In re the Estate of Ceribelli
Opinion of the Court
—Order, Surrogate’s Court, New York County (Marie Lambert, S.), entered on or about June 30, 1989, which refused to entertain a petition to invade the corpus of a testamentary trust on behalf of the remaindermen, unanimously reversed, on the law, the facts, and in the exercise of discretion, the petition granted, and the matter remanded to the Surrogate’s Court for further proceedings consistent with this order, without costs.
Petitioners have a total of 10 children. Petitioners seek to invade the corpus of the trust and to, in effect, terminate the trust for the benefit of the maintenance and education of their children.
While no provision in the will authorizes the invasion of the corpus of the trust, it is clear that the testator’s intent was to provide for the education and maintenance of his beneficiaries. (Matter of Jones, 38 NY2d 189, 193 [1975]; Matter of Walker, 64 NY2d 354, 357 [1985].) Pursuant to EPTL 7-1.6 (a) (which is applicable to trusts created prior to Sept. 1, 1967), a trust may be invaded for the support or education of an income beneficiary provided all of the interested persons consent in writing. Here, since the intent of the testator would be carried out, the income to which the life beneficiaries would be entitled is relatively small, and all interested persons have consented, we deem it appropriate and in the interest of justice to grant the petition. Concur—Sullivan, J. P., Carro, Rosenberger and Smith, JJ.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.