Opinion ID: 1885926
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Enforceability of the Trust

Text: Initially we must determine whether the testator intended to create a trust, and, specifically, whether the possibly precatory quality of the words hope and prayer in paragraph two renders the trust invalid because of the lack of enforceable duties. See, e.g., Corbett Estate, 430 Pa. 54, 241 A. 2d 524 (1968). As this Court noted in Brubaker v. Lauver, 322 Pa. 461, 464, 185 Atl. 848, 850 (1936): Precatory words as to the disposition of property will not create a trust. Expressions of a wish, desire or recommendation that the transferee of property should use or dispose of it in a specified manner will not give rise to a trust; to do so, they must have the force or meaning of a command: see 49 A.L.R. 10. The primary question is the intention of the declarant: did he mean to control and govern the conduct of the transferee with respect to the property, or to suggest and recommend the manner in which it should be used or disposed of, leaving its ultimate control and disposition entirely within his discretionary power? The test is, whether the precatory expression was used in a mandatory sense, though couched in a mild, polite, courteous command, or only as suggestion or wish, falling short of binding and compulsory direction : [citation omitted]. (Emphasis added) See, also, Corbett Estate, supra ; Calder's Estate, 343 Pa. 30, 21 A. 2d 907 (1941); Stinson's Estate (No. 1), 232 Pa. 218, 81 Atl. 207 (1911). An examination of paragraphs three, four and seven reveals an elaborate, albeit confusing, scheme of distribution imposing very definite duties on the trustee and convinces us of the propriety of the conclusion of the court below that a valid trust was created.