Case Name: Anderson's Estate
Court: Philadelphia County Orphans' Court
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1925-09-24
Citations: 6 Pa. D. & C. 609
Docket Number: No. 287
Parties: Anderson’s Estate.
Judges: 
Reporter: Pennsylvania District and County Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 609–613

Head Matter:
Anderson’s Estate.
Wills — Construction—Gift to widow defeasible on remarriage — Security— Fund to be held intact for family — Whether trust is created.
Where testator, by the first paragraph of his will, gives all his property to his widow, to be held by her for the use and benefit of herself and children, and by the second expresses a “desire” that his executor shall collect his life insurance policies, invest the proceeds and pay the income to her for living expenses of herself and children, and by the third that the entire estate “be held intact” for the use and benefit of his widow and children, unless she should marry again, -in which event one-third of the total estate is to be paid over to her and the remainder to be held in trust by the executor for the children until twenty-one, when the principal is to be paid to them, the widow talces an absolute estate, defeasible as to two-thirds upon her remarriage, and is entitled to the fund upon entering security in double the value of the two-thirds thereof.
GEST, J., dissents.
Exceptions to adjudication. O. C. Phila. Co., Jan. T., 1925, No. 287.
The facts and the provisions of the will appear from the following extract from the adjudication of the Auditing Judge, Henderson, J.:
“The widow, by election duly recorded and filed, has elected to take under the testator’s will.
“She claims that the entire estate should be awarded to her absolutely. The language of the will is somewhat obscure, but upon analysis will readily yield to well-known rules of interpretation.
“The first paragraph of the will provides as follows:
“ ‘I give and bequeath to my wife Bessie W. Anderson all the household furniture of every description, all money on hand or on deposit in any bank, all stocks and bills receivable and all other property, real and personal, of whatsoever kind or description that I may own at the time of my death, to be held by her for the use and benefit of herself and our children.’
“Were there nothing further in the will, this clause would undoubtedly be sufficient to give the widow an absolute interest in the things therein enumerated.
“The second paragraph of the will further provides as follows:
“ 'I desire that my executor, hereinafter named, shall collect all my life insurance policies and (after paying my burial expenses and any just debts owing by me) shall invest the remainder in safe securities, either stocks, bonds or mortgages, the income from same to be paid to my wife for the living expenses of herself and our children and for the education of our children.’
“This clause, standing alone, apparently gives the proceeds of the life insurance policies to the executor in trust to invest and to pay the income to the widow for the living expenses of herself and the children; there is no gift over. Apparently, the gift of income is indefinite.
“The third paragraph of the will is as follows:
“ ‘I desire that my estate shall be held intact and for the use and benefit of my said wife Bessie W. Anderson and our children unless she should marry again. In that event I desire that one-third of the total value of my estate, including the investments as aforementioned, shall be paid over to her, my said wife, for her sole use and benefit, and that the remaining two-thirds of my estate, including investments aforesaid, shall be divided into equal portions — one portion for each of my children — to be held in trust by my executor for said children, the income to be used in each case for the living expenses and education of said children, the principal sums to be paid to them when they have become twenty-one years of age.’
“What is the effect of this last paragraph? It should be remembered that the first paragraph on its face gave the widow a fee; the second paragraph gave her indefinitely the income from the securities in which the proceeds of the life insurance were to be invested, with no gift over; and the last paragraph directs that the estate should be held intact for the benefit of the widow, unless she should marry again, and in that event the testator provided that she should take one-third of the estate absolutely and the remaining two-thirds, ‘including the investments aforesaid,’ to be divided equally among the children.
“It will be observed that the investments are mentioned in the first paragraph of the will and in the second paragraph thereof, showing that the third paragraph was an attempt to act on all of the property included in the first and second paragraphs. While the first paragraph apparently gave a fee to the widow, the third paragraph reduces this to a defeasible fee, in that if she married again her interest was to be cut down to one-third.
“While the second paragraph apparently gave the widow the income arising from the investment of the proceeds of the life insurance policies, with no gift over of the remainder, the effect of the third paragraph is to enlarge this gift into a defeasible fee. See Fidelity Trust Co. v. Bobloski, 228 Pa. 52; McCall v. Umbenhauer, 270 Pa. 351; Kirkpatrick’s Estate, 280 Pa. 306, and Connelly's Estate, 1 D. & C. 561.
“The entire balance for distribution will be awarded to the widow, one-third absolutely, which fund, in the contingency, of her remarrying, she will be entitled to; the remaining two-thirds will be awarded to her upon entering security in the sum of $70,000: DuBouchet’s Estate, 22 Dist. R. 402; or if she does not desire personally to take and hold this two-thirds, she may petition this court for the appointment of a trustee, in which event the said two-thirds will be payable to such trustee when appointed and qualified.
“There was no objection to the account, which shows a balance of principal of $81,816.10, from which deduct widow’s exemption, $500, balance $81,316.10, of which inheritance tax is awarded to the Commonwealth to be paid to the register, and of the balance then remaining, composed as indicated in the account, one-third is awarded to Bessie W. Anderson absolutely, and two-thirds to Bessie W. Anderson, upon the entry by her of security in the sum of $70,000 for the protection of the contingent interests, or to a trustee when duly appointed and qualified, in accordance with the directions of this adjudication.”
Bevcm A. Pennypaeker (of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius), for exceptant.
George A. Maene (of Roberts & Montgomery), contra.
Sept. 24, 1925.

Opinion:
Thompson, J.,
We are of the opinion that the Auditing Judge correctly construed the will of testator. The authorities cited abundantly sustain the conclusion reached, and for the reasons set forth in the adjudication, all exceptions filed thereto are dismissed and the same is confirmed absolutely.