Estate of Ashton

Citations

• 134 Pa. 390
• 19 A. 699
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 716

Syllabus

<p>(a) A testator' bequeathed personalty in trust to pay the income thereof ’ to his son for life, and, on the son’s decease, in trust for the son’s children or the issue of his deceased children, and, in default thereof, “ then iu trust to and for the use of the right heirs of him the said” son, “in equal shares.” The son left to survive him a widow and two nephews, grandchildren of the testator:</p> <p>1. Though the word “heirs,” in its technical sense, is inapplicable to a disposition of personal property, yet, when used iu a gift of personalty, it is very frequently held to denote those who are entitled to take under the statute of distributions, unless there is something in the context to indicate a contrary intention: Eby’s App., 84 Pa. 241.</p> <p>2. In the present ease, the fund being personalty, the two nephews take, not by representation, but directly, under their grandfather’s will, as the next of kin of their uncle; and, the testator contemplating equality among those entitled to participate, the fund was to he distributed to the widow and nephews in equal shares, one third thereof to each.</p>