233 Pa. 33 | Pa. | 1911
Opinion by
John J. Fitzpatrick in his last will and testament provided, inter alia, as follows: “I give and bequeath to my hereinafter named executor, the sum of twelve thousand dollars in trust as follows: the same to be invested at interest in good security and the net income thereof to be regularly paid to my sister, Catharine, wife of Charles W. Eckert, during her lifetime and after her death I give and bequeath said principal sum of twelve thousand dollars to her children in equal shares, but in the event that no children survive her then I give and bequeath the same to my legal heirs.” The sister for whose benefit the trust was created died without leaving issue and the question arises to whom shall the corpus of the trust estate be distributed. The learned court below directed the distribution to be made to the “legal heirs” of the testator living at the time of his death. In so doing he applied a rule of construction
In the construction of wills there are instances in which the word “then” as used in connection with a devise of property has been held to be an adverb of time, but this is not the general rule, which is, that it does not point to the time but indicates the event. In the case at bar we are clear that it refers to the event upon the happening of which the legal heirs take, and not to the time when their right to take begins. To this effect can be cited the following cases: Buzby’s App., 61 Pa. 111; Ashton’s Est., 134 Pa. 390; Stewart’s Est., 147 Pa. 383; McCrea’s Est., 180 Pa. 81; Fuller’s Est., 225 Pa. 626. To this might be
Decree affirmed, costs to be paid out of the estate.