Melot's Estate

Citations

• 231 Pa. 520
• 80 A. 1051
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 879

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Election to take against will — Husband and wife.</p> <p>1. In order that an act may amount to an election to take against a will, two things are essential: first, it must be clear that the person alleged to have elected was aware of the nature and extent of his rights; second, it must be shown that having that knowledge he intended to elect.</p> <p>2. Where a husband who is the executor of his wife, with full knowledge of the facts and circumstances of the estate, files an account in which he claims credit for cash paid for the funeral expenses of his wife, in accordance with a direction in her will that they should be paid out of her estate, and files at the audit a schedule of distribution signed by himself asking the court to distribute the estate in exact accordance with the terms of the will, including the award of a legacy to himself, he cannot thereafter elect to take against the will, inasmuch as his conduct showed a clear intention to accept the provisions made for him in the will.</p>