Hackenberg Estate

3 Pa. D. & C.2d 592, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 357
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland County
DecidedJanuary 24, 1955
Docketno. 32
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Pa. D. & C.2d 592 (Hackenberg Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hackenberg Estate, 3 Pa. D. & C.2d 592, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 357 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

Troutman, J.,

Petitioner, Lewisburg Trust and Safe Deposit Company, Lewis-burg, Pa., trustee under the last will and testament of William H. Hackenberg, presented its petition for a declaratory judgment under the provisions of the Act of June 18, 1923, P. L. 840, as amended, 12 PS §831, to construe the will of testator to determine whether or not the trustee shall continue to administer the trust created under decedent’s will in the form and manner of a single trust or as three separate, individual trusts. The beneficiaries under the trust created in the will have accepted service of a copy of this petition and have consented to the presentation and disposition of the same by this court, there being no issues of fact involved.

Testator, William H. Hackenberg, a resident of Milton Borough, Northumberland County, Pa., died on November 30, 1940, leaving a last will and testament dated October 3, 1940, which was duly probated before the Register of Wills of Northumberland County on December 6, 1940, wherein the Lewisburg Trust and Safe Deposit Company, petitioner, was named executor and trustee. The Lewisburg Trust and Safe Deposit Company has acted as executor under the will and is now serving as trustee of the trust created therein.

[594]*594In the ninth paragraph of decedent’s will, testator devised and bequeathed all the rest, residue and remainder of his estate to the Lewisburg Trust and Safe Deposit Company in trust and then set forth the terms and conditions of the trust in subsequent subsections. Paragraph 9(b) directs the trustee to pay to testator’s wife, Lucille Hackenberg, one-half part of the net income from said trust during the term of her natural life and in subsection (c) ordered and directed that the remaining one half of the income of the trust shall be divided between his two daughters, Jeanne Louise Hackenberg and Nina Hackenberg Grier, in the following manner: One-half part thereof (one fourth of the whole income), with the consent of Jeanne Louise Hackenberg, to be paid to testator’s wife, Lucille Hackenberg, for the use and benefit of his daughter, Jeanne Louise, in amounts not less than or more than $600 per year until the daughter shall attain the age of 21 years and, thereafter, pay the whole income unto the daughter, Jeanne Louise, until she attains the age of 30 years, it having been the intention of testator that his daughter, Jeanne Louise, shall receive not less than $600 until she reaches the age of 30 years whether the same be more or less than the one fourth of the total income.

Testator then provided that subject and subordinate to the trust for the benefit of his daughter, Jeanne Louise, the trustee should pay the remaining one half of the net income (one fourth of the entire income) to his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, in an amount not exceeding $600, if there should be sufficient net income remaining for such payment, and if not, whatever there should be remaining less than the $600 until such time as his daughter, Jeanne Louise, shall attain the age of 21 years and, if there be any balance of net income remaining over and above the respective sums of $600, at any time during the continuance of the [595]*595trust, to pay the same for the use and benefit of his daughter, Jeanne Louise, and his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, share and share alike. This was upon condition that at all times during the continuance of the trust his daughter, Jeanne Louise, would receive of the net income of the trust not less than $600 per year until she attained the age of 30 years. Testator further ordered and directed that the share of his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, as beneficiary shall be limited to the term of her natural life.

Under paragraph 9 (d) (e) and (f) of his will, testator provides for the disposition of the income upon the death of the beneficiaries. He first provided that, upon the death of his wife, who was bequeathed one half of the net income of the trust estate, the principal or corpus of the trust, wherein the income was given to his wife, during the term of her natural life, shall become part of the corpus or principal of the trust created for the use and benefit of his daughter, Jeanne Louise, and his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, and the income arising therefrom to be paid by the trustee to the daughters in the same proportions as the other income was directed to be paid to them.

Subsection (e) of paragraph 9 provides that upon the death of Nina Hackenberg Grier before the daughter, Jeanne Louise, attained the age of 30 years and contingent upon the daughter, Jeanne Louise, surviving her, her share of the income shall be paid to the daughter, Jeanne Louise, until she arrives at the age of 30 years. Subsection (/) provides that if Jeanne Louise should die before arriving at the age of 30 years, without leaving children or issue surviving, and should his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, survive, then in such case the whole of the net income shall be payable to his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, during the term of'her natural life.

[596]*596In paragraph 9 (<7), testator provided that subject to the life estate of the income given and bequeathed to his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, and to his wife, Lucille Hackenberg, he ordered and directed that upon the arrival of his daughter, Jeanne Louise Hackenberg, at the age of 30 years, if and provided she shall then have been married and have a child or children born of her own body, to pay the whole of the corpus or principal of the trust herein created, to her, it being the intention of testator that, subject to the life estates, eventually his daughter, Jeanne Louise, shall have and receive the whole corpus and principal of the trust, if she shall have married and have had a child or children. Testator further provided that if Jeanne Louise be not married and have a child or children at the time she arrived at the age of 30 years, then she was to be paid the income until such time as she may become married and have a child or children, at which time she was to receive the corpus, and should she fail to marry and have a child or children, then she was to receive the income during the term of her natural life.

In paragraph 9(h) of his will, testator made the provision that should his daughter, Jeanne Louise Hackenberg, die without leaving a child or children born of her body surviving, then the principal sum or corpus of the trust subject to the life estate to become the sole property of his grandson, William B. Hackenberg, or if he should then be dead, to his heirs at law in accordance with provisions of the intestate laws of Pennsylvania.

Under paragraph 9(h) of the will, testator provided that it was his will, anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary hereof notwithstanding, and therefore authorized, empowered and directed his trustee in the event of his daughter, Nina Hackenberg Grier, becoming needy, or in straitened circum[597]

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3 Pa. D. & C.2d 592, 1955 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hackenberg-estate-pactcomplnorthu-1955.