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

Heading: gift to three named individuals

Text: It is difficult to understand how testatrix could more clearly have devised her property to three named individuals, viz., her named nieces  Edna Turnbach, Emma Turnbach and Gladys Turnbach. She did not devise the property to my nieces, which would be a class gift; she did not devise the property to all my nieces, or to such of my nieces as may be living at such or such a time, which would be a class gift; she did not devise her property to her three named nieces and the survivor of them; she devised her property to her three named nieces as individuals. To interpret this language as a class gift not only distorts the language of her will but has the effect of (1) changing completely the ordinary meaning of a class gift and the many cases which have uniformly interpreted it, (2) obliterating the long and firmly established distinction between a gift to named individuals and a gift to a class, and (3) negating the principle of lapsed and void legacies which all the cases have unanimously held fall into the residuary estate (except as otherwise provided by law) and pass to the residuary legatees under a general residuary clause. The majority opinion has been able to cite only two cases in the history of Pennsylvania to support its construction that this is a class gift  one of these cases supports this dissenting opinion and the other is clearly inapposite. In Sharpless's Estate, 214 Pa. 335, 63 A. 884 (which is one of the two cases relied upon by the majority), the testator made a gift to named cousins. One of the named cousins died in testator's lifetime. The Court held that the named cousins took individually and not as a class, and that there was an intestacy as to the share of the cousin who died in the lifetime of the testator. The Court said (page 338): The proposition that a gift to several individuals described by their respective names, may be construed a gift to a class, if it is apparent from the will that the testator so intended, is not open to dispute. It is but a corollary of the larger and more comprehensive rule that subordinates everything in the construction of a will, to the expressed intention of the testator. If the diligence of counsel has not been rewarded by finding a case in our reports where such a gift has been held to be a gift to a class, it only goes to show how convincing to the common understanding the fact that the donees are severally and individually named is, that the testator meant that they should take individually and not as a class. This interpretation results in such case, not because of any technical rule which arbitrarily imposes a definite meaning upon the expression, but because the expression clearly and unequivocally imports this and nothing else. Sharpless's Estate, we repeat, supports our opinion, not the majority opinion. The other case relied upon by the majority is Billings's Estate (No. 1), 268 Pa. 67, 110 A. 767. The facts are set forth in the opinion of the Court (page 69): Sarah M. Billings died in 1912, leaving a will in which she gave all her residuary estate `unto my nieces and nephews named to wit [naming them], . . . share and share alike to be paid to them respectively' in the manner stated, with further provision, should any die before receiving his or her share, and without leaving children, the share of such deceased should become part of the residuary fund and go to the survivors. In a codicil testatrix revoked the residuary bequests made to a [named] nephew and niece and directed the persons named should not share in the residuary estate and, in lieu of such modification, gave each of the two a stated sum of money. . . . In considering the question raised we must bear in mind the well established rules that a codicil and will must be construed together, that the codicil revokes the will only in so far as inconsistent with the original writing and that it serves as a republication of the will as of the date of the codicil. The application of these principles to the present will would prima facie sustain the view that the gift of the remainder, instead of being to ten beneficiaries named, was to eight. This construction would permit both the will and codicil to stand as a whole without conflict in any part and avoid an intestacy as to the revoked shares. . . . A gift to a class has been defined as a gift of an aggregate sum to a body of persons uncertain in number at the time of the gift, to be ascertained at a future time, who are all to take in equal or other definite proportions, the share of each being dependent for its amount upon the ultimate number: 40 Cyc. 1473. The members who are to constitute the class are to be determined at the time of distribution: Haskins v. Tate, 25 Pa. 249. The question whether a gift is to a class or to the individuals constituting a class depends, of course, upon the intention of the testator as indicated by the language of the will. If, at the time of making the gift, the number of beneficiaries is certain and the share each is to receive is in no way dependent in amount upon the number who shall survive, it is not a gift to a class, but to the individuals, as, for instance, where the individuals are named and their shares specified: Sharpless's Est., 214 Pa. 335. Even though the beneficiaries are named the gift may still be one to a class if it otherwise appears from the will that the testator so intended and that the enumeration was merely for the purpose of fixing with certainty the members of the class: Sharpless's Est., supra. The Court then held that considering the will and codicil together Testatrix . . . clearly indicated an intention to divide the residue among the remaining eight [named] nephews and nieces and the survivor or survivors of them, if any died without issue. The language of Mrs. Billings and her intent, as expressed in her will and codicil were clear  she gave her residuary estate to her eight named nephews and nieces and (in default of children) the survivors and survivor of them. That case was undoubtedly correctly decided but is clearly inapposite to the language of Mrs. Evans' will and lends no support to the majority opinion either (a) on the point of a class gift, or (b) on the construction that Mrs. Evans intended a gift to her three named nieces and the survivors of them.