Henderson v. Bishop

Citations

• 250 Pa. 484
• 95 A. 663
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 975

Syllabus

<p>Decedents’ estates — Will—Agreement by beneficiaries — Destruction of will — Presumption that all parties interested signed.</p> <p>1. If all the parties interested in the will of a decedent agree that its provisions should be ignored and that it should be destroyed, and such agreement is duly recorded, the estate of such decedent passes under the intestate laws.</p> <p>2. Where upon the dea'th of a decedent, his widow and heirs alleging themselves to be all the parties interested in his estate, agreed in writing that the will of such decedent should be destroyed and that such widow and heirs should take under the intestate laws, and the agreement was duly recorded, and during more than thirty years thereafter the agreement was not questioned, nor the possession of those holding thereunder, there was a presumption that all parties interested in the will had signed the agreement, and in the absence of evidence to rebut the presumption, the grantees of certain real estate of such decedent acquired in partition proceedings instituted shortly after his death could convey a marketable title.</p> <p>Mr. Justice Moschzisker dissents.</p>