Case Name: William A. Phillips et al., Petitioners, In re Will of Margaret McKenna
Court: Supreme Court of Rhode Island
Jurisdiction: Rhode Island
Decision Date: 1903-06-13
Citations: 25 R.I. 254
Docket Number: 
Parties: William A. Phillips et al., Petitioners, In re Will of Margaret McKenna.
Judges: Present: Stiness, C. J., Douglas and Blodgett, JJ.
Reporter: Rhode Island Reports
Volume: 25
Pages: 254–255

Head Matter:
William A. Phillips et al., Petitioners, In re Will of Margaret McKenna.
PROVIDENCE
JUNE 13, 1903.
Present: Stiness, C. J., Douglas and Blodgett, JJ.
(1) Wills. Residuary Clause. Survival.
Testamentary provision as follows: “All the rest, and residue of my estate I give, devise, and bequeath to my nieces A., B., and C., share and share alike, to them and their heirs forever. It is my intention and meaning in this instrument that I have named all my beneficiaries, and in case any whom I have heretofore named in this instrument shall die before me, then the bequest to said beneficiary shall determine:” — ■
Held, that the provision applied to the persons named as residuary legatees, but did not operate to create intestacy with respect to the share of such legatee; but had the effect of eliminating from the residuary clause the name of any beneficiary who should not survive the testatrix, and therefore the residuary estate passed to A. and B., who survived.
Held, further, that the word “heirs” was used merely as a word of limitation.
Case stated for an opinion.

Opinion:
Douglas, J.
The court is of the opinion that the provision of clause fifteen — "in case any whom I have heretofore named in this instrument shall die before myself then the bequest to said beneficiary shall determine" — applies to the persons named as residuary 'legatees in clause fourteen, but does not operate to create intestacy with'respect to the share of such legatee. It is not to be presumed that the testatrix intended a lapse of such share and the intention is also emphasized by repetition that if the persons named in the will do not survive the testatrix, and cannot take in person, their heirs shall not take by substitution. The effect, then, of the fourteenth and fifteenth clauses taken together is to eliminate from the residuary clause the name of any beneficiary who should not survive the testatrix, as if the gift of the residuum had been to the three persons named or such of them as should survive the testatrix. We are of the opinion, therefore, that the residuary estate passed to Mary Grinnell and Annie Mooney.
Joseph Osfield, Jr., and James M. Gilrain for parties.
The word "heirs" in the residuary clause seems to have been used as a word of limitation suggested perhaps by the ordinary practice when real estate as well as personal property is included in a devise.