Case Name: Keyser's Estate
Court: Philadelphia County Orphans' Court
Jurisdiction: Pennsylvania
Decision Date: 1922-03-24
Citations: 1 Pa. D. & C. 403
Docket Number: No. 165
Parties: Keyser’s Estate.
Judges: 
Reporter: Pennsylvania District and County Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 403–404

Head Matter:
Keyser’s Estate.
Wills — Construction—Misnomer of legatee.
Testator left the residue of his estate to his brother “Prank Ted Lewis and his sister Nan C. Lewis, share and share alike-’’ He never had a brother and sister of these names. He had a sister Hannah, who for thirty years had been married to Lewis C. Thompson. The relations between the testator and his sister and brothev-in-law were friendly, and he called Thompson by his first name. Hannah Thompson was generally known by testator and her friends as Nan; a brother Prank predeceased him: -Held, that Hannah Thompson was entitled to the entire estate.
Exceptions to adjudication. O. C. Phila. Co., Jan. T., 1922, No. 165.
Testator left the residue of his estate by the following residuary clause: “I give and bequeath all my estate, real, personal and mixed, to my brother Frank Ted Lewis and my sister Nan C. Lewis, share and share alike.” He never had a brother and sister of these names, though he had a brother Frank who died before him. Parol testimony taken before the auditing judge showed that his sister Hannah had for thirty years been the wife of Lewis C. Thompson; that the relations between the testator and his sister and brother-in-law were friendly; and that he called his brother-in-law by his first name. It was also established that Hannah Thompson was generally known as Nan. The executor testified that he prepared the will; that testator told him he was leaving his estate to his brother and sister; named Nan as his sister and Frank Ted as his brother. Testator was very ill and strapped to a couch in a hospital.
The auditing judge, Lamorelle, P. J., found that testator intended to benefit his sister; that she was known as Nan, notwitstanding the fact that her baptismal name was Hannah; and that it was probable that testator at the time of dictating the notes for the will did not recall that her name was Thompson, but did remember her husband by the name of Lewis. He awarded the fund to Hannah Thompson under section 15 (c). of the Wills Act. Testator’s daughter and only child excepted thereto.
Charles L. Guerin, for exceptant; David R. Griffith, contra.
March 24, 1922.

Opinion:
Gest, J.,
The auditing judge was clearly right in awarding the estate to Hannah Thompson. The legatee is named in the will as "my sister Nan C. Lewis," which, to be sure, is a misnomer, but Hannah Thompson is his sister, and the only sister surviving him. She was familiarly known by her nickname Nan, and, while she is called Lewis in the will, the testator may have had her husband in mind, whose name is Lewis Thompson, and thus mentioned his Christian name to the scrivener instead of his last or family name. Whether this be the explanation of the error or not, we have no doubt as to the identity of the person intended by the testator, which is the only matter to be determined in cases of this kind. The testimony was carefully considered by the auditing judge, and we agree that it supports his findings.
The exceptions are dismissed and the adjudication is confirmed absolutely.