In re Estate of Houston

Henry Houston died in 1892. He left a will that established a trust. While the trust was in place, his grandchildren received the income per stirpes. Upon the death of his last surviving child, the principle of the trust was to be distributed equally amongst his grandchildren, the children of any deceased grandchildren taking their parent’s share. His relatives disagreed over the distribution of the principle upon the death of the last surviving child. At that time, he had eight living grandchildren, three deceased grandchildren who left heirs but no surviving children, and one deceased grandchild who left children. One group of relatives claimed that the interests in the remainder vested in the grandchildren upon Houston’s death, or upon their birth if born after his death. Under this interpretation, the principle would be split into 12 shares. The eight living grandchildren would take eight shares. The children of the deceased grandchild would split one share, and the heirs of each of the other three deceased grandchildren would split their three shares. The competing interpretation was that the interests did not vest at the time of the testator’s death or the grandchildren’s birth, but were contingent upon each grandchild or their children surviving the death of the last surviving child. Under this interpretation, the remainder would be split into nine shares, one for each of the eight living grandchildren, and one to be split amongst the children of the deceased grandchild who left surviving children. The trial court found the interests to have vested in grandchildren alive at the testator’s death, or born thereafter, with the children of any deceased grandchildren taking their parent’s share and split the principle into 12 shares. The other relatives appealed, arguing that the testator expressly gave the income per stirpes and the principal per capita.