Gandolfo v. Walker
Gandolfo v. Walker
Opinion of the Court
The questions argued in the case are reducible to two : 1. Were the sureties liable for the brewery funds— the assets invested in the brewery, and its proceeds ? 2. If so, has the necessary proceeding been had against their principal, to authorize a suit on their bond ?
Both questions, though presented in different forms, arise at every stage of the case. They are made by the demurrer to the original petition; by the demurrer to that part of the akswer denying notice; by the testimony set out in the bill of exceptions; and now by the petition in error. In each place they are substantially the same questions, and their solution disposes of the entire case.
1. Were the sureties liable for the administration of the brewery funds? That is, were these funds assets, or were they a separate trust fund; and if the latter, were the sureties bound by the terms of their bond for its management and disposition ?
It is very difficult, in many cases, to draw the line between assets and trusts, where the executor sustains at once the character of executor and trustee. The books furnish numerous cases of the kind, and the authorities are to some extent conflicting. Perhaps no inflexible rule can safely be laid down to show, with certainty, where the estate ends and the separate trust begins. Every case must necessarily depend more or less on its own peculiar circumstances. And yet we are not wholly without rules and guides on the subject; and it seems to us that they unmistakably show that these brewery funds are to be regarded as part of the assets of the estate.
In Sheppard’s Touchstone (496) it is said, that whatever comes to an executor “ in lieu of the testator’s property,” or' “by reason of” his “ right of executorship,” shall be assets in. his hands. The profits of a trade or business, carried on or' continued by the executor, in pursuance of the will, have always been held to be within this definition.
In 2 Williams on Executors (1498), the author says: “Whether the executor takes upon himself to carry on the' trade, or does so in pursuance of a provision in articles of partnership entered into by the deceased, or by the direction' of the testator, contained in his will, or under the direction of the court of chancery, the profits ftf such trade shall be assets, for which he shall be accountableciting Gibblett v. Read, 9 Mod. 459; Pitt v. Pitt, 2 Cas. temp. Lee, 508. See also 2 Williams on Ex’rs. 1668, citing Palmer v. Mitchell, 2 M. & K. 672; Willett v. Blandford, 1 Hare, 253; Cooke v. Collingbridge, Jacob, 607.
Our administration law (1 S. & C. 598) provides a.s follows :
Sec. 162. “ Every executor or administrator' shall be' chax-geable with the amount of the sale bill, as hereinbefore.'
Sic. 163. “ No profits shall be made by executors or administrators by the increase, nor shall they sustain any loss by the decrease or destruction, without their fault, of any part of the estate.”
I admit that a testator may direct the continuance of a trade or business by his executor, as trustee, independent of his executorship; and such cases often occur. But they are always either where there is a devise or bequest to the executor in trust, or where part of the assets are specifically set apart, and directed to be invested as a trust fund. In the former case the executor receives them' at once as trustee, ¡and they never become assets. In the latter, they are received by him as executor, and remain assets of the estate dill so set apart and invested. But the setting apart must be ¡distinct, complete and final. It must separate the fund from the .assets of the estate, and from the control of the executor as such, as perfectly as the payment of a legacy separates it from the estate, and casts the burden of managing and controling it upon the legatee in trust. And where the executor is to be held as acting in both capacities, it must plainly appear that such was the intention of the testator. The executorship itself., is a trust, and every provision in the will regarding the management of the assets, before they pass out of the executor’s hands into those of the beneficiaries, will prima facie be held as coming within that trust; and the contrary intention must be made plainly to appear. As a general rule, the duties of the executor, as such, are co-extensive with the provisions of the will; and it is only in cases of unmistakable intention, or of inherent necessity, that a separate character will be assigned to him.
There is in this will, beyond ordinary bequests, nothing more than a simple direction to the executors, to retain a portion of the assets for a limited time, with a view to their increase, before paying them over to the parties entitled. During their retention, the power of the executors over them is complete and exclusive, and the legatees have no rights or equities till the period fixed for payment arrives. When they are paid the legatees take them absolutely, and discharged from all trusts and conditions; and they take them, not as beneficiaries under a trust, but as residuary legatees under the will. They take them, not as proceeds or profits of the brewery, but as the residuum of the estate, composed of the balance of the other assets, and also of these profits, without any possible means of determining how much arose from either source. Before such payment they are assets, liable to the payment of 'creditors, and not subject to the control of legatees. And should creditors now appear, the executors are liable to them for this $9576.32. When it is paid to the legatees, and not till then, they are discharged from liability.
Nor do we think the bond is vitiated by the fact, that in addition to the statutory form, it contains a provision that the executor shall pay the debts and legacies of the estate. Even were it true that this residuum and brewery property are a separate trust, in the sense claimed by counsel, still it was competent, and might by law have been required by the beneficiaries, that the trustee should give bond for the faithful performance of the trust. And will any one say, that the same parties might not bind themselves, in the same bond, for the performance of both trusts ? That is precisely what was done here ; and if the parties had executed two bonds, instead of one, both together would have contained substantially what is in this bond — nothing more, nothing less. One would have been conditioned that he should administer the estate, and the other conditioned that he should account for these residuary legacies, or trust funds. The parties chose to put the whole undertaking in a single bond, and we see no reason why it should not be enforced.
The same reasoning disposes of the objection, that this trust protracts the settlement of the estate, beyond the statutory period of eighteen months. For, whether it be a trust or an administration, the sureties, by the words of their bond, became responsible for its fulfillment. But it is not for the executor or his sureties to object on account of time. They should have made this objection when they were called upon to sign the bond. The limitation of time was not fixed for their benefit, but for the benefit of creditors and legatees. And although the statutory eighteen months may expire, and further time to the executor be refused by the court, he still
2. Admitting, then, that the sureties stand liable for the executor’s default as to those residuary legacies, or this trust fund, was a proper foundation laid, by showing a default in the executor, or an order of the proper court finding the amount in his hands, to justify a suit upon the official bond against the sureties ?
If the counsel for plaintiffs in error are correct, in claiming that this was a separate trust fund, and if the court is right in holding that the bond is broad enough to cover it, then the case is clear. ' Eor, it being a trust fund, unconnected with the administration of the estate, the superior court had complete jurisdiction, and its judgment would be conclusive against the trustee, and prima facie evidence against the sureties. In that case no finding or order of the probate court was necessary or admissible, and an action could be brought upon the bond without it. Nothing but the bond and the judgment against the principal, would be necessary to make a case against the sureties.
But if these were not trust funds proper, and the defendants are to be regarded as ordinary legatees, it is claimed that before suit can be brought by them, upon the official bond, there must be an order of the probate court finding the amount due; or a general order for the distribution. And it is claimed, on the other hand, that if such is the proper construction of the statute, yet where another court has, in the exercise of its jurisdiction, as a necessary part of the case, made the same finding and order, it will stand for, and super-cede the necessity of the order of the probate court.
We are of opinion, therefore, that the sureties were bound for the executors’ faithful discharge of their duties in regard these brewery funds, and that the judgment of the superior court, with the order of the probate court, and the default of the executor, was sufficient to enable the legatees to bring their suit on the bond.
The judgment of the common pleas is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Peter Gandolfo v. James Walker
- Status
- so conducted and carried on by said executors; and such proceedings were therein had