Von Holt v. Williamson
Von Holt v. Williamson
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OP THE JUSTICES BY
(Quarles, J., dissenting.)
This is a controversy- submitted upon agreed facts which involves the construction of the will of Godfrey
“First: I give, devise and bequeath all of my real and personal estate both in California and in the Hawaiian Islands, to my nephew’, Cecil Brown, upon the trusts, and to and for the uses and intents following, and none other, that is to say: Upon trust to stand seized of the real property and to stand possessed of the personal property of every name and description whatsoever, and with power to my said trustee or his successor to sell and dispose of all or any of my real property situate in the County of Alameda, State of California, for such price and at such times as he or his successors may in their discretion think fit:
“1. To pay all the rents, issues, income and profits thereof unto my wife, Nancy Rhodes, for and during the term of her natural life. And from and after the death of my said wife
“2. To apply so much of the income of such property as may be necessary, to the proper support, maintenance and education of my daughter,' Ada Tree Rhodes, until she shall have attained the age of twenty-one years. It is my wish that she shall be educated, and my said trustee is hereby directed to have her educated in a Catholic Convent, in the Catholic faith, during the years of her minority.
“3. To pay to my sister-in-law, Maria Chapman, should she survive my wife, during her life, out of' the income of my said estate, five hundred dollars per annum.
“4. If my daughter, Ada Tree Rhodes, dies, leaving-lawful issue, to pay over and deliver to said issue, if they be of age, the whole of said property, if not of age, to hold the same, using for their maintenance and support the income therefrom, until they be of age, and then to pay over and deliver to such child or children, lawful issue of my said daughter, the said property.
“5. After the death of my wife, my sister-in-law and my daughter, if my daughter die, without issue, to sell all of the remainder and residue of my said estate, either at public auction, or at private sale, for cash, and pay. over one-half of the proceeds thereof in equal shares to my own nieces and the nieces of my wife.
*203 “Of the residue and remainder to dispose as follows:
“To pay to the 'Homeless Child’ Charity in New York, in the United States of America, one quarter of said residue and remainder.
“To pay to the Catholic Mission in Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands, one quarter of said residue.
“And any money still remaining in his hands, I direct my said trustee to pay to said (such) Catholic Charity in England as shall seem in his judgment to be most like the said 'Homeless Child’ Charity in the said City of New York.”
The agreed facts are that the testator died on September 8, 1897; that the will was duly probated; that the present trustee was appointed upon the resignation of the trustee named in the will; that Mrs. Williamson is the daughter of the testator and the only child who has survived him; that she has attained the age of twenty-one years; that Ellen Tree Williamson is the only child of Mrs. Williamson and is of the age of four years; that the wife and sister-in-law of the testator, named in the will, are both dead; and that the trustee has in his hands net income which has accrued since Mrs. Williamson attained the age of twenty-one years (and, we understand, since the death of the widow) in the sum of $487.02, which, because of his uncertainty as to the proper disposition to be made thereof, he has refused to pay over to Mrs. Williamson. The question is whether Mrs. Williamson, who has attained the age mentioned, the wife and sister-in-law of the testator having died, is entitled to receive the income accruing to the estate.
The trustee stands impartial in the controversy, but his counsel, with a view to assist the court in arriving at a correct conclusion, have argued that upon a careful examination of the will it will be found that the testator’s child (Mrs. Williamson) was given the income (except that given to the sister-in-law) from the time of her reaching the age of twenty-one, after her mother’s death, during her
Counsel for Mr.. Williamson, as father and natural guardian of the testator’s grandchild, contends that the will contains no language to support an implied gift of the income to the daughter, that the presumption against partial intestacy applies, and that, therefore, it must be held that the income would necessarily accumulate and upon the. daughter’s death go to the grandchild or other beneficiary according to the terms of the will. The presumption against partial intestacy, strictly speaking, does not enter into this case since the legal title to the entire estate passed to the trustee. As against the claim of the grandchild the point is whether there was a resulting trust as to the income in question to Mrs. Williamson as the sole heir of her father. One weakness in the position taken on behalf of the grandchild lies in the fact that the will contains no express provision for or reference to an accumulation of the income, and the gift to grandchildren was of “the
There is no contention, and it is evident that none could be successfully made, that the trustee took any beneficial interest in the property or the income.
It inevitably follows from this situation that there is a resulting trust in favor of the heir. By his will the testator gave all his property to the trustee (with power to sell the land in California) to hold the same until the death respectively of his wife, sister-in-law and daughter, and,
Judgment may be entered in her favor against the trustee for the sum of $487.02.
Dissenting Opinion
DISSENTING OPINION OF
I concur in the conclusion of the majority that there is no implied gift of the income (accruing subsequent tq
I am unable to concur in the conclusion that the beneficial interest in the trust property, including income, is not fully disposed of by the will, for which reason a resulting trust arises in favor of Mrs. Williamson, the daughter, as to such income. In my opinion the testator intended to conserve the trust property, the corpus as well as the income, and for that purpose provided that after the death of his wife that only so much of such income as might be necessary should be used to support, maintain and educate his daughter, Mrs. Williamson, until she should attain the age of twenty-one years, excluding the idea that she should further participate in such income. The fourth paragraph of the will shows that the testator intended that the trust property, including the income, should be held until the death of his daughter and then distributed to her children surviving her if they then be of age, but if not adult they should be supported and maintained out of the income until of age when the property (corpus and income) should be distributed among them. In my opinion, both by operation of law and intent of the testator, found in the will, such portions of the income as are not specifically directed to be otherwise applied follow the corpus of the trust property and were intended by the testator to be finally disposed of with the corpus of such property.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- H. M. VON HOLT, TRUSTEE UNDER THE WILL OF GODFREY RHODES v. ADA TREE RHODES WILLIAMSON AND ELLEN TREE WILLIAMSON, A MINOR
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Trusts — gifts by implication — accumulations—resulting trusts — wills. A testator devised and bequeathed all his property to a trustee upon trust to pay the income thereof to his wife during the term of her natural life, and from and after her death to apply so much of the income as may be necessary for the maintenance and education of his daughter until she should attain the age of twenty-oné years, also to pay to his sister-in-law the sum of $500 per annum; and if the daughter should die leaving lawful issue to pay and deliver over to such issue, if of age, the whole of the property, and if not of age, to continue to hold it, using the income therefrom for their maintenance until they should become of age, and then to deliver over the property to the issue; and after the death of the wife, sister-in-law, and daughter (if without issue), to convert the estate into money and divide the same as directed in the will. Held, that the testator did not give the income to the daughter during her life after reaching the age of twenty-one (his wife and sister-in-law having died) by implication; that he did not intend that the income should accumulate; but that there was a resulting trust as to such income, as an undisposed of beneficial interest, in favor of the daughter as sole heir.