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Property Law Keyed to Kurtz
In re Estate of Houston
Citation:
414 Pa. 579, 201 A.2d 592Facts
The decedent died in 1892. The decedent had a testamentary trust. The decedent’s grandchildren were to receive the trust income. Upon the death of the last of the decedent’s children, the trust principal was to be distributed equally amongst the decedent’s great grandchildren, and the children of any deceased grandchildren would take their parent’s share.
A disagreement arose between the decedent’s relatives over how the trust principal should be distributed. One group of relatives claimed that the grandchildren’s interest vested upon the death of the decedent or upon their birth after the decedent’s death. Another group of relatives argued that the interests did not vest at the death of the decedent or birth of the grandchild, but rather were contingent and only vested upon surviving the last surviving child of the decedent.
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