Estate of Comly

Citations

• 136 Pa. 153
• 20 A. 397
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1020

Syllabus

<p>(a) A testator bequeathed personalty, in trust, to pay the income thereof in equal shares to four persons, “ so long as any of said legatees may live, it being my wish and direction that the trust estate shall be kept together as a whole until the death of all the said legatees.” Upon the death of any one of them, it was provided:</p> <p>(b) “ Then the part payable to such deceased legatee shall be payable to their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, as the case may be; ” and upon the death of all four, the principal to be divided into four equal parts, “and one fourth to be paid over to the heirs, assigns, or legal representatives, of each of the four legatees: ”</p> <p>1. The word “heirs,” when used in a limitation of personal property to the heirs of the first taker, either substitutionally or by way of succession, is generally understood to mean those entitled under the statutes of distribution in case of intestacy, and in this instance, indicated the legatee’s next of kin under the intestate laws.*</p> <p>2. The words “assigns or legal representatives,” following the word “ heirs,” were referable to the latter word “ heirs,” in the will, so that the income payable to the deceased legatee for and during his life only, should from and after his decease be paid to his heirs and their assigns or legal representatives.</p> <p>3. By said will, an active, valid and continuing trust was created for the management of the fund bequeathed, the payment of the income thereof to the four primary beneficiaries during their respective lives, and the preservation of the corpus for distribution on the death of the last survivor.</p> <p>4. Wherefore, a creditor, attaching the interest of one of the primary beneficiaries, by writ served upon the trustee after the death of the debtor, must be confined to the share of the income accruing to the primary beneficiary before the latter’s death.</p>