Opinion ID: 1567095
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Provision Making Distribution Subject to the Discretion of the Trustees

Text: One other provision of the trust, however, requires consideration on this phase of the case. It is the provision in the sixth clause of the trust making distribution of corpus subject to the discretion of the trustee. The apparent contention of the Commissioner is that this indicates the interests granted were not to vest in interest until the trustees in their judgment deemed it wise to make distribution. But, other provisions of a trust may require a construction that making distribution subject to the discretion of the trustee is merely an administrative provision not determinative of the time of vesting. See In re Brown's Estate, 1927, 289 Pa. 101, 137 A. 132. And, where the instrument indicates that the interests given thereunder are vested, a discretionary distribution provision will not operate to alter the time of vesting. That is true here. The intermediate absolute gift of income requires a construction that the interests of the beneficiaries were vested. Just as the income provision determines that vesting in interest takes place before the attainment of twenty-five, one of the conditions of distribution of the corpus, so it also determines that the vesting in interest occurs prior to the time the trustees deem it wise to make distribution. Millard's Appeal, 1878, 87 Pa. 457.