Bliss v. Bliss
Bliss v. Bliss
Opinion of the Court
Appellants are the trustees of Alonzo 0. Bliss Properties. Appellee is the committee of the estate of Eva Jackson Bliss. The controversy involves the single question whether appellants or appellee is entitled to the interest on $40,000 of bonds, and grows out of a petition for instructions filed in old equity cause No. 35,245 by appellants as trustees. After a hearing at which all parties in interest were represented, the trial judge made findings of fact and announced his conclusions of law, and, based on these findings and conclusions, entered a deeree directing appellants, as trustees of Bliss Properties, to pay the interest on the $40,000 of bonds to appel-lee, as committee of the person and estate of Eva Jackson Bliss. Erom this deeree this appeal was taken.
Epitomized, the facts are as follows: Alonzo O. Bliss, Sr., was twice married. His second wife was Eva Jackson Bliss. Their marriage was in 1904. In 1905 Alonzo O. Bliss, Jr., was bom, and his mother shortly thereafter began to manifest symptoms of mental weakness. She is now and has been for many years non compos mentis and incapable of managing herself or her property. In 1911 Bliss conveyed to trustees of Bliss Properties certain valuable real estate located in Washington, and the trustees of this trust issued to him $2,000,000 of trust bonds bearing interest at the rate of 4 per centum per annum. Bliss, Sr., gave $425,000 of bonds to one of the sons by his first wife, $200,000 to another son by his first wife, $300,000 to one of the daughters by his first wife, $250,000 to the other daughter by his first wife, and put $400,000 in trust for Alonzo O. Bliss, Jr., the son of his second marriage. He gave $50,000 to his wife, Eva Jackson Bliss. In •1916 Mrs. Bliss was placed in the care of her sister, but later she became and now is an inmate of a sanatorium in Maryland. In 1918, and while in the custody of her sister, she brought suit through her nest friend against her husband and the trustees of Bliss Properties, the object of which was to recover certain bonds and other property which it was
In 1927 Bliss, Sr., died intestate, and, some question apparently having arisen as to whether he was then a resident of Maryland or of the District of Columbia or of Florida, and his estate (other than the estate conveyed to the Bliss Properties Trust) being somewhat involved, his heirs at law, desiring to wind up the estate without delay and to avoid litigation, in 3928 entered into a settlement contract. Alonzo 0. Bliss, Jr., as committee, was a party to this contract, and in that behalf agreed to receive and accept for his mother in lieu of dower $40,000 par value of the bonds of the Bliss Properties. The contract recites that in order to compromise and fix definitely the respective rights and interests of the parties “and likewise any and all conflicting claims and differences of interpretation of that certain decree in equity cause numbered 35,245 of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, under which the said G. Thomas Dunlop and Alonzo 0. Bliss, Jr., are trustees [the annual $10,000 trust for Mrs. Bliss], concerning eventual disposition of property held by them under said trust,” etc., the party of the third part (Alonzo O. Bliss, Jr., committee) “does hereby agree and consent to receive and aecept as committee for Eva Jackson Bliss, widow of Alonzo 0. Bliss, Sr., and for and in her behalf as her full and complete distributive share and interest without restriction or reservation in kind in the estate of Alonzo O. Bliss, Sr., $40,000 par value bonds of the Bliss Properties of Washington divested of such rights, if any, as the parties of the fifth part [trustees of the Bliss Properties] may have thereto under the aforesaid equity decree in cause numbered 35^45.”
The effect of this agreement was to settle and extinguish the dower rights of Mrs. Bliss in the estate of her deceased husband. The agreement was carried out by the delivery of the $40,000 of bonds to Alonzo O. Bliss, Jr., as committee. But the trustees of Bliss Properties (appellants), being in doubt to whom to pay interest on the bonds, filed the petition first referred to, asking the court to instruct them in that respect. Appellee, as committee of the estate of his mother, insists that the interest is payable to him. Appellants insist it is payable to the trustees of Mrs. Bliss appointed under the 1921 decree. The basis for this contention is that, under the seventh paragraph of the 1921 decree and particularly that portion which provides that the trustees for Mrs. Bliss shall collect the annual $10,0-00 “and any other property or moneys to which she may be entitled,” the interest on the bonds, not being specifically mentioned in the agreement of 1928, passes to the trustees. It is a concession in the ease that the annual $10,000 provided for Mrs. Bliss is more than ample for all her purposes. If, therefore, the interest on the $40,000 acquired under the agreement of 1928 is payable to the trustees rather than to appellee as committee, it will either reduce the annual payment or accumulate and under the terms of the decree ultimately revert to appellants as trustees of Bliss Properties. In either ease it would enhance the trust estate in their hands for the ultimate benefit of the heirs at law of Bliss, Sr.
The trial judge sustained the position of appellee, and held that the language of the decree which we have italicized above did not and was not intended to include property thereafter acquired by Mrs. Bliss. He was of opinion that there was ample consideration in the subsequent relinquishment of her dower in her husband’s estate for the allotment of bonds made to her, and further held that the language of the agreement that the bonds were to be delivered and received “divested of such rights, if any,” that the trustees might have thereto under the decree of Mareh 10, 1921, expressed a clear intention to disassociate the settlement agreement from the decree of 1921, and we are of opinion that his conclusions are correct.
The obvious intent of the agreement, in the use of the language just above recalled, was to transfer the bonds to the committee of Mrs. Bliss free of any claim either on the part of her own trustees or the trustees of Bliss Properties. Appellants indeed admit this, but tell us that the interest to accrue on the bonds is in another category and comes under the provisions of the 1921 decree. But we can find neither words nor intention to support this position. It being conceded that the bonds are not subject to the provisions of the 1921 decree, it is, we think, entirely out of the question to say that the interest is to be treated differently. The bonds themselves bear interest at 4 per cent., and this interest is merely an incident of the debt represented by the bonds. After its accrual it becomes a part of the debt itself. That which is to accrue is accessory or incident to the principal. It bears the same relation to the debt that rent does to land, and, as has been often said, when the debt is transferred, the interest follows it as the shadow does the substance.
Appellants’ assignments of error include objections and exceptions to the admission of certain evidence heard by the court below, but as the court expressly stated the decision arrived at was without consideration of the
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.