Simpson's Estate

Citations

• 245 Pa. 244
• 91 A. 676
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 868

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Construction—Bequests—Intention— Last manifestation of intention — Disinheriting heir.</p> <p>1. An heir is not to be disinherited except by express direction or necessary implication, and he surely cannot be deprived of a legacy expressly given by an implication not necessarily arising from any part of the will, and which at most is a bare, suspicion.</p> <p>2. A testator, who had been twice married, died leaving surviving him seven children by his second wife and the children of two deceased children by his first wife. By his will he provided that “I give and bequeath” two hundred dollars to the latter grandchildren “and make no other gift or bequest to them.” By the next clause he divided his entire residuary estate into seven equal parts, two of which he gave absolutely to his surviving sons, and the remaining five to trustees for his daughters, annexing to each bequest the condition that after the death of the daughter the “capital” given in trust for her for life, was to be divided among her living children and the issue of such as might be deceased, and “in case of the decease of my daughter (naming her) without leaving a child or children or issue of any deceased child or children her surviving, then the estate real and personal given and devised in trust for her for life shall go and I hereby give and devise the same to such person or persons and for such estates and shares therein to whom and as the same would have gone (under the Intestate Laws of this Commonwealth) had she my said daughter Mary died seized and possessed thereof intestate and unmarried. Provided however that in such case any shares or proportions thereof that would go to any of my daughters herein named shall go to and vest in their trustees herein constituted and appointed upon the same trusts upon which my said daughters’ shares of my estate are herein given and devised.” One of the daughters died without issue and the balance in- the hands of the testamentary trustee was cla