Richardson's Estate

Citations

• 236 Pa. 136
• 84 A. 670
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 725

Syllabus

<p>Decedent’s estates — Assignment of contingent interest — Consideration — Good faith.</p> <p>1. A person, sui juris, owning a contingent remainder in land or in personal property, may sell the same for such sum as may be agreed upon between himself and the purchaser, provided the former does not stand towards him in a trust relation, and in making the purchase acts in good faith.</p> <p>2. Where a grandson owning a contingent interest in his grandfather’s estate, at a time when he was heavily indebted and in danger of losing his whole interest by executions, sells and assigns his interest which was subject to prior liens of $32,000 under an agreement by which the assignee was to apply $5,000 to the payment of certain particular, urgent debts and return any of the balance of the $5,000 to the assignor, the assignee has no standing when the estate is before the Orphans’ Court for distribution to claim that the assignment should be set aside, where it appears that there was no trust relation between the assignor and the assignee, that at the time of the assignment both parties had equal knowledge as to the válue of the interest, that the value of such interest was subject to certain contingencies, and that the increased value of the interest at the time of distribution, which was $51,000, was due to the unexpected death of the life tenant.</p> <p>3. In such a case the assignment cannot be defeated because the assignee, through a misunderstanding applied a small portion of the $5,000 to payments not intended by the assignor. The court will surcharge the assignee as to such payments, but will not declare the assignment void because of them.</p>