O'Reilly v. Reading Trust Co.

Citations

• 262 Pa. 337
• 105 A. 542
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 647

Syllabus

<p>Guardian — Appointment by Orphans’ Court — Guardian ad litem appointed by Court of Common Pleas — Right to execute agreement to compromise litigation.</p> <p>1. A guardian appointed by the Orphans’ Court for a minor child had authority to execute an agreement to compromise litigation involving the revocation of a trust in which the minor was Mined as beneficiary, the agreement having been approved by the Orphans’ Court, although the Court of Common Pleas had previously appointed another as guardian ad litem for such minor child, it appearing that the guardian ad litem was also the trustee and a party defendant to the litigation, since under such circumstances it was proper that another guardian, representing the minor child alone, should be appointed.</p> <p>Equity — Bill to annul trust — Laches—Ratification.</p> <p>2. Two daughters, beneficiaries under a trust, signed a compromise agreement at the suggestion of their father which provided for the settlement of litigation instituted to annul an agreement of trust and for the creation of a new trust which had the effect of extending the period during which the property should be held in trust and subsequently after the father’s death they, entered into an agreement which reformed and ratified the original agreement and thereafter for a period of fifteen years, with full knowledge that the agreement was being carried out according to its provisions, they acquiesced in all that was. done: Held, that they had no standing in a court of equity to urge that the agreements should be declared void because they did not read either of the agreements and did not know the contents of the agreements until shortly before filing the bill in the court, for the reason (1) that they had been guilty of such laches that they were not in a position to ask for relief, and (2) that when they became sui juris they expressly ratified and confirmed the original agreement creating the trust.</p>