Robison's Estate

Citations

• 266 Pa. 251
• 109 A. 924
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 544

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Gift to children — Son by a divorced wife — Legacies— Disinhei-iting heir — Circumstances when will was made — Presumption.</p> <p>1. Where a testator gives his estate to his children or their heirs at the time of his death, in equal shares, with the provision that such shares shall be held by the children’s guardian until they arrive at the age of twenty-five years, and it appears that at the time the will was executed, and at the time of his death, he was living with his second wife and five minor children by her, a son by his first wife, from whom he was divorced, is entitled to share in the distribution, although no family intercourse had existed between testator and such son for twenty-two years, if it appears that there w i nothing in the will, or in the circumstances under which it was made, indicating that such son was to be excluded.</p> <p>2. The mere failure of decedent to have communication with his oldest son is not, under the circumstances, sufficient to ra-ise a presumption that testator intended to exclude the son from the operation of the will.</p> <p>3. The fact that the son was more than twenty-one years of age at the time the will was made, is immaterial in view of the fact that the shares of the children were not to be paid until they reached the age of twenty-five years.</p> <p>4. An heir cannot be disinherited except by express words or necessary implication.</p>