Managers to be appointed as hereinabove mentioned. As soon as said Home is properly organized and incorporated, I direct my Executors and Trustees, to deliver over, assign and convey to the said Home the balance of that portion of the principal of my estate from which my wife shall have been deriving income at and immediately before her death. The said principal to be kept intact and to be held and invested for the purposes of the Home and the income alone to be used for the expenses thereof.”

By the codicil of December 30,1905, testator revoked the legacies given in the 7th item to Lena De Barth, Edna Diernbach and the Hahnemann Hospital and gave the amount of said legacies upon the death of his [282] wife to the Samuel H. Ashbridge Home for Indigent Widows and Single Women as provided in his will.

Upon the listing of this account before me for audit, Mr. James, counsel for accountant, informed the court that the net amount now available for the charitable purposes, approximately $60,000, would be far too small to establish a home; hardly enough to purchase a site on which to build a home, let alone endow the same; that the plan of the testator has become impossible of fulfillment in accordance with his directions, and that the court should exercise its cy pres power and make an award to other institutions in a way to approximate testator’s wishes.

In order to enable the auditing judge to intelligently exercise this cy pres power and to give representation to the unascertained charitable objects of testator’s bounty, namely, the indigent widows and single women over the age of 50 years, sought to be benefited, and in conformity with the established precedents of this court, the auditing judge directed counsel for the accountant to present a petition for the appointment of an amicus curiae with the powers of a master. Accordingly, such petition was presented, pursuant to which the auditing judge by decree dated February 21,1946, appointed Richard K. Stevens, Esq., amicus curiae with the powers of a master, with instructions to advertise his appointment once a week for three successive weeks in The Legal Intelligencer and one other newspaper of general circulation in the city, so as to give notice to all institutions or other parties that might be interested that it was his intention: (a) To hold meetings in furtherance of his appointment; (b) at such meetings to receive testimony of claimants to the three-quarters share of decedent’s estate bequeathed by testator for the founding and establishing and maintenance of a Home for Indigent Widows and Single Women; (c) to investigate the qualifications of all charities [283] which advanced claims to said fund, and (d) to report his findings to the auditing judge and recommend a charity or charities to which said fund should be awarded cy pres. The original petition and decree will be found annexed hereto.

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Ashbridge's Estate, 61 Pa. D. & C. 279, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 422 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1948).

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