Court Opinion

ID: 9747511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:18:45.098305+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:24.206621
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Pomeroy:
The opinion of the Court concedes that the two codicils before us “do not make the testatrix’s intent clear beyond doubt”. I quite agree. Accepting as a guideline, however, as does the majority, Judge Gest’s opinion in Swain’s Estate, I reach the conclusion that the two bequests to appellant are not cumulative. Judge Gest said (29 Pa. Dist. 361 at 365) that “. . . where the same motive is assigned by the testator for his gift . . . the presumption that the legacies are duplicated [i.e., cumulative] is rebutted.” As I read the bequests to appellant Dunnigan, the motive behind each was the same, viz., recognition of his fidelity as an em*335ployee of testatrix over a long period. This is explicit in the second codicil (i.e., “for long and faithful service”) but is also plain in the first (where appellant is described as “my faithful employee”.).
It is true that the first bequest is conditional on appellant being in the employ of testatrix at the time of her death, while the second bequest is not so conditioned. I disagree that this difference indicates a different motivation for the gifts. The absence of the condition in the second codicil merely denotes that the testatrix was then desirous that appellant should have the gift outright, employed by her or not. I cannot on this account construe it as differently motivated than the first, but only as a more liberal or generous substitute.
The second codicil was written by a different lawyer than the first. It is not labelled “Second Codicil”, nowhere refers to the first codicil, and gives no sign that the existence of the first codicil was known to the scrivener or remembered by the testatrix. Indeed, the scrivener testified, without objection, that he was totally unaware of the existence of the first codicil and that the testatrix had supplied him only with a copy of her will as constituting her testamentary writings.
I agree with that part of the Court’s opinion which holds that the auditing judge was correct in ruling inadmissible appellant’s testimony as to statements allegedly made to him by the testatrix, and there is therefore no need to repeat the reasons for the holding.
I would affirm the decision of the court below.
Mr. Justice Jones joins in this dissent.