Goad v. Montgomery
Goad v. Montgomery
Opinion of the Court
Alexander Montgomery died November 4, 1893, leaving a last will and testament containing the following provisions:
“Fifth. I give and bequeath to W. F. Goad and A. W. Foster one million ($1,000,000) dollars, in trust for my two minor children, Annie A. Montgomery and Hazel G. Montgomery, to be managed by said trustees.
“Said trustees shall pay over one-half thereof to my daughter, Annie A. Montgomery, when she attains the age of majority, and the remainder thereof to my daughter, Hazel G. Montgomery, when she attains the age of majority.
“Ninth. I hereby authorize my executors hereinafter named to sell, convey, and dispose of all property that I may own, as in their judgment may be for the best interest of said estate, without any order from any court.”
“Twelfth. I hereby nominate and appoint W. F. Goad and A.*555 W. Foster executors of this my last will and testament, and request that no bonds be required of them as such executors, or as trustees hereinunder.”
The will was admitted to probate in the superior court of San Francisco November 22, 1893, and letters testamentary issued to the executors therein named. In April, 1895, while the administration of the estate was still pending, Goad and Foster, as the trustees for the children of the deceased, brought an action in the superior court for San Francisco against the several parties interested in the estate, setting forth in their complaint the execution and terms of the will; that the estate of said deceased consisted mainly of real estate and of indebtedness secured by real estate; that there was not in the hands of the executors money sufficient to pay the several legacies named in the will; that owing to the depreciated condition of the market and business generally, any attempt to convert the real estate into money would not produce sufficient to pay the legacies, and would greatly postpone the settlement of the estate; that in view of these considerations it had been proposed that, instead of converting the property of the estate into money, it should be distributed in kind to those interested therein; that as trustees under the provisions of the will they had doubts as to their rights and power with reference to said proposal, and they thereupon asked the court to instruct and -direct them as to their duties and powers relative thereto. Upon the trial of the cause the court found substantially in accordance with the averments in the complaint, and also that it was for the best interest of the children that certain property should be accepted by the trustees in lieu of the moneys due them under the bequest, and thereupon, May 3, 1895, rendered its judgment directing and instructing the trustees to accept certain designated property “in lieu and in full satisfaction of the pecuniary legacy bequeathed to them as aforesaid by said will, in trust for said Annie A. Montgomery and Hazel G. Montgomery,” and also to consent that said property be by the decree of distribution to be made in said estate distributed to them in trust as aforesaid, in lieu and in full satisfaction of the said pecuniary legacy. Thereafter, May 6, 1895, the executors of said will filed their petition for a final distribution of the estate, and on May 15th, the court made its order and decree of distribution by which the property
“That the trustees have no power or authority to sell or dispose of all or any portion of the property which was theretofore distributed to them as such trustees by said decree of distribution (in lieu of said pecuniary legacy in said will) made and entered in this court in the matter of the estate of said Alexander Montgomery, deceased, save and except as such sale or disposition may be directed by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, and subject to confirmation by such court.
“That the authority conferred on the executors of said will by
From these portions of the judgment the plaintiffs have appealed.
The decree of distribution is the instrument by virtue of which the plaintiffs have received the property in trust for the children, and their powers and duties in regard to that property are to be measured by the terms of this decree. For the purpose of enabling the superior court to distribute the estate of a testator in accordance with his will, it is required to consider the will as well as the estate left by him, and to construe its terms for the purpose of determining his intention, and make its order or decree of distribution in accordance with such construction; but, as in the case of a judicial determination of any other instrument, the instrument is but evidence upon which the court acts in rendering its judgment. The judgment is the final determination of the rights of the parties to the proceeding, and upon its entry their rights are thereafter to be measured by the terms of the judgment, and not by the instrument. A will can no more be used as evidence to impeach the decree of distribution than can any other evidence upon which a judgment is rendered. Section 1665 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires the court, in making distribution of the estate, to distribute the residue of the estate in the hands of the executor “among the persons who by law are entitled thereto,” and the provision in section 1666 that the court must name in the decree “the persons and the proportions or parts to which each shall be entitled” requires the court in making such decree to give a construction to the terms of the will. The further provision in the same section that “such order or decree is conclusive as to the rights of heirs, legatees, or devisees, subject only to be reversed, set aside, or modified on appeal,” precludes all right to impeach the decree except upon an appeal, and causes the decree to supersede the will and to prevail over any provision therein which may be thought inconsistent
If the plaintiffs herein had felt that the decree of distribution was erroneous or defective, in not giving to them the powers which, in their opinion, the terms of the will authorized to be conferred upon them, they could have appealed therefrom and had the decree corrected, but by their failure to appeal the decree has become conclusive upon them, and they can no longer contend for a different construction than such as its terms import. (Estate of Garraud, 36 Cal. 277; Daly v. Pennie, 86 Cal. 552; 21 Am. St. Rep. 61; William Hill Co. v. Lawler, 116 Cal. 359.) In Estate of Hinckley, 58 Cal. 457, an appeal was taken directly from the decree of distribution, and the court below was directed to modify its decree in conformity with what this court held to be a correct construction of the will, and in its opinion, after indorsing the following language of the lower court, viz: “It is under our system the necessary province of a probate court to inquire and determine whether a valid trust has been created,” said also: “We may add that it is within the province of the probate court to define the rights of all who have legally or equitably any interest in the property of the estate derived from the will, whether they are entitled to any present enjoyment or their interests are contingent”; thus clearly indicating that, in the absence of any appeal from that decree, the action, of the probate court would have been conclusive.
By the terms of the decree of distribution the property distributed to the plaintiffs was to be held by them in trust, that they should “manage the said property and pay over and deliver the same” to the children as they should respectively attain the age of majority. This distribution of the property, “in lieu and in full satisfaction of the legacy of one million dollars,” must be regarded as a construction by the court of the testator’s inten
The judgment is affirmed.
McFarland, J., Henshaw, J., Garoutte, J., and Van Fleet, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. F. GOAD, as Trustees, etc. v. ANNIE A. MONTGOMERY
- Cited By
- 82 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Estates of Deceased Persons—Trust under Wild—Degree of Distribution to Trustees—Conclusiveness of Decree upon Construction of Will—Power of Trustees.—A decree of distribution to trustees under the will of a deceased person, unappealed from, is final and conclusive as to the terms of the trust defined therein, and as to the powers and duties of the trustees in regard to the trust property distributed to them, which are to be measured by the terms of the decree, and not by the terms of the will, which is superseded by the decree, and cannot be resorted to as evidence to impeach the decree, or to establish powers of the trustees not conferred by the decree; and where such decree distributed certain real estate and certain mortgage securities to the trustees in lieu of a large money legacy required by the will to be managed by the trustees for the benefit of the minor children of the testator, and the decree declared that the property so distributed to them was “in trust that the said trustees shall manage the said property and pay over and deliver one-half of said property so distributed to them,” to each of the children upon their respectively attaining the age of majority, the trustees, though originally emnowered by the will as executors to-sell and convey and dispose of all the property owned by the testator without any order of court, have no power to sell or dispose of any of the property distributed to them by the decree in trust, except a» directed and confirmed by order of a court of competent jurisdiction. Id.—Power of Court in Distribution of Estate—Construction of Will in Decree.—A court having jurisdiction to distribute the estate of a deceased person has power to determine what distribution shall be-made under its decree to trustees named in the will, and to construe the will of the testator, and determine his intention in creating a. trust thereunder, and to distribute the estate to the trustees in accordance with its own views of his intention, and of the powers and duties of the trustees appointed thereunder; and, where no appeal is-taken from its decree by the trustees, it becomes conclusive upon them, and they can no longer contend for a different construction-from that which is imported by the terms of the decree, which must he regarded as a construction by the court of the testator's intention, and is to be treated as if he had created the trust in the terms of the decree. In.—Coincidence op Decrees—Prior Decree Authorizing Substitution of Property for Legacy—Reference in Decree of Distribution.—A reference made in the decree of distribution to a prior decree made in an action brought by the trustees to have it determined that it was for the best interest of the estate to have the property distributed in kind among the parties interested, instead of converting it into money, by which decree certain designated property was substituted in lieu and in full satisfaction of a pecuniary legacy given to the minor children, is not to be considered as controlling the decree of distribution, though made in accordance therewith, and the court, in distributing the property, is to be deemed as acting in accordance with its own views. Id.—Trust to Manage Property and Pay Over and Deliver the Same— Power of Trustees.—A trust to manage property and deliver the same to beneficiaries named at their majority, in the absence of any other authority given expressly or by implication in the instrument creating the trust, requires that the property be kept and delivered in kind to the beneficiaries at the termination of the trust; and though a right to receive payment of bonds and mortgages, and to invest the sums so received in other securities, is consistent with the duty of the trustees to pay over and deliver the property held upon trust, their authority cannot be extended to include a right to sell or dispose of real estate so held by them upon trust, without a previous order or direction from the court. Id.—Power of Sale by Executors not Applicable to Trust Property Distributed to Trustees.—The rights and duties of executors are distinct from their rights and duties as trustees under the will, and a poweiof sale given to the executors as such is not applicable to trust property distributed to them as trustees under the will, and where no. such power is conferred upon the trustees by the decree of distribution, it must be deemed not to exist in them as trustees under the-will.