Kuntz Estate

77 Pa. D. & C. 337, 1950 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 129
CourtPennsylvania Orphans' Court, Washington County
DecidedDecember 5, 1950
Docketno. 56
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 77 Pa. D. & C. 337 (Kuntz Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Orphans' Court, Washington County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kuntz Estate, 77 Pa. D. & C. 337, 1950 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 129 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1950).

Opinion

Anderson, P. J.,

James Kuntz, Jr., a resident of Washington, Pa., died, testate, July 6, 1917, and by his last will and testament dated December 24, 1912, he, inter alia, created two trusts. The first trust was created by the second paragraph of his will which, briefly, provided that an award of $50,000 be made to his trustees, the income of which was to be paid to his son, F. B. Kuntz, as a spendthrift trust for and during the term of his natural life, and upon his decease, the corpus was to be distributed as follows: To the Young Men’s Christian Association of Washington, Pa., $20,000; to Washington and Jefferson College, $20,000; to the School District of the Borough of Washington in Washington County, Pa., $5,000, to be used for the purposes of the high school maintained by district; to the Washington Hospital, Washington, Pa., $5,000.

By a codicil to such will dated September 19, 1913, he reduced the principal amount of such trust from $50,000 to $30,000 and directed that upon the death of his son that the $30,000 go to the same beneficiaries, and in the same amounts, except Washington and Jefferson College, and, in lieu thereof, provided that his executor should, within two years from his death, pay from other funds of his estate and to the. college the sum of $10,000.

[339]*339By a third codicil to his will dated June 27,1917, he made this provision:

“Having by codicil dated September 19, 1913, reduced the amount to be held by my executor under the trust created by the second paragraph of my said will from $50,000.00 to $30,000.00, and being now desirous of putting in said trust fund the sum of $50,000.00, I hereby give and bequeath to my executor the sum of $50,000.00 in trust for the uses and purposes, and upon the terms and conditions specified in the said paragraph of my will, and direct that after the death of my son F. B. Kuntz the principal of said trust fund shall be distributed as follows: To the Young Men’s Christian Association Association of Washington, Pennsylvania, Thirty thousand ($30,000.00) dollars; to Washington & Jefferson College, Ten thousand ($10,-000.00) dollars; to the School District of the Borough of Washington, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Five thousand ($5,000.00) dollars to be used for the purposes of the Domestic Science Department maintained by the said District; to the Washington Hospital of Washington, Pennsylvania, Five thousand ($5,000.-00) dollars.”

It will be noted that this codicil was executed within a calendar month of the death of the testator.

By the Act of April 26, 1855, P. L. 328, sec. 11, amended by the Act of June 7, 1911, P. L. 702, sec. 1, 10 PS §12, and which acts were in force at the date of the death of decedent, it is provided:

“That no estate, real or personal shall hereafter be bequeathed, devised or conveyed to any body politic, or to any person in trust, for religious or charitable uses, except the same be done by deed or will attested by two credible, and, at the time, disinterested witnesses, at least one calendar month before the decease of the testator or alienor . . . and all dispositions of property contrary hereto shall be void, and go [to] the [340]*340residuary legatee or devisee next of kin, or heirs, according to law.”

By the provisions of section 2 of the Act of June 4, 1879, P. L. 88, which act also was in force at the time of the death of testator, there was a provision that lapsed or void legacies contained in a will would go into the residue.

This trust now comes before the court for distribution following the death of the life tenant. Claim is made in behalf of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Washington, Pa., to a payment of the sum of $30,000 from this fund of $50,000; by the School District of the City of Washington (formerly the Borough of Washington) for the sum of $5,000, and by the Washington Hospital, for the sum of $5,000. No claim was presented in behalf of Washington and Jefferson College.

We are assuming in the further discussion of the question involved here that all of the beneficiaries named in the third codicil to decedent’s will are properly classified as institutions engaged in religious or charitable work.

The court has been furnished with numerous citations, the effect of such citations being that where the codicil to a will which is executed within the prohibited calendar month period, does not affect by way of repeal or revocation, bequests made in the will or earlier codicils which were executed more than a calendar month prior to decedent’s death, the earlier provisions making a gift for religious or charitable uses should be upheld.

In the Appeal of Carl et al., 106 Pa. 635, 642, the court says:

“Of course, all wills must speak as of the time of the testator’s death. It is a pure legal fiction that they were executed at that time. The fact of actual execution remains, and is entirely unaffected by the fiction. [341]*341Wherever the factum is material, of its own force, in determining legal results, it will he treated as of the date of its actual occurrence. This would he eminently so in a question of sanity of the testator. If he were of perfect mental soundness at the time of execution, the validity of his testament would not be destroyed by a condition of insanity at the time of his death, which might not occur until years after. . . . If the theory of the appellants were true, no charity could be given by will written and executed in the ordinary manner, as such a bequest would necessarily be avoided by the fiction that wills are efficacious only as of the time of the testator’s death.”

In Wright’s Estate, 284 Pa. 334, we find this statement :

“Where a will creating a charitable trust was executed . . . more than thirty days prior to testator’s death, the execution of codicils within the thirty days will not affect the validity of the charitable trust, where the codicils make no attempt to change the will as to the charitable- trust.” (Syllabus.)

In Bingaman’s Estate, 281 Pa. 497, testator, by will dated more than 30 days prior to his death, gave one half of his residuary estate in trust for charitable purposes. By later testamentary paper the amount was diminished. In answer to an argument that the trust falls because of this later writing, the court held, page 504:

“A gift to a religious or charitable use, created by a will, executed more than thirty days before the death of a testator, will not be defeated by a later testamentary document, in legal effect a codicil, which simply diminishes the amount of the gift, or postpones the time fixed for its enjoyment, although the latter instrument is executed within thirty days of the death.”

In Hickman’s Estate, 308 Pa. 230, testator gave his residue to charity by will more than 30 days prior to [342]*342his death. Such will also contained a bequest to one Lizzie Parker, who died before testator. After her death he erased her name and substituted another name. This change was made within the 30-day period. It was argued that, since such change changed the amount of the residue as it was after the death of Parker, the gift to charity failed. The court held, page 237:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Riddle v. Commissioner
21 T.C. 1109 (U.S. Tax Court, 1954)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
77 Pa. D. & C. 337, 1950 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuntz-estate-paorphctwashin-1950.