In re Estate of Fair

Citations

• 103 Cal. 342
• 37 P. 406
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 774

Syllabus

<p>Construction of Will—Contingent Legacies—Time of Payment.— Where the will of a decedent bequeathed a sum to one of his sons to be paid when he shall have attained the age of thirty-five years, and a like sum to another son to be paid when he shall have attained the age of thirty years, and provided that in case either son named should die without wife or issue, the portion allotted to him should be paid to the other son, if living, and that if both sons should die without wife or issue surviving them, the portions allotted to them should be paid to his daughters, share and share alike, a surviving son is not entitled to payment of the legacy given to a deceased son, immediately upon his death, and such legacy is not payable until by the terms of the will it would have been payable to the deceased son if he had lived.</p> <p>Id.—Devise in Trust—Change of Fixed Time of Payment—Contingencies.—Where a will devises and bequeathes the entire estate to the executors in trust, to be held and possessed by them, with power to sell and dispose of it, and to reinvest any surplus proceeds for the best interests of the estate, and definitely fixes the times at which the trnst should terminate as to the different portions or legacies, it requires a reasonably clear expression of intention to change the time of payment upon the happening of uncertain contingencies, to justify the court in holding that such change was intended.</p> <p>Id.—Payment of Contingent Legacies by Executors—Implication— Retention of Moneys. —Where the will provides that in all cases of contingencies arising from deaths, provided for in the will, the moneys shall be paid by the executors, such provision necessarily implies that the money must remain in their hands until the time arrives when no contingency would happen under the terms of the will making it payable to another than the first survivor.</p>