Opinion ID: 2346166
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: what was the testatrix's intention?

Text: I believe the intention of Mrs. Evans is clear from (1) the language of her will, and (2) all the pertinent authorities in Pennsylvania. However, since the majority believe otherwise, I shall further analyze the language of her will (and codicils) and the reasons given by the majority for its conclusions. The majority opinion says that the testatrix intended to give her residence property to the `Turnbach girls' or such of them as survived her. [] This wipes out the distinction which has heretofore always been made in the mind of testators and in all the cases between a gift to A and B and a gift to A and B and the survivor of them. The temptation to find that the testatrix intended a gift to the survivors, by adding these words of survivorship, is great. But that is exactly what the testatrix did not provide and we have no right to rewrite her will. If that had been her wish and intent she could and would have clearly said so because she knew how to so provide, having specifically provided in her will: In the event either of said Executors fails to qualify or dies prior to the settlement of my estate, then and in that event I direct that the survivor shall continue as sole Executor and have all of the powers hereinbefore granted to my Co-Executors. The majority opinion then says: In addition to the foregoing positive indications of the decedent's intent, as expressed or clearly implied by her will and codicils, the residuary clause of the will directly negates the existence of any thought on the part of the testatrix that her residuary legatees should ever share to the extent of a penny in the value of her home property. That well illustrates the fundamental fallacy of the majority on this point, namely, the intention of the testatrix as disclosed by the language of her will. Ever since the Law of Wills became established, it has been the settled and unquestioned rule that  unless the testator clearly provided otherwise  (a) a devise or legacy lapses (except where the gift is to children or issue [] ) if the beneficiary fails to survive the testator, and (b) the lapsed devise or legacy falls into and becomes a part of the residuary estate and goes to the residuary legatees. That principle of law which has existed for over one hundred years is the one principle that a testator (who is presumed to know the law) actually does know. The reason is obvious, it expressed the desires and intentions of the testator based upon the experience of mankind. A general residuary clause is a catch-all for everything  lapsed and void legacies, illegal legacies, revoked legacies, future acquired property, and every interest whether immediate or remote, undisposed of, unremembered or unknown, unless it is manifestly excluded by other parts of the will: Ingham's Estate, 315 Pa. 293, 172 A. 662; Wills Act of April 24, 1947, [] P.L. 89, § 14(9), 20 PS § 180.14(9). A testator who includes a residuary clause in his will knows and intends it to include all his property of every kind and character whatsoever which has not been validly disposed of in other parts of his will, and his will must be read and his intention must be interpreted with this knowledge and intent in mind. If a testator's intent is to be interpreted as the majority do in this case, it will mean that a lapsed or void legacy would not become a part of the residuary estate because the testator specifically said in his will that he wanted it to go to William Brown, who predeceased him, or to a Church if he died in 30 days. Such a legacy, therefore, could not pass to the residuary legatees, under the majority theory, because the testator said clearly and specifically he wanted it to go to Brown or to the Church, so he could not have wanted or intended it to go to the residuary legatees, unless they were Brown or the Church. Similarly, it has been unsuccessfully argued that a residuary clause cannot include and dispose of unknown property or future acquired property because since the testator did not know about it he could not have intended to bequeath it in his residuary devise. The line of reasoning adopted by the majority was advocated but rejected in many cases, the latest of which is Jull Estate, 370 Pa. 434, 88 A. 2d 753. In Jull Estate, the testator in the Fourth paragraph of his will exercised a power of appointment. The appointment failed because the will was attested by only one witness instead of by the two witnesses required by § 6 of the Wills Act of June 7, 1917, P.L. 403. The Court held that the appointed estate fell into the residuary estate and passed thereunder to the residuary legatees who were different than the appointee. The Court said (page 440): Jarman on Wills, 7th Ed., thus states the law (page 786); `The fact that an appointment has been actually made will not show an intention to exclude the appointed property from a general residuary gift, when the appointment fails by lapse, or through uncertainty, or otherwise, or is revoked.' In Chase National Bank v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 265 App. Div. 434, 39 N.Y.S. (2d) 541 (1943), the Court specifically held `that the residuary clause carried with it the appointive property previously attempted to be disposed of, but which was invalidly appointed.' In McLean v. McLean, 158 N.Y.S. 59 (1916), aff'd. in 174 App. Div. 152, 160 N.Y.S. 949, aff'd. in 223 N.Y. 695, 119 N.E. 1056, the Court held that property ineffectually appointed passed by a general residuary clause and said (page 66): `. . . every testator is presumed to know that unless he, in some way, speaks by his will to the contrary, property ineffectually disposed of for any reason will fall into his residuary estate and pass by the residuary clause of the will. Indeed, to prevent intestacy, he is presumed to intend that it shall so pass. . . . `I am also unable to agree with the argument that a clearly expressed intention that the property should go to some one other than his wife shows an expressed intention that it should not pass to her under his residuary clause. Such an intention can have no greater weight than the clearly expressed intention of a testator that a void bequest or devise shall go to some one other than his residuary legatee. But, as we have seen, such a void bequest or devise will pass to the residuary legatee to effectuate what the law deems testator's controlling intention, . . .'. The same line of reasoning which appellants employ in this case with respect to a void appointment would apply equally as well to a void or lapsed bequest; yet in such a case it is clearly settled that a lapsed or void legacy does not show `a contrary intention,' but indisputably becomes a part of the residuary estate and passes under the residuary clause in the will: Carothers's Estate, 300 Pa. 185, 150 A. 585; Wood's Estate, 209 Pa. 16, 57 A. 1103; Bricker's Estate, 335 Pa. 300, 6 A. 2d 905; Wills Act of 1917, supra, §§ 6, 11, 15(c); Hunter, Pennsylvania Orphans' Court Commonplace Book, Vol. II, § 19(h), p. 851. Hunter thus states the law (p. 851): `19(h). Residue includes all property not effectually disposed of. Such estate as shall fail or be void by reason of the death of the devisee or legatee in the lifetime of the testator, or by reason of such devise or bequest being contrary to law or otherwise incapable of taking effect, or which shall be revoked by the testator, shall be included in the residuary devise or bequest: Wills Act of 1917, P.L. 403, § 15(c), 20 PS 253. A residuary gift carries with it, and is presumed to have been so intended, not only all the estate which remains not specifically disposed of at the time the will is executed, but all that, for any reason, which is illy disposed of, or fails as to the legatees originally intended: Wood's Est., 209 Pa. 16.' In Wood's Estate, 209 Pa. 16, the Court quoting with approval the renowned Judge PENROSE, said (pages 18-19): `The foundation of this general rule in respect of lapsed legacies it is said in 2 Williams on Executors, 1569, is that the residuary clause is understood to be intended to embrace everything not otherwise effectually given; because the testator is supposed to take the particular legacy away from the residuary legatee, only for the sake of the particular legatee; so that upon failure of the particular intent the court gives effect to the general intent.' The effect of the majority opinion by its (mis)interpretation of the intention of this testatrix is (1) to abolish (a) the long established distinction between a gift to named individuals and a gift to a class, and (b) the distinction between a gift to A and B and a gift to A and B and the survivor of them, and (2) to abolish the principle of lapsed and void legacies, and (3) to negate and nullify the effect of a general residuary clause which is so well and long established that it is known as a catch-all to every person who makes a will. For all these reasons, I would hold that the gift to Edna Turnbach lapsed by her death before the testatrix, and became a part of the residuary estate.