TRUSTS-SPENDTHRIFT TRUSTS-RESTRICTIONS ON ALIENATION AS A CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED PROPERTY RIGHT OF THE DONOR

Authors

Thomas Hartwell, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

The beneficiary of a spendthrift trust, created in 1921, sought to renounce and terminate her life interest, thereby vesting the fee simple of the trust res in her son, as remainderman, free of the spendthrift provisions. A Pennsylvania statute, passed in 1945, authorized anyone with any interest in real or personal property to disclaim such interest, irrespective of any so-called spendthrift trust provisions. Held, prayer for termination denied on the ground that the statute, as it applied to spendthrift trusts created before its passage, was a violation of the donor-settlor's property rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution. To allow the beneficiary to disclaim her interest, and thus accelerate the interest of the remainderman, would be contrary to the intent of the settlor and would allow by indirection that which had never been allowed directly: enjoyment of the gift in trust without the restrictions placed on it by the settlor. In re Borsch's Estate, (Pa. 1949) 67 A. (2d) 119.

Recommended Citation

Thomas Hartwell, TRUSTS-SPENDTHRIFT TRUSTS-RESTRICTIONS ON ALIENATION AS A CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED PROPERTY RIGHT OF THE DONOR, 48 Mich. L. Rev. 889 (1950).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol48/iss6/26