Schreckengost's Estate

Citations

• 77 Pa. Super. 235
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 244

Syllabus

<p>.Decedents’ estates — Wills—Eusland and wife — Election to take against the will — Separation—Bight of wife to take against will.</p> <p>Where a testator executed a will in which he made no provision for his wife, the latter can take against the will, notwithstanding the fact that she was not living with her husband at the time of his death, unless her wilful and malicious desertion has been clearly established.</p> <p>Where the widow had obtained an order of support against the deceased less than a year before his death, and there was no sufficient evidence to contradict the fact of thé desertion, the right of the widow to take against the will will be sustained.</p> <p>Evidence — Witnesses — Competency of witness — Party dead— Devolution of title — Act of May 28, 1887, P. L. 158, section 5, clause (e).</p> <p>Where a widow who claims, by devolution of law, her exemption and other interest in the estate, and seeks to establish her right by evidence relating tp matters occurring in her husband’s lifetime, she is not a competent witness, where the other parties in interest claim not by devolution, but under the will of decedent. In such case, the claims of the parties are of a different class and are not within the exception of the Act of May 23, 1887, P. L. 158, section 5, clause (e).</p> <p>An estate is said to devolve upon another when by operation of law, and where without any voluntary act of the previous owner, it passes from one person to another; but it does not devolve from one person to another as the result of some positive act or agreement between them.</p> <p>An order of support issued by the court of quarter sessions is admissible in evidence to establish the relations between the widow and her deceased husband.</p>