Pruner's Estate

Citations

• 222 Pa. 179
• 70 A. 1000
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 675

Syllabus

<p>Will — Legacies—Specific legacy — Ademption of legacy — Insurance policies.</p> <p>Testator, who was a creditor of a niece’s husband, bequeathed to his niece certain insurance policies on the life of her husband held by testator as security for his debt, “she to pay the premiums on the same till they mature.” The insured died before the testator who received the proceeds of the policies and deposited them in his bank account. He used the money received from the insurance with other money in the purchase of bonds which he placed in a safe deposit box where he kept his securities, without indicating that the bonds were not his own. Held, that the legacy was specific and was adeemed by the maturity and payment of the policies before the death of the testator.</p> <p>In order to guard a legatee against the risk of ademption and in order that the legacy may be liable to contribution and abatement in case of a deficiency of assets, courts incline against construing legacies as specific. But this well-recognized doctrine must not be allowed to contravene the plain import of the will.</p>