Little v. Wilcox

Citations

• 119 Pa. 439
• 13 A. 468
• 1888 Pa. LEXIS 565

Syllabus

<p>An agreement between Sheffield, the father, and Hollín, the son, provided that the homestead of- the father should “ be held in trust for the said Rollin during his life and for his heirs after his decease, upon the son' complying with and fulfilling ” certain covenants for his father’s maintenance and comfort, and concluded: “At the decease of the said Sheffield the said Rollin may continue to occupy and enjoy said property during his natural life and at his death the same shall go and be held by the heirs of said Rollin and their assigns forever, in the same manner as if the title had now passed subject to a lien for the performance of the covenants hereinbefore contained.”</p> <p>The son died in the lifetime of the father, leaving a daughter and three sons and a will devising the homestead to the sons, charged with the support of the daughter. On ejectment by the daughter to recover an undivided one fourth of the land: Held,</p> <p>1. That, so far as it related to Rollin, the instrument created a trust on condition that the beneficiaries keep and perform the covenants contained therein.</p> <p>2. That, as the legal estate was held by the donor as well for his own protection as for the benefit of the cestuis que trustent, he had the right of re-entry for condition broken, and the trust was unexecuted by the statute of uses during the equitable life estate.</p> <p>3. The concluding provisions of the instrument, in effect, gave a vested remainder to the heirs of the life-tenant enjoyable in possession at his death, subject only to a lien or charge securing the performance of the condition.</p> <p>4. That the estate of Rollin being an equitable estate on condition unexecuted during his lifetime, while the remainder to his heirs was executed and in effect if not in form a legal estate, the two did not coalesce in Rollin under the rule in Shelley’s Case so as to constitute a fee-tail, enlarged to a fee and passing under his will; wherefore, the plaintiff was entitle