Court Opinion

ID: 5451699
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-08 18:44:53.032474+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:32:25.686603
License: Public Domain

McCOMB, J.
I dissent and would reverse the order insofar as it decreed that Ellen’s interest vested before her death and ordered distribution to the administratrix of her estate.
Where a will provides that the interest of a beneficiary is contingent upon his surviving distribution, survivorship is a condition precedent to vesting and the beneficiary’s interest fails if he dies prior to the making of an order of distribution. (Estate of Jameson, 93 Cal.App.2d 35, 38-40 [1] [208 P.2d 54] [hearing denied by the Supreme Court] ; Estate of Hampe, 85 Cal.App.2d 557, 558 [1] [193 P.2d 133] [hearing denied by the Supreme Court].)
Section 142 of the Probate Code provides: “A condition precedent in a will is one which is required to be fulfilled before particular disposition takes effect. It is to be deemed performed when the testator’s intention has been substantially, though not literally, complied with. Nothing vests until *861such condition is fulfilled, except where fulfillment is impossible. ...” (Italics added.)
In the instant case, fulfillment of the condition was not impossible. Therefore, under the plain language of the statute, vesting had not occurred.
The petition of the petitioners and appellants for a rehearing was denied July 12, 1967, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above.