Yandell v. Elam
Yandell v. Elam
Opinion of the Court
On the 6th day of June, 1851, the sum of twenty thousand dollars of the estate of Frances J. Yandell, then, and now the wife of D. W. Yandell, was, by decree of this court, directed to be invested in bonds of the state of Tennessee, and the bonds were ordered to be transferred to Alexander Allison, as trustee, “for the sole and separate use of the said Frances J. Yandell, free from the debts and control of her husband, and from his marital-rights ; the interest and income to be reserved for her use
The investment was made as directed, and the bonds deposited in the custody of the court. Afterwards, and over ten years ago, Alexander Allison departed this life, and no new trustee has been appointed in his place. At tie present term of this court, Nathaniel Baxter, Jr., the derk and master of this court, was appointed trustee as to aportion of the fund, in order to superintend the loan thereof upon collateral security. Previous to this time, a portion of the trust fund, under the orders of my predecessors, the Chncellors of this district, was realized and' paid over to penons authorized by Mrs. Yandell, or supposed to be so autiorized, to be invested in Louisville, Kentucky, to which plate she and her husband had removed not long after the settlement upon her, and where they have continued to reside for many years.
The case comes before me now upon the petition of Frances J. Yandell, by George Maney, her next friend, and sworn to by him, setting forth the fact that she and her husband have been many years resident citizens of the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and are there permanently domiciled, with their children, and suggesting that it is manifestly for her interest and that of her children, that the trust fund now in this court as aforesaid, should be transferred to the control and jurisdiction of the Chancery Court at Louisville, in said’ state. She states that she has instituted proceedings in the said Chancery Court at Louisville, with a view to have the said trust fund transferred to that court. She prays for such transfer accordingly, and makes a transcript of the proceedings in said chancery court, duly certified, an exhibit to her petition.
An answer to this petition was filed by D. W. Yandell, or the same day, and; on the 7th day of December, 1872, ai order was made in accordance with the prayer of the petitioi, appointing D. W. Yandell trustee, without bond or seci-rity, and undertaking to authorize him to take charge of he property held by this court.
The solicitor of Mrs. Yandell, in this court, very proprly declined.to make any application to this court based roon these proceedings, being satisfied that the application world not be entertained.
On the 2d day of April, 1873, an amended petition was filed in the said Louisville Chancery Court, by Mrs. Yandell, duly subscribed and sworn to by her, against her husband, D. W. Yandell, and their two children, Susan and Maria Yandell, both infants, repeating the facts stated in the original petition, and alleging that the petitioner and the defendants were the only persons interested in said fund in this court, and that it was for her interest and the interest of her children that the fund should be brought to, and kept in the custody and control of, the Louisville Chancery Court, within whose jurisdiction the parties interested were permanently domiciled. A duly certified copy of the original decree of this court settling the fund in trust for Mrs. Yan-dell and her children, was made an exhibit to the petition. The prayer of the first petition, was repeated as the prayer of the amended petition.
Upon this amended petition, process of summons issued
The Chancellor is also of opinion that the order of his predecessor upon the original petition, of the 7th day of December, 1872, appointing the husband trustee without bond, was made, doubtless, in ignorance of the character of the
In accordance with the foregoing opinion, it was ordered, adjudged, and decreed upon said petition, that if this court would send the fund to that court, said last mentioned court “ will take custody and control of the same by its proper officers, and that it will also, by its proper officers, cause said money, stocks, bonds, or other property to be exchanged for, or re-invested in, other property, real or personal, as may seem best for the cestuis que trust, and cause the title or titles thereof to be vested in a prudent and competent trustee, upon the uses and trusts of the original decree of settlement, ” setting the same out in haec verba. The decree further provides that if this court chooses to send and deliver the funds to that court, that said court will cause to be paid out of said estate to the proper officer of this court his actual expenses, and a reasonable compensation for making the transfer ; or if the court should prefer to order the fund to be paid to a receiver of that court, said court would send the regular, or a special receiver of said court therefor, first
The old rule that personal property has no locality, and follows the law of the owner’s domicil, was always subject to many limitations, and has been still further restricted by recent decisions. Mr. Wharton, in view of these decisions, as well as the learning of continental jurists, does not hesitate to reverse the general rule as formerly understood, and to assert the opposite principle, that movables are governed by the lex rei sitae. Whart. Conf. of Laws, § 297. And he seems to be justified in the enunciation of the following statement of the present result of the decisions: “Movables, when not massed for the purposes of succession 'or marriage transfer, and when not in transit, or following the owner’s person, are governed by the lex situs, except so far as the parties interested may select some other law.” Whart. Conf. L., § 311; Green v. Van Buskirk, 7 Wall. 312; Waters v. Barton, 1 Cold. 43.
A foreign administrator or executor, it is universally conceded, whose authority springs from the last domicil of the deceased, cannot, by mere force of such authority, take possession of property in countries subject to the English common law. To do this, he must obtain legal authority to act in the courts of the situs. Whart. Conf. L., § 604, and the numerous cases there cited. “It is,” says'the Supreme Court of Tennessee, “ an admitted principle of international law, that every state has the right to control and dispose of property actually within its jurisdiction; and it is the duty of every state to protect the rights of its own citizens, and to aid them in the recovery of their just debts, without the necessity of resorting to 'the distant forum of the original administration.” Gilchrist v. Cannon, 1 Cold. 581; and see also, Keaton v. Campbell, 2 Hum. 224, 241.
The learned Chancellor of the Louisville Chancery Court, was, therefore, clearly correct in conceding that it is exclusively for this court to say whether a proper case has been made out for giving up its control over the fund in contro
Such transfers have usually been made in the administration of estates. In theory, the law has been held to be, that, when the funds in the hands of an ancillary administrator are sufficient to pay all legal claims existing in the jurisdiction by which such administration is granted, the administrator, after paying all claims and settling his accounts, should transmit the residuum to the decedent’s domicil. Preston v. Melville, 8 Cl. & F. 1; Mackey v. Coxe, 18 How. U. S. 100 ; Davis v. Head, 3 Peck, 128; Parker’s Appeal, 61 Pa. St. 478.
The transmissibility of the funds of an estate, from the ancillary administrator of one state to the administrator of the domicil in another, was treated as unquestionable in the case of Keaton v. Campbell, 2 Hum. 241. “ But this means,” the court say, “when a suit in chancery has been brought by proper persons, the condition of the estate at home and abroad enquired into and ascertained, creditors, distributees, and others interested notified and indemnified, then the court may, by its acts and orders, transmit such fund.” “Whether the court,” they add, “would order it to be transmitted to the administrator himself, or to some judicial forum where the parties in interest were accounting-, we care not to speculate.”
In the case of Baker Andrews’ Heirs, 3 Hum. 592, the question of the transmissibility of funds from this state to another again came before the court. In that case, the funds were derived from the sale of realty for division between the widow and heirs of a decedent. It was held that a foreign guardian of the minor heirs would not be entitled to receive the share of his wards without giving a special bond for the fund, either here or in his own state. The court add: “Nor
“The people of the United States,” say our supreme court, in Keaton v. Campbell, 2 Hum. 237, “ constituting one integral government for some purposes, are yet, for other purposes, a community of nations, so to speak, essentially distinct, and even foreign from each other. In this latter relation, they exist as to the comprehensive and highly important interests, founded upon the distribution of personal estate; while, at the same time, the internal commerce, social intercourse, frequent changes, and multiplications of domicil, and all the varied and widely ramified relations and connexions of a prosperous, enterprising and homogeneous people, create rights and interests as to personal property seldom to be limited to a single state.” This state of things, they conclude, calls upon the judicial tribunals of all the states for the reciprocal exercise of a liberal comity.
The result of our authorities is, that a fund belonging to infants, or other persons under disability, may be removed from this state to the domicil of the parties in another state, provided the court is satisfied that it is for the interest of such parties, and is further satisfied that the fund is as well secured under the laws of the state to which it is removed as under the laws of this state. It is further to be inferred that our courts may transmit the funds to some judicial tri bunal having jurisdiction of the parties, as well as to a trus tee or guardian properly qualified.
The petitioner’s counsel may draw up a decree reciting the proceedings in the Louisville Chancery Court and in this court for the transfer of the fund, and ordering the fund in
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.