Broadrick v. Broadrick

Citations

• 25 Pa. Super. 225
• 1904 Pa. Super. LEXIS 45

Syllabus

<p>Beneficial association — Beneficiary—Antenuptial agreement — Mother— Wife — Evidence—Party dead — Witness.</p> <p>The rules of a beneficial association permitted the members to substitute one beneficiary for another. A member who was a married man designated his mother as beneficiary, but subsequently entered into an agreement with a woman who was ignorant of his prior marriage, that if she would marry him he would substitute her as a beneficiary. A marriage license was procured, and a wedding ceremony was performed. The member died without having made the substitution. Both the mother and the woman claimed the fund. The money was paid into court, and an issue was framed in which the woman was made the plaintiff and the mother, the defendant. Held, (1) that the plaintiff was a competent witness to prove the antenuptial agreement; (2) that the plaintiff was a competent witness to prove that she was married by a minister of the gospel and that she had been given by him a marriage certificate which she offered in evidence; (3) that the antenuptial agreement was not invalidated- by the prior marriage if the plaintiff was ignorant of such marriage; (4) that if plaintiff was ignorant of such marriage and defendant had no superior equity based on a prior agreement with her son, plaintiff was entitled to the fund; (5) that a verdict and judgment for plaintiff should be sustained.</p> <p>Evidence — Witness—Competency—Party dead — Beneficial association.</p> <p>Where a member of a beneficial association whose rules permit a substitution of beneficiaries, designates a person as beneficiary and subsequently enters into a valid agreement to substitute another, but dies before actually doing so, the designated beneficiary does not represent any right or interest of the decedent in the death fund, but takes if he takes at all in his own right. Consequently the other c'aimant to the fund is a competent witness to prove his contract with decedent.</p> <p>It is not enough that one