Jeffries' Estate, In re
| Decision Date | 30 June 1958 |
| Citation | 393 Pa. 523,143 A.2d 391 |
| Parties | ESTATE of Thomas J. JEFFRIES, Deceased. Appeal of Harold CRAMER, Trustee ad Litem. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Harold Cramer, Philadelphia, for appellant.
Robert T. McCracken, Samuel S. Logan, Jr., Philadelphia, for appellee.
Before BELL, MUSMANNO, ARNOLD, BENJAMIN R. JONES and COHEN, JJ.
The question involved is a very narrow one: Can the testamentary trustees purchase shares of stock?
Thomas J. Jeffries, testator, died on February 23, 1922, leaving a last will dated January 27, 1922. He left his residuary estate in trust for certain persons and purposes. Testator then provided in the Seventh item of his will pertinently as follows:
'Seventh: I confer power upon my Trustees during the activity of the trust:--* * * To retain any investments which I may have made, and to alter, vary, and change investments and reinvestments from time to time, without being confined to what are known as legal securities; but they shall have no power to purchase shares of stock.'
The testamentary trustees on December 28, 1956 filed a partial account for the period November 9, 1956 to December 11, 1956. The account or the 'Statement of Proposed Distribution' showed that the trustees had purchased 10 shares of the common stock of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and immediately sold the stock at a loss of $25.18. 1 The Auditing Judge, upon the demand of the trustee ad litem, surcharged the trustees for the loss. The exceptions filed by the trustees were sustained by three Judges, with two Judges dissenting, and the Court instructed the trustee ad litem to appeal from this decision to this Court. The trustee ad litem thereupon took this appeal from the lower Court's final decree.
Section 18 of the Fiduciaries Investment Act of 1949, P.L. 1828, 20 P.S. § 821.18 provides:
2
The testator's intention is the pole star in the construction of every will and that intention must be ascertained from the language and scheme of his will; 3 it is not what the Court thinks he might or would or should have said in the existing circumstances, or even what the Court thinks he meant to say, but what is the meaning of his words. In re Kelsey's Estate, Pa. 143 A.2d 42; In re Britt's Estate, 369 Pa. 450, 87 A.2d 243; In re Sowers' Estate, 383 Pa. 566, 119 A.2d 60; In re Cannistra's Estate, 384 Pa. 605, 121 A.2d 157.
Testator gave his trustees two powers with respect to investments: (1) To retain any investments which he...
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In re Brown's Estate
...estate. [12] Act of May 26, 1949, P.L. 1828; Act of 24 August 1951 P.L. 1410; 20 P.S. § 821.1 et seq. [13] In Kelsey's Estate and in Jeffries' Estate, supra, testator's language stronger. In Kelsey's Estate, the testator authorized his trustee to invest in 'such other securities as to it sh......
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Henry's Estate, In re
...settlor would or should have provided if he had possessed a knowledge of all presently existing circumstances.' See also Jeffries Estate, 393 Pa. 523, 143 A.2d 391. Furthermore, in Brown Estate, 408 Pa. 214, 183 A.2d 307, supra, the Court--without deciding whether it would be legally or con......
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Brown's Estate, In re
...Account, in the light of three recent decisions of this Court, viz., Kelsey's Estate, 393 Pa. 513, 143 A.2d 42 (1958); Jeffries' Estate, 393 Pa. 523, 143 A.2d 391; Saunders' Estate, 393 Pa. 527, 143 A.2d 367. From the Decree which (a) reaffirmed the Orphans' Court's rulings in the fourth ac......
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In re Henry's Estate
... ... statute relating thereto, in order to attain what we believe ... is beneficial and wise, or even what we believe settlor would ... or should have provided if he had possessed a knowledge of ... all presently existing circumstances.' See also Jeffries ... Estate, 393 Pa. 523, 143 A.2d 391 ... Furthermore, ... in Brown Estate, 408 Pa. 214, 183 A.2d 307, supra, the ... Court--without deciding whether it would be legally or ... constitutionally possible for the legislature to enact in ... 1949 a statutory rule of construction which ... ...