Thornton v. Stanley
Thornton v. Stanley
Opinion of the Court
The suit below was an action commenced by A. Stanley against Emma C. Thornton and Charles C. Murdock, her trustee, under the will of Stephen Clark, deceased, to subject money in his hands to the payment of a judgment he had recovered against her, and on which execution had been issued and returned unsatisfied for the want of property whereon to levy. The case was appealed to the circuit court, where judgment was rendered in favor, of the plaintiff. The only question in the case is, whether the provision made for Emma C. Thornton in the will of Stephen Clark is subject to the claims of creditors — she being the person therein named as “Emma, the natural child of Mary Maiden.”
•The provision of the will is as follows :
“I, Stephen Clark, do hereby dispose of all my property, real and personal, by this, my will — to the Hon. C. C. Murdock, in trust, and as executor herein for Emma, the natural child of Mary Maiden or Mary Craid, now residing in Covington, Kentucky. The said trustee and executor to have the rents, issues and interests after deducting his compensation, taxes and charges.of every descrip- ' tion, to the said Emma, for her education and support during the life of the said Emma only, and if the clear income should not amount to three hundred dollars per year for the said Emma, enough of the principal' to be appropriated to make up three hundred dollars for her per year, and if the said Emma should die leaving lineal descendants of her blood, near or remote, natural or legitimate. Then said property to be delivered to said descendants in the order of the statute of descents and in fee. ”
It is said, by Morton, C. J., in Sears v. Choate, 146 Mass., 395 ‘This court has held that the founder of a trust may give an equitable life tenant a qualified estate in income which he cannot alienate and which his creditors cannot reach.” Broadway National Bank v. Adams, 133 Mass., 170. But in order to give such a qualified estate, instead of an absolute one, the language of the founder
The claim that the bequest in this ease is a limited one, is founded solely on the fact that it was given for the education and support of the beneficiary. But, in Slattery v. Wasson, 151 Mass., 268, it is said by Allen, J.: “When the whole income or a definite sum is given to the beneficiary for his support, the whole belongs to him, and is to be applied by him at his discretion, and the expression of the purpose for which it is given is not deemed to be the expression of an intention that the right to secure it shall not be inalienable; but when the right is for a support out of a fund which is given to another, the right is in its nature inalienable, and the intention of the donor that it shall not be aliénated is presumed.” Taking this to be a fair expression of the rule and its limitations in Massachusetts, where it has apparently received its widest application, the bequest in question must be-regarded as an absolute one. As before observed, the net income is all given to the beneficiary for her education and support, not such sum as may be allowed by the trustee or by him thought necessary; nor is it a support out 'of a particular fund given to another, for here, to her, is given
We therefore think it is subject to the claim of creditors, and
The judgment is-affirmed.
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