Billings's Estate

Citations

• 268 Pa. 67
• 110 A. 767
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 629

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Codicil—Revocation—- Republication — Construction of codicil.</p> <p>1. A codicil and a will must be construed together.</p> <p>2. A codicil revokes the will only in so far as it is -inconsistent with the original writing.</p> <p>S. A codicil serves as a republication of the will as of the date of the codicil.</p> <p>Will — Legacies—Lapse of part of residue — Gift to class — T.nten~ iion — Survivorship—Codicil.</p> <p>4. A “gift to a class” is a gift of an aggregate sum to a body of persons uncertain in number at the time of the gift to be ascertained in the future, who are to take in equal or other definite proportions, the share of each being determined for its amount upon the ultimate number.</p> <p>5. Members who are to constitute a class are determined at the time of distribution.</p> <p>C. Whether a gift is to a class or to the individuals constituting the class depends upon the intention of the testator as indicated by the language of the will.</p> <p>7. If, at the time of making the gift, the number of beneficiaries is certain and the share each is to receive is in no way dependent in amount upon the number who shall survive, it is not a gift to a class but to the individuals.</p> <p>8. Even though the beneficiaries be named the gift may still be one to a class if it appears from the will that the testator so intended, and that the enumeration was merely for the purpose of fixing with certainty the members of the class.</p> <p>9. Where a testatrix gives her residuary estate to her ten nephews and nieces share and share alike, naming them, and directs that should any die before receiving his or her share, without leaving children, the share of such deceased should become a part of the residuary fund and go to the survivors, and thereafter the testatrix executes a codicil, revoking the residuary bequest to a nephew and a niece, giving them, in place thereof, a specified money legacy, no intestacy results as to any part of the residuary estate, but t