Wilson's Estate

Citations

• 260 Pa. 407
• 103 A. 880
• 6 A.L.R. 1349
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 534

Syllabus

<p>Wills — Legacies—General — Specific — Demonstrative — Intention-Presumption — Sale of real estate by testator — Subsequent codicil — Bequests referring to fund derived from sale — Construction.</p> <p>. 1. If a legacy be given with reference to a particular fund, only as pointing out a convenient mode of payment, and there is a fixed and independent intent to give the legacy, separate and distinct from the property designated as the source of payment, the legacy is demonstrative; but where the gift is of the fund itself, in whole or in part, or so charged upon the object made subject to it as to show an intention to burden that object alone with the payment, it is specific, and liable to be adeemed by the alienation or destruction of the object.</p> <p>2. There is a presumption that a legacy is general, and it will only be construed specific where such intention be either expressed in reference to the thing bequeathed, or otherwise clearly appears from the will.</p> <p>3. A testatrix, five years before her death, made a will, bequeathing legacies amounting to $59,450; four years before her death, testatrix sold certain of her real estate for $85,000.. Thereafter she executed a codicil making pecuniary bequests aggregating $75,000. The pecuniary bequests in her will and codicil totalled approximately $104,000 while the1 fjmd for distribution after her death was only $89,000. Each of the first five clauses of the codicil was devoted to a particular bequest to an individually named legatee. The sixth clause thereof provided: “I direct that the principal sums of the bequests hereinabove made shall be deducted from $85,-000 which is the amount I received from the proceeds of sale of (real estate mentioned), and such balance as there may remain after such deduction, I give and bequeath in equal shares to (certain named charities).” The individual legatees named in the codicil contended that their legacies were demonstrative, and were to be paid from the fund realized f