In re Card's Estate

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Writing for the Court: STERN, Justice
• Citation: 9 A.2d 552
• Parties: In re CARD'S ESTATE. Appeals of BEISER et al.
• Decision Date: 27 November 1939

9 A.2d 552

In re CARD'S ESTATE.
Appeals of BEISER et al.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Nov. 27, 1939.

9 A.2d 553

Appeal Nos. 226-228, March term, 1939, from Orphans' Court, Allegheny County; Trimble, President Judge, and Mitchell and Chalfant, Judges.

Proceeding in the matter of the estate of William W. Card, deceased. From a decree of the Orphans' Court entered upon the first account of the trustee under decedent's will, Nancy Briggs Beiser, John B. Hollister, guardian of Barbara Briggs, and Dorothy Briggs Klappert appeal.

Record remanded with directions to amend decree in accordance with opinion.

Argued before KEPHART, C. J., and SCHAFFER, MAXEY, LINN, STERN, and BARNES, JJ.

Lawrence D. Blair and Moorhead & Knox, all of Pittsburgh, for appellants.

John O. Wicks, C. L. Wallace, Robert R. Wertz, and Weller, Wicks & Wallace, all of Pittsburgh, for William C. Moore and Harriet M. Linder.

A. P. Weitzel, Donald L. McCaskey, William K. Unverzagt, and Smith, Buchanan & Ingersoll, all of Pittsburgh, for Sada Tracy Card.

Lawrence P. Monahan, of Pittsburgh, for Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Co.

STERN, Justice.

These appeals are concerned with the construction of the will of William W. Card. He died in 1903, leaving a widow, Maria L. Card, two sons, William Dinsmore Card and Henry Stone Card, a married daughter, Nellie C. Moore, two children of the latter, Harriet Dinsmore Moore (now Linder) and William Card Moore, and a minor daughter, Ruth Card, who by subsequent marriage became Ruth Card Briggs. Decedent's will, after making certain bequests and devises, left the residuary estate to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Pittsburgh (now Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Company) in trust to pay one-third of the income to testator's widow for her life, an annuity of $3,000 to his son Henry and an annuity of equal amount to the latter's wife, Grace, with a provision that if Henry died without issue his wife should thereafter be paid an annuity of $5,000. The will then proceeds as follows in regard to the balance of the residuary estate:

"Fourth: * * *

"(c.) Subject to the aforesaid provisions for my wife, and son Henry and his wife Grace.

"One-third (1/3) of the net income not necessary to meet said provisions, to my daughter Nellie C. Moore, widow of Daniel A. Moore, during her natural life, and after her death to her children, Harriet Dinsmore Moore and William Card Moore, equally for their joint lives, or the survivor of them, should either the said William C. or Harriet D. Moore die survived by his or her lawful issue, such issue shall receive the share of the net income their parent would have received if living. Upon the death of my said daughter Nellie, and her children Harriet D. and William C. Moore, the one-third (1/3) of the corpus of my estate and the accrued income thereon, shall vest absolutely in all the children of my said daughter Nellie and their lawful issue, per stirpes, including such children as may hereafter be born to her, in case she should marry again.

"(d.) Subject to the aforesaid provisions for my wife, my son Henry, and his wife Grace.

"One-third of the net income not necessary to meet said provisions, to my son William Dinsmore Card during his life, and upon his death one-third (1/3) of the corpus of my estate and the accrued income thereon shall vest absolutely in his children or lawful issue. Should his wife Sadie Tracy Card survive her husband William Dinsmore Card, and they have no lawful issue, then the sum of Five thousand ($5000.) Dollars shall be paid to her in quarterly payments of Twelve hundred and fifty ($1250.) Dollars, during her lifetime.

"(a) Subject to the aforesaid provisions for my wife, my son Henry and his wife, Grace.

"One-third of the net income not necessary to meet said provisions, to my daughter

9 A.2d 554

Ruth Card during her life, and upon her death, one-third (1/3) of the corpus of my estate and the accrued income thereon shall vest absolutely in her children or lawful issue of such, per stirpes.

"Fifth:—Should any of my children, William D. Card, Henry S. Card, Ruth Card, and Nellie C. Moore, or Nellie's said two children, Harriet D. and William C. Moore, die without leaving lawful issue, then living, the portion of the corpus otherwise intended for the issue of such decedent, shall continue to be held upon the same trust as hereinbefore mentioned, and the income of such of the five beneficiaries, herein above last expressly named, as shall survive such decedent, shall be proportionately increased and with respect to the corpus of my estate, the shares thereon (sic) of the issue who may be living at the time of the death of any one of said beneficiaries shall be proportionately increased, per stirpes."

In 1905 testator's daughter Nellie C. Moore died, leaving her two children, Harriet Dinsmore Moore (now Linder) and William Card Moore, to survive her. Testator's son Henry Stone Card died in 1913 without issue but survived by his widow, Grace (who by remarriage has become Grace Card Porter). Testator's daughter Ruth Card Briggs died in 1926, leaving three daughters, Dorothy Briggs Klappert, Nancy Briggs Beiser, and Barbara Briggs, a minor of whose estate John B. Hollister is guardian. It is these three children of Ruth Card Briggs who are the appellants in the present proceedings. Testator's son William Dinsmore Card died in 1936, without issue but survived by his widow, Sadie (otherwise known as Sada) Tracy Card. The widow of testator, Maria L. Card, died in 1938.

The death of the son William Dinsmore Card raises the issue involved in the present appeals. Since his death the trustee has regularly paid one-half of the income which William Dinsmore Card had received during his lifetime to the two children of Nellie C. Moore, and the other half to the three children of Ruth Card Briggs, and when it filed the present, its first, account, the trustee requested that distribution of income on hand should be made in the same way. The orphans' court, however, adjudged that such payments were improper and that all the income formerly payable to William Dinsmore Card was payable, after his death, to the two Moore children. The court therefore decreed that the trustee should reserve the amount of such improper payments from the future income of the Briggs children payable from the part of the corpus of the estate accruing to them after death of their mother. The court further decreed that an advancement made by the trustee to Dorothy Briggs Klappert of $8,000 from the corpus of the estate should be returned, holding that none of the Briggs children was entitled to any present distribution of principal. The court also directed that the entire corpus of the trust...