Perkins v. Iglehart

39 A.2d 672 (1944)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Lucy James Dun died in 1921, a widow with one child, William James Rucker. Dun had been twice married. Her first husband was Major William A. Rucker. William James Rucker was the son of this marriage. Major Rucker died in 1893, and in 1899 Mrs. Rucker married her second cousin, James Dun, who died in 1908. There were no children from the second marriage. Dun left a substantial estate. The residue of the estate was left to her son Rucker. On the death of her son the trustee was to set apart one-third of the said trust estate and pay the net income thereof to his widow during her life or widowhood, and to hold the remaining two-thirds of the said trust estate for the benefit of his child or children living at the time of his death and the descendants then living of his deceased children, per stirpes and not per capita, and to pay over and transfer the same, free of any trust, to such of them as shall attain the age of twenty-one years. The son was married twice. Both wives predeceased him. The son died on December 19, 1941, testate, and without issue. Ds were made his executors. When the will was executed the son was engaged to Woods. They were marred a few weeks after the will was executed. Woods was alive when Dun died but died before the son. The son remarried and his second wife died before he did. The trustee (P) sought a construction of the will. Ds claimed it violated the rule against perpetuities and that widow could only refer to Woods and not the second wife. The court found a partial intestacy to 1/3 rd the estate. Ds appealed.