279 Pa. 341 | Pa. | 1924
Opinion by
On July 26, 1920, the wife of John E. Brooke presented a petition asking for the appointment of a guardian for his estate on the ground that he had become feeble-minded, and was unable to take care of his property. The Girard Trust Company was appointed, as prayed for, and since that time has so acted. Brooke, now eighty-five years of age, is still mentally defective, and is confined in the Friends Hospital at Frankford, Philadelphia, where all possible attention is given to him. As a retired officer of the United States Army, he receives a pension of $6,000 per annum, and, in addition thereto, has personal property of $4,000, or more. The cost of his support is $5,000 a year, and the allowance received from the government is more than adequate to meet this outlay. In view of his advanced age, there is no likelihood of his restoration to a normal condition.
In 1916, his second wife made a will in which she disposed of her property, largely received from her own father and mother. To her husband she gave approximately $15,000 in securities named, and provided that the income from the balance of her estate, which totaled
As to the surviving husband, his comfort would be better promoted and secured by obtaining the income of the entire estate, after deducting the $15,000 expressly bequeathéd to him, than the income from one-half, which would follow if the property was divided, and his share placed in the hands of the guardian. It is evident that, so far as the incompetent is concerned, the use of any principal will not be required. To take against the will would not aid him, but would alone accrue to the benefit of the stepsons, and could be effected only by overthrowing the expressed wish of the testatrix to favor her own blood as to the remainder.
A careful examination of the reasons presented by the petitioner convinces us that the prayer was properly refused, and that the learned court below exercised, as was its right, a sound discretion in refusing to direct that an election against the will be made.
The assignment of error is overruled, and the decree is affirmed; costs to be paid by appellant.