Mifflin's Estate

Citations

• 49 Pa. Super. 605
• 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 378

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Codicils—Republication—Revocation.</p> <p>1. A will and the codicils thereto are to be read together, and all the parts which are not inconsistent with the latest expression of the testator’s intention are brought down to the date of the last codicils, and are to be given effect.</p> <p>2. A new will revokes a former will, but a codicil ratifies the preceding will, except as to changes expressly indicated. A revocation is not to be presumed in the case of a codicil. It is only when they are irreconcilably contradictory that the dispositions contained in the codicil revoke those made by the will or a preceding codicil.</p> <p>3. A gift once made by a will is not to be cut down by a subsequent codicil unless the intention of the testator to that effect clearly appears, or a necessary implication arises. A codicil should be so construed as to give effect to all the provisions of the will if that can possibly be done.</p> <p>4. It may appear that a clause devising and bequeathing property is a residuary clause, although the technical description is not expressed. The word “residue” is not necessary if the intention of the testator is otherwise made reasonably apparent.</p> <p>5. Where a testatrix by the first codicil to her will gives to a legatee all the money which she had on deposit in any bank or trust company, and by a second codicil gives two pecuniary bequests to servants followed by a gift of all her estate, real, personal and mixed, in trust for certain purposes, and the second codicil refers to the first codicil to the will “hereby republishing and intending to republish the same in every respect except as herein and hereby modified, altered and amended,” the legacy given in the first codicil and the pecuniary bequests to the two servants in the second codicil are not revoked by anything contained in the concluding words of the second codicil.</p>