McCurdy v. O'Rourke
McCurdy v. O'Rourke
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Jeremiah O’Rourke died in 1894, having first made his last will and testament, which was duly admitted to record in the Chancery Court of the city of Richmond. The testator left surviving him two sons, Edward C. O’Rourke and Michael J. O’Rourke, and the object of this proceeding is to have determined the rights of Michael under this will. .
It is necessary to a proper understanding of the question at issue that the second and third clauses of the will be set forth here. They are as follows:
“Item Second. I devise to my said son, Edward, my house and lot on the north side of Broad street, in said city, Ho. 208, between Jefferson and Madison streets, nearest to Jefferson street, also two houses and lots on east side of Seventh street, between Marshall and Olay streets, in said city; also my house- and lot on the north side of Catherine street, below Smith and Mun-ford streets, in said city, all to be held by him for life only, with remainder in fee simple to the children of my said son Edward living at his death, and to the children of any deceased
“Item Third. I devise to John Kain, of said city, upon the trusts hereinafter in this item of my will set forth and declared, the following real estate, in said city of Richmond, as follows, to-wit: My house and lot on the north side of Broad street, in said city, ÜSTo. 210, between Jefferson and Madison Streets, nearest to Madison Street; also four houses and lots on streets, nearest to Madison street, in said city, between Madison and Monroe streets; also two houses and lots on the east side of Monroe street, between Broad and Marshall streets in said city, upon the following trusts, to-wit: That the said John Kain shall rent out and lease the said real estate hereby devised to him and shall collect and receive the rents and issues and profits thereof, and shall out of said rents, issues and profits pay annually the insurance, taxes, charges and assessments on said real estate and also his annual commission on receipts and for all such repairs to said real estate as may he necessary in his judgment to make from time to time; and out of the net balance remaining from the rents and receipts of said real estate he, the said trustee, shall during each and every year pay over to my son, Michael J. O’Rourke, the sum of six hundred dollars per annum during the life of my said son, Michael J. O’Rourke, or until his marriage; and the remainder of such receipts shall be invested by said trustee, each and every year until the death or marriage of my said son, Michael J. O’Rourke, whichever shall happen first, in interest-hearing bonds of the city of Richmond, Va., such investments to constitute when made a part of the
“Inasmuch as this provision in favor of my said son, Michael J. O’Rourke, is made for the sole purpose of providing him with a maintenance and support during his natural life, I hereby declare that my said son, Michael J. O’Rourke, shall have no power to sell or encumber or anticipate the payment of said annuity; and that the same shall not in any manner whatsoever be liable for the payment of any debt he may now owe or which he may hereafter contract.
“The said annuity may be paid by the said trustee in monthly or quarterly installments as he may deem best; at the death of said Michael J. O’Rourke the real estate in this item of will as above described, and any bonds of the city of Richmond which may be added to the trust fund as before provided for, shall pass to such of the children of said Michael J. O’Rourke as may be living at his death, and to the descendants of any deceased child of his, in fee simple free from any trust; the descendants of any such deceased child to take the share their parent would have taken. But if at the death of the said Michael J. O’Rourke he shall leave no child, nor descendant of any child of his, surviving him, then the whole of the trust subject, including said real estate, shall descend and pass to my son, Edward 0. O’Rourke, for his life, if the said Edward be then living, with remainder in fee simple to the children of
By the fourth clause of his will the testator provides that if at the death of the survivor of his two sons there should be living no child or descendant of any child of either, then the estate devised by the second and third clauses of his will shall pass to the children of his uncle, Thomas O’Rourke.
On the 21st of October, 1900, Edward C. O’Rourke died without children or the descendants of any children, and thereupon the real estate mentioned in the second clause of the will passed to the management and control of the appellant, who is the successor to the trustee named in the third clause.
In October, 1901, the appellant filed the bill in this cause, asking the guidance of the Chancery Court in the management of his trust, continuing, under, the advice of counsel ,to pay, as lie had done theretofore, to Michael J. O’Rourke the sum of fifty dollars per month, or at the rate of six hundred dollars per annum, as the amount he was entitled to receive under the terms of his father’s will. In March, 1906, Michael J. O’Rourke filed a petition in the cause, asking for a construction of the will, and claiming that from and after the death of Edward •C. O’Rourke the real estate mentioned in the second clause of the will became a separate and distinct trust estate in the hands •of the appellant, from which he was entitled to receive an additional $600 per annum to that provided for in the third clause, making in all an annuity of $1,200 per annum instead of $600.
An answer was filed to this petition by the trustee, and thereupon the decree appealed from was entered, holding that upon the death of Edward O. O’Rourke, without issue, the real ■estate devised in clause two of the will passed to the trustee as an independent trust estate, separate and distinct from the estate originally devised in trust for Michael under the third «lause of the testator’s will, and that Michael, so long as he
We are of opinion that the conclusion reached by the learned judge of the Chancery Court does not carry out the intention of the testator as we gather it from the very carefully prepared will which he has left. It is manifest that the leading thought of the testator was to preserve as far as possible the results of his life’s labor for the benefit of objects beyond -his two sons. Throughout his will the intention is clear that the corpus of his estate, together with any accretions provided for, should go to his grandchildren. His solicitude that such corpus and accretions should be preserved for the benefit of his own blood is-further shown by the provisions for the children of his uncle Thomas, in the event that his sons should die without descendants of either. With these ultimate objects of his bounty prominently in view he provides by the second clause of his will that the real estate mentioned therein shall- be held by his son Edward for life only, with remainder in fee simple to the children of Edward living at his death, and to the children of any deceased child of his; but if Edward should die without descendants, then the real estate devised by the second clause is-to pass to John Kain in trust for Michael J. O’Rourke, and for the children of Michael, upon precisely the same trusts as those declared in the next or third item of the will.
We are unable to find in this second clause any language which warrants the conclusion that the testator intended thereby to create a second trust estate, separate and distinct from that created by the third clause of his will. It seems clear
Nor are we able to gather from this second clause any language showing that the testator intended, upon the happening of the contingencies mentioned in the second clause, that the provision made by him for Michael in the third clause should he doubled. It is manifest from the third clause of the will that the testator regarded his son Michael as a spendthrift, to' whom he could not safely entrust any part of his property. The only solicitude that the testator had or expressed with respect to his son Michael was to provide him with what he considered a sufficient maintenance. The testator fixed upon $600 per annum as a sum sufficient to accomplish the end in view, and provided that the trustee should, in his discretion, pay it to him in monthly or quarterly installments; providing further that in the event of his marriage Michael should he paid $1,200 per annum as a support, if the proceeds of the trust should amount to that much. The testator in further dealing with this subject uses the following clear and emphatic language: “Inasmuch as.this provision in favor of my said son, Michael J. O’Rourke, is made for the sole purpose of providing him with a maintenance and support during his natural life, I hereby declare that my said son, Michael J. O’Rourke, shall have no power to sell or encumber or anticipate the payment of said annuity, and that the same shall not in any manner whatsoever he liable for the payment of any debt he may now
The argument is made that under this construction of the will Michael would derive no benefit from the second clause, whereas it is there provided that in the event of Edward’s death without descendants the estate devised should pass to the trustee named in the third class, to be held by him in trust for the benefit of Michael and for the children of Michael.
The enlarged trust fund, brought about by the death of Edward without descendants, furnishes a greatly increased guarantee of the annuity provided for Michael of $600 before marriage and $1,200 after marriage. It further assures a greatly increased estate for Michael’s children, should he have any.
The testator has, it seems to us, throughout his will expressed his purpose with unusual clearness, and it must be presumed that if he had intended upon the death of Edward without descendants that Michael should have for a maintenance twice the •sum clearly stated by him to be sufficient for that purpose he would have expressed so radical a departure in terms, at least as clear as those employed by him thereafter in fixing the rights •of Michael in the trust he had created. The limitation over to the children of his uncle, as well as the previous limitation ■of Michael’s trust estate to Edward’s children, and Edward’s portion over to Michael’s children, shows, we think, quite conclusively that the testator had in mind, after providing what he considered an ample support for Michael, to accumulate an estate out of the surplus income which would ultimately vest in fee simple in those of his own kindred, rather than have it dissipated by a spendthrift son.
In seeking the intention of the testator, which is to be gathered from the language he has used, we have not overlooked the principle that the law does not favor the accumulation of testates, and will in doubtful cases so construe a will as to bring
We are of opinion that the petition filed by the appellee,. Michael J. O’Rourke, should have been dismissed.
Ror these reasons the decree appealed from must be reversed and the cause remanded' for further proceedings not in conflict with this opinion.
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- McCurdy, Trustee v. O'Rourke and Others
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Wills—Case in Judgment—Annuity—Increase of Corpus of Estate Devised.—A testator, by clause 2 of his will, devised real estate to his son E. for life, with remainder to his children; and if none, to a trustee named in clause 3, to be held upon precisely the same trusts as those declared in clause 3. By clause 3 he devised other real estate to a trustee with directions to lease it, and after paying expenses and repairs, to pay to his son M. $600 per annum till marriage, and thereafter during his lifetime to pay him $1,200 per annum, if the property yielded so much; to invest the residue; and upon the death of M. the real estate and the invested funds were to pass to the children, if any, of M. and their descendants by stocks, and if no such children or descendants, then to the other' son E. for life, with remainder to his children or their descendants, as provided by clause 2. Clause 3 declared that the sole purpose of providing for M. was to furnish him with a maintenance and support during his natural life, and forbade him to sell, encumber or anticipate his annuity; and further provided that it should not be liable for any of his debts, present or future. By clause 4 he directed that if neither E. nor M. left any child, or descendant of any child, then the estate devised by clauses 2 and 3 should pass to the children of his uncle R. The son E. died without any child or descendant of any child during the lifetime of M. The latter claimed that by the death of E. two trust funds were created, and that he was entitled to receive $600 per annum from each fund until marriage, and $1,200 from each after marriage until his death. Held: But one trust fund was created, and M. is only entitled to $600 per annum till marriage and $1,200 per annum thereafter during his lifetime. The assets from which the annuity is payable are increased, but not the annuity. 2. Wills—Testing of Estates.—While the law does not favor the accumulation of estates, and will, in doubtful cases, so construe a will as to bring about immediate vesting of the estate disposed of, yet when the intention of the testator is clear and explicit the courts are bound to carry it out, if lawful.