Estate of Batione

Citations

• 136 Pa. 307
• 20 A. 572
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1031

Syllabus

<p>(a) Subject to certain bequests to his father, sisters and others, a testator bequeathed the whole of his estate in trust for his wife for life, providing that at her death his daughter should enjoy its benefits until she attained the age of twenty-five years, when she should have an absolute right thereto.</p> <p>(5) He afterwards directed that in case his wife should outlive said daughter, two thirds of the whole estate should be divided equally, at his wife’s death, between his father and sisters, and the remaining-one third should become the absolute property of his friend, Pedro Salome, ■ or his heirs forever:</p> <p>1. The interest of the daughter under the will was a vested estate, subject to bo divested by her death before her mother: McCall’s App., 86 Pa. 254; Churchman’s App., 22 W. N. 181; Montgomery v. Petriken, 29 Pa. 118; wherefore, the daughter having died in her minority, during her mother’s life, the bequest of the one third to Salome took effect.</p> <p>(c) Two thirds of the estate having been diverted by the election of the widow to take against the will, and by the birth of another child not provided for therein, the sum of $1,633.83 by consent of all parties, was paid to the testator’s father and sisters, for a release of their rights, reducing the trust fund thereby to $697.89.</p> <p>2. Salome was entitled, in addition to the one third of the trust fund bequeathed to him, to take the other two thirds, under the equitable doctrine that a bequest to a widow will be sequestrated to compensate a legatee disappointed by her election, said two thirds being less than what the widow would have taken under the will, and less than his loss by reason of her election.</p>