69 Pa. Super. 56 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1918
Opinion by
Alfred Stille, the testator, left to survive him a son, Henry M. Stille, and two grandchildren, Lina Ives Brinton and Alfred S. Ives, they being children of a deceased daughter, Maria S. Ives. Alfred S. Ives died without issue during the lifetime of his sister and uncle. Mrs.
We will consider the various clauses in the will which affect the disposition of the testator’s property, and the effect of Alfred’s death, without issue, on the one-quarter of the trust estate, the income of which had been paid to him during life, before discussing the subsequent provisions which might have a tendency to operate against the conclusion reached with respect to this part of the will just quoted. By it Lina, and the children or issue of Alfred, had alternate remainders: Dunwoodie v. Reed, 3
It is quite clear then that up to this point in the will when Alfred died Lina took an absolute estate. It is after this we find ourselves in difficulty. If we attribute to the testator’s language the ordinary and accepted meaning of words, it is impossible to carry out his will exactly as it is written. If we agree with the appellee
With this aspect of the will in mind, assuming that Alfred had died leaving issue, how would it be possible to have later complied with the testator’s language “if both of my grandchildren should die......the two-fourths part of my estate shall be held in trust to and for my son Henry”? The share devised absolutely to AJfred’s children would pass by inheritance from them as their estate at death. It would not go as the testator’s property to Lina or to Henry. The Lina share, on Lina’s death without issue, would pass under the will, but it could not fill the exact words of this provision that two-fourths was to become a part of the Henry share. Or, to take this “Alfred” share as it now stands, it vested in Lina absolutely, and at her death passes as her estate. She had a life estate in her original quarter, that is, In the income. At her death, without Issue, that quarter will pass under the testator’s will. It is but one-quarter of the estate. We cannot presume that the testator intended that there should be an intestacy as to this quarter, represented by Lina’s income, any more than he intended an intestacy as to the income of the children referred to above. By such intestacy the income or property would revert to the heirs of the testator. As to income see Nagle’s Est., 83 Pa. Superior Ct. 93-96. But it was to pass under Ms will. It is the duty of the court
In an effort to arrive at a correct solution of the problem before us, we have kept in mind that & positive grant should not be taken away by implication; there is no presumption of intestacy; the heir is always to be preferred in the disposition of property; where we are in doubt as to the character of an estate that has been devised, judicial inclination is to prefer an absolute estate to a contingent estate, or, in other words, a fee is preferred to a life estate; and immediate vesting of property as soon as possible is favored. It must clearly appear that it was the testator’s intention to cut down an absolute estate into a lesser estate. The natural tendency of the testator’s mind was to prefer his kin to outsiders. They were the chief objects of his bounty and around them he built up his will. When he desired to create a spendthrift trust estate to protect the son and grandchildren, he naturally created remainders and cross-remainders between them to keep the estate within his immediate family, and he would naturally plan the disposition of his estate in such manner as to prevent a possible intestacy that might arise from a lack of kin to take a part or possibly all of his estate. In the use of language he may have inaptly beclouded the main purposes, nevertheless, if the court is able to correctly ascertain the true intent, it should give effect to it. That can be arrived at by a consideration of the entire document, and first, the chief thought or concern of the testator from the language used. If that is confusing, or violence is done to the ordinary and accepted meaning of words, then we should endeavor to harmonize such language to have it conform to the main purpose by a con
We therefore hold that the appellant, Lina Ives Brinton, took an absolute estate in the “Alfred” share, and is entitled to receive that share at this time in the distribution of the property. The decree of the court below is reversed and the record is remitted that distribution may be made in accordance with this opinion.