Fitzpatrick's Estate

Citations

• 233 Pa. 33
• 81 A. 815
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 462

Syllabus

<p>-• Wills — Construction—Legal heirs — “Then”—Trusts and trustees.</p> <p>1. Where a testator creates a trust for the benefit of his sister during her life, and after her death gives the principal thereof “to her children in equal shares, but in the event that no children survive her, then I give and bequeath the same to my legal heirs,” and the sister dies without children surviving her, the persons who are entitled to the principal of the fund at the death of the sister are the heirs of the testator living at the time of his death.</p> <p>2. In the construction of wills there are instances in which the word “then” as used in connection with the devise of property has been held to be an adverb of time, but this is not the general rule, which is, that it does not point to the time but indicates the event.</p>