Boraysu v. Tiley

11 Pa. D. & C. 265, 1928 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 63
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County
DecidedApril 2, 1928
DocketNo. 61
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Pa. D. & C. 265 (Boraysu v. Tiley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boraysu v. Tiley, 11 Pa. D. & C. 265, 1928 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 63 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1928).

Opinion

Hicks, J.,

Frank Boraysu and Sophia Boraysu, his wife, plaintiffs, on Dec. 1, 1927, entered into an agreement with the defendants to purchase the lot' of ground and buildings thereon erected, situate on the southeast corner of East Broad and Greenwood Streets, in the Borough of Tamauqua, this county, for the sum of $29,500, within sixty days from the date of the agreement upon the delivery of a deed conveying a good title. The time for the consummation of this sale to them by the defendants has been extended by the agreement of the parties until the judgment of the court could be obtained upon the question whether the defendants would have a fee simple title in the said real estate. The defendants, Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley, claimed title under and by virtue of the will of Rosina Tiley, a widow, who died on April 17, 1923, leaving a last will and testament dated Feb. 26, 1918, duly proved and registered at Pottsville, in this county, on Dec. 12, 1927. Upon the death of Rosina Tiley, she left to survive her a son, Harry L. Tiley, who has since died, his wife, Clara Tiley, and two children, [266]*266one of whom has since died. She also left another son, William F. Tiley, who has a wife, Christina Tiley, and five children. The defendants are ready and willing to deliver their deed to the plaintiffs, but the latter refuse to accept the same, contending that all the members of the families of Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley must join in the conveyance. The foregoing, together with a copy of the will of Rosina Tiley and the agreement of sale between the plaintiffs and the defendants, has, with the consent of both parties, been incorporated into a case stated for the opinion of the court. The following question is submitted for the court’s decision: Whether the said Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley took an estate in trust or an estate in fee under the will of the said Rosina Tiley. If the court shall be of the opinion that the said Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley took an estate in trust under said will, then the court is respectfully requested to enter judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. If the court shall be of the opinion that the said Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley took an estate in fee under said will, then the court is respectfully requested to enter judgment in favor of the defendants.

The particular clause of the will for construction is the residuary clause, which provides: “and as to all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal or mixed, of whatsoever nature or kind, or wheresoever situate at the time of my decease, I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto Clara Tiley, wife of my son, Harry L. Tiley, and Christina Tiley, wife of my son, William F. Tiley, in equal portions, share and share alike, for the sole use of their families.” Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley, daughters-in-law of the testatrix, were appointed executrices without bond “for the faithful performance of my wishes.” In the second paragraph of the will the testatrix bequeaths one $100 Liberty Bond to each of her seven grandchildren “for their sole use and benefit.” In the third item of the will another grandson, Harold Tiley, on account of deformity, is bequeathed an additional sum of $300 in cash “for his absolute use.”

It is the/contention of the plaintiffs that the testatrix, in the residuary clause of the will, created a trust in all her real estate for the sole use of the sons of the testatrix and their families; or, in other words, as the plaintiffs argue, the testatrix intended her sons and grandchildren to have the use of her residuary estate. On the other hand, the defendants urge that the two daughters-in-law, Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley, received a fee simple title, and that the words “for the use of their families” in the residuary clause are words merely expressive of desire, recommendation and confidence and cannot convert the devise into a trust.

This leads to an interpretation of the residuary clause, which is: “As to all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, ... I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto Clara Tiley, wife of my son, Harry L. Tiley, and Christina Tiley, wife of my son, William F. Tiley, in equal portions, share and share alike, for the sole use of their families.”

To gain the intent of the testatrix, the will must be construed from its four corners. At the time of the writing of the will, the testatrix had two sons, with their respective wives and seven grandchildren, living. She made specific bequests to the grandchildren and omitted to make either of her two sons beneficiaries of her bounty. That she had a high regard for her two daughters-in-law, implicit faith and confidence in them, is readily seen from the fact that she appointed them, rather than her two sons, as the executrices of her will, making special mention, from this aspect, that they were to serve without giving a bond “for the faithful performance of my wishes.” Also, in the fourth item of the will, she expresses her wish and desire “that the [267]*267license be removed from the corner Broad and Greenwood Streets property” (which property appears to be the one now the subject of sale) “as soon as can be done after my decease, either at the end of tenant’s term of leasing following my decease, but reimbursing the tenant the proportionate cost of license from termination of lease to end of said year, or that the lease be not extended longer than the close of said license year, and that the property afterwards be used for other mercantile business suited to the location and business, and I trust that my beloved children will carry out this last request of their mother.” The particular wish and desire, thus expressed, would be carried out under the terms of her will by her two daughters-in-law, executrices, if carried out at all. Her love for her daughters-in-law is further evidenced by the fact that the residue of her estate is given to them rather than to the two sons.

If the residuary clause read “and as to all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal or mixed, of whatever nature or kind, or wheresoever situate at the time of my decease, I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto Clara Tiley, . . . and Christina Tiley, ... in equal portions, share and share alike,” there would be no dispute that Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley took a fee simple estate. Words of inheritance for this purpose would not be necessary, as the will having been written on Peb. 26, 1918, it would be subject in its construction to the operation of section 12 of the Wills Act of June 7, 1917, P. L. 403, 407, which re-enacts the Act of April 8, 1833, P. L. 249, and which provides: “All devises of real estate shall pass the whole estate of the testator in the premises devised, although there be no words of inheritance or of perpetuity, unless it appears by a devise over or by words of limitation, or otherwise, in the will, that the testator intended to devise a less estate.”

By the addition of the words “for the sole use of their families,” after an absolute devise in equal moiety to Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley, is the absolute devise changed into a trust and do Clara Tiley and Christina Tiley hold the residuum in trust for their families? Does the clause in the will as to the residuary estate, in speaking of which the testatrix declares, “I do hereby give, devise and bequeath unto Clara Tiley . . . and Christina Tiley ... in equal portions, share and share alike, for the sole use of their families,” create a trust, remembering that there is no devise over or words of limitation?

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Bluebook (online)
11 Pa. D. & C. 265, 1928 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boraysu-v-tiley-pactcomplschuyl-1928.