Collins's Estate

9 Pa. D. & C. 520, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 87
CourtPennsylvania Orphans' Court, Philadelphia County
DecidedJune 11, 1927
DocketNo. 616
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 9 Pa. D. & C. 520 (Collins's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Orphans' Court, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins's Estate, 9 Pa. D. & C. 520, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 87 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1927).

Opinion

Gest, J.,

Thomas Earl Collins died on April 23, 1926, unmarried and without issue, leaving a will admitted to probate on April 30, 1926, when letters testamentary were granted.

Proof of advertisement of notice thereof was produced to the Auditing Judge.

By the second paragraph of his will, the testator bequeathed the following legacies to the persons named, their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, to wit, fourteen pecuniary legacies to his cousins, as stated in the petition for distribution (among which were a legacy to Walter C. Baker of $1000, a legacy to Walter A. Collins of $3000 and another to Thomas Collins Earl of $5000). The testator then proceeded as follows:

[521]*521“3rd: I give and bequeath to my cousin Ernest H. Chase Three thousand dollars — $3000—Should he not survive me, then I direct that the legacy herein bequeathed shall lapse and fall into my residuary estate. Also I give and bequeath to my friend Bradford Ritter Three thousand dollars — $3000. Should he not survive me, then I bequeath the said Three thousand dollars to his widow, Helen M. Ritter. Should neither of the said Bradford Ritter or Helen M. Ritter survive me, then I direct that the legacy herein bequeathed shall lapse and fall into my residuary estate.
“4th: I direct that the sum of One thousand dollars — $1000—be paid to my cousin Mary H. Taylor as soon after my death as may be convenient. Should she not survive me, then this legacy shall lapse and fall into my residuary estate. This legacy is intended to meet immediate wants until income from the residuary estate is available.”

By the sixth paragraph of his will, the testator directed that all his bequests should be free and clear of any deduction on account of collateral inheritance or other succession tax or taxes, which he directed should be paid from his residuary estate; and the rest, residue and remainder of his estate he bequeathed to the Girard Trust Company in trust to pay over the income, one-half to his cousin, Mary H. Taylor, and one-half to his cousin, Katharine E. Freedley, during their respective lives, with further provisions in remainder which it does not seem necessary to recite.

Ernest H. Chase, a legatee of $3000, survived the testator and died on May 10, 1926, leaving a will, of which Anna T. Chase is executrix, which legacy will be awarded to his executrix. "Walter A. Collins died on Oct. 7, 1925, before the testator. Edmund H. Lovett is administrator of his estate. It was urged in behalf of the administrator that this legacy, under the language of the will, did not lapse notwithstanding the prior death of the legatee, but is payable to his administrator. Mr. Rhoads submitted a brief in his behalf, and no argument was made to the contrary by the Girard Trust Company as trustee of the residuary estate.

The argument on behalf of the administrator of Walter A. Collins is based upon the phraseology of the will, by which the testator prefaced the fourteen bequests to his cousins with the words “I give and bequeath the following legacies to the persons named, their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns.” Then followed the legacies, including that in question. In the third and fourth paragraphs of the will, above quoted, the legacies to the other legatees are followed by the words, “Should he (or she) not survive me, then I direct that the legacy herein bequeathed shall lapse and fall into my residuary estate.” This difference of phraseology, as it was argued, shows that the testator did not overlook the question of lapse, and inserted the words “heirs, executors, administrators and assigns” in the second paragraph for the express purpose of preventing a lapse.

The lapse of a bequest by the death of the legatee before that of the testator is a necessary consequence of the ambulatory nature of wills, under which nothing passes until the testator dies, and, in fact, a testamentary gift is predicated on the belief that the legatee will survive the testator. The added words “their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns” are, under all the decisions, words of limitation and not of purchase (Jarman on Wills, 6th ed.), 423; 2 Williams on Executors (11th ed.), 958), and, indeed, the use of the word “assigns” strengthens this theory, because it assumes that the legatee will survive, for otherwise it would not be possible for him to assign his legacy. Had the gift been to the legatee or his heirs, etc., there would be substantial ground for holding the gift to be substitutionary: 2 Jarman on [522]*522Wills (6th ed.), 1316; 2 Williams on Executors, 9’62; but in Shoenberger’s Estate, 22 Dist. R. 126, where the gifts were to legatees, their heirs, legal representatives “or” assigns, they were held subject to lapse. The general rule has been so consistently followed in Pennsylvania that it is only necessary to cite Barnett’s Appeal, 104 Pa. 342; Worsley’s Estate, 4 Dist. R. 177; Niblock’s Estate, 27 Pa. C. C. Reps. 193, and Gaumer’s Estate, 27 Dist. R. 337. The rule being clear, any exception to it, founded upon the context in the will, should be equally clear, and I doubt whether the subsequent clauses, relied upon in the argument, are sufficient, relating, as they do, to different legacies to other legatees. I have been referred to no case which precisely rules the present, but I observe that this court, in Barnwell’s Estate, 29 Dist. R. 317, decided a very similar question. There, the legacy was given to Ann Kennedy and to her heirs and assigns, and a subsequent gift of an annuity was made to Eebecca Gaston, the testator declaring that it was “not to her heirs and assigns.” This court held that this was a sufficient indication that the testator employed the words “heirs and assigns” in the prior legacy as words of substitution; therefore, the legacy did not lapse by Ann Kennedy’s death before the testator. The phraseology in the present ease is perhaps stronger than that construed in Barnwell’s Estate, supra, and, on the authority of that case, I hold that the legacy to Walter A. Collins did not lapse, and it will be awarded to Edmund H. Lovett, referred to as administrator.

Walter C. Baker is a minor, and his father, William Ludwig Baker, by his will admitted to probate Feb. 21, 1923, appointed Frances C. Baker as guardian of the person and estate of said Walter G. Baker. His legacy will, therefore, be awarded to Frances C. Baker as such testamentary guardian.

According to the statements of counsel in Louisiana, Thomas Collins Earl is a minor, domiciled in Louisiana, who will be twelve years old in June, 1927. He resides in New Orleans with his father, George C. Earl, and his mother, Mr. Earl’s wife.

The statement of the law of Louisiana upon the subject is, according to the brief of counsel, as follows:

“Article 221, as set forth in section 1, chapter 5, Title vil, of the Eevised Civil Code of Louisiana (Merrick’s Eevised Civil Code (3rd ed.), 1925, page 80), provides as follows:
“ ‘The father is, during the marriage, administrator of the estate of his minor children, and the mother, in case of his interdiction or absence, during said interdiction or absence.
“ ‘He or she shall be accountable both for the property and revenues of the estates, the use of which he or she is not entitled to by law, and for the property only of the estates the usufruct of which the law gives him.

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Related

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529 P.2d 841 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
9 Pa. D. & C. 520, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collinss-estate-paorphctphilad-1927.