Harris Trust and Savings Bank v. Beach
Supreme Court of Illinois
513 N.E.2d 833 (1987)
Before marrying, Frank Hixon created a trust for his fiancee Alice Green providing that if she survived him, the trust would pass to his heirs upon her death, and if he survived her, the trust would simply revert to him; a nearly identical trust was created after they married. Hixon died in 1931 survived by two daughters and three grandchildren, and Green died 51 years later, by which time only two of Hixon's grandchildren (plaintiffs) were still alive. A dispute arose over whether "heirs" meant those alive at Hixon's death (which would split the trust between his two daughters, with one daughter's share passing through her estate to various charities since she had no children) or those alive at Green's death (which would give everything to the two surviving grandchildren); the trial and appellate courts held the heirs were fixed as of Hixon's death, and the grandchildren appealed.
Whether the time at which a gift to a grantor's "heirs" vests is determined by the grantor's intent as reflected in the entire instrument, even where that produces a class of heirs measured at a date later than the grantor's own death.