Ritter v. Knerr

Citations

• 214 Pa. 279
• 63 A. 605
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 641

Syllabus

<p>Will — Devise—Construction of will — Vested and contingent estates.</p> <p>Testatrix left the residue of her estate in trust with the intent of keeping it “intact” until after the death of her husband, and to pay one-half of the income to him during the joint lives of her son and husband, and to the latter in prescribed proportions according to circumstances, should the son die first. By a subsequent clause she directed that after the death of her husband all of the estate “and the income accruing therefrom, shall descend to my son.” “Should, however, my son die before my husband all the estate shall remain intact until after the death of my husband.” Then followed a different division of the income varying according to the survivorship of testatrix’s grandchildren. In a subsequent clause she provided that after the death of the husband and the son the estate should remain in trust and the income “shall be for the use of the legitimate children of my son.” The son died before the father. Held, (1) that the estate devised to the son was contingent on his surviving his father, and as he died first it never vested; (2) that on the death of the father the estate passed under a dry trust to the son’s children.</p>