In re Estate of De Bernede

Citations

• 4 Coffey 486

Syllabus

<p>Lapse of Legacy—Code Provisions.—The common-law doctrine of lapse or failure as applied to bequests or devises in ease the beneficiary predeceases the testator is preserved by section 1343 of the Civil Code, as the general rule, with the special exception, under section 1310, of avoidance in favor of “a child or other relation,” provided he leaves “lineal descendants” who survive the testator.</p> <p>Lapse of Legacy.—A Beneficiary Who is Dead at the making of a will is within the provision of section 1310 of the Civil Code that if a “devisee,” who is a “relation,” “dies before the testator,” the estate devised shall not lapse if the devisee leaves “lineal descendants.”</p> <p>Lapse of Legacy—Construction of Code.—Although section 1310 of the Civil Code, creating an exception to the doctrine of lapse in favor of the testator’s relation, refers to the latter as a “devisee,” the statute applies to a testator who leaves personal estate only, and includes legatees technically so designated as well as devisees.</p> <p>Lapse Of Legacy.—The Expression “Lineal Descendants” in section 1310 of the Civil Code means issue to the remotest degree, in which sense it is used in the title on succession.</p> <p>Wills—Meaning of “Descendants.”—The natural and technical meaning of “descendants” discussed with special reference to section 1334 of the Civil Code.</p> <p>Lapse of Legacy.—Where a Testator Leaves All His Estate, consisting solely of personalty, to his three sisters, who were at the time of the execution of the will deceased, their children and grandchildren may claim the estate under section 1310 of the Civil Code.</p>