## Facts

- Elizabeth Beck (testatrix) died leaving a will that devised her stepdaughter, also named Elizabeth Beck, a one-fourth share of the estate.
- The will added an express restriction that the stepdaughter’s share was not to be attached, seized, or taken for the stepdaughter’s debts.
- A judgment creditor of the stepdaughter levied an attachment on the stepdaughter’s share while it remained in the executor’s hands.
- The Orphans’ Court treated the restriction as effective, held the attachment invalid, and directed the executor to transfer the share to the stepdaughter.
- The creditor appealed, arguing the anti-creditor restriction was void as an unlawful restraint on alienation and contrary to public policy.

## Issues

1. Whether a testator who gives an adult beneficiary an otherwise absolute interest may validly provide that the interest is not subject to attachment, execution, or seizure for the beneficiary’s debts.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reversed the Orphans’ Court.
- The court held the anti-creditor restriction void where the beneficiary received an absolute estate.
- The stepdaughter took the one-fourth share without the invalid restriction, leaving it subject to ordinary creditor process, including attachment.

## Legal Principles

- When a will conveys an absolute estate, the testator cannot add a condition exempting the property from the beneficiary’s creditors; the condition is void as against public policy.
- The normal incidents of absolute ownership include alienability and liability for debts; a clause that preserves full beneficial enjoyment while denying creditor remedies is repugnant to that ownership.
- Courts may give effect to restraints tied to limited interests or trust arrangements, but not to an outright gift treated as an absolute interest.
- If the restraint is invalid, the gift generally stands and the offending condition is disregarded, leaving the property reachable by creditors.

## Conclusion

The court invalidated a testamentary clause attempting to insulate an outright devise from the beneficiary’s creditors, holding that an absolute interest cannot be made nonattachable by will and remains subject to creditor enforcement.


Estate of Beck, 19 A. 302 (Pa. 1890)