Associated Cemetery Management, Inc. Employees' Profit Sharing Trust v. Brent

487 S.W.2d 534, 1972 Mo. LEXIS 830
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 13, 1972
DocketNo. 55744
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 487 S.W.2d 534 (Associated Cemetery Management, Inc. Employees' Profit Sharing Trust v. Brent) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Associated Cemetery Management, Inc. Employees' Profit Sharing Trust v. Brent, 487 S.W.2d 534, 1972 Mo. LEXIS 830 (Mo. 1972).

Opinion

SEILER, Judge.

In 1955, Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Williams were divorced. The property settlement and the decree provided for alimony payments to Mrs. Williams of $500 per week for her life. The litigation before us is concerned mainly with (1) whether Mrs. Williams has lost her security rights in certain stock pledged for the alimony, and (2) is the stock subject to a federal income tax lien against Mr. Williams. The trial court ruled yes on the first and no on the second.

Mr. Williams was in the business of operating cemeteries. He agreed to pledge stock in his cemetery corporations to secure the alimony payments. Later, he wanted to sell the stock to an employees’ profit sharing trust to be created by some of his associates. The consideration was to be $2,400 in cash and a $2,122,600 promissory note from the trust.1

Mrs. Williams agreed to release the stock to be sold, on condition that out of the payments to be made by the trust to Mr. Williams on the note, $500 per week would be disbursed to her instead of to Mr. Williams until her death or payment to her of $250,000 taken from the excess of annual note payments by the trust above $100,000, whichever occurred first. In event of default, the stock was to be delivered to Mrs. Williams, who would have the stock reissued in the name of Mr. Williams and by her foreclosed as collateral security under the original pledge agreement. These provisions were contained in two documents: one an agreement between Mr. and Mrs. Williams made September 24, 1956 and the other in what was called “collateral pledge agreement”, made February 18, 1957.

Matters did not go smoothly financially. Another employee foundation established by Mr. Williams claimed prior ownership of much of the cemetery stock. It turned out that Mr. Williams and business associates had “borrowed” most of the money which the cemetery corporations were supposed to have set aside to provide services upon death of those who had made prepayment for such services. Creditors were asserting claims against the cemetery corporations.

Some of the trustees applied to the court for guidance and a receiver was appointed. By February 1958, the affairs of the cemetery corporations were in chaos, the trust was in default on its note, and Mrs. Williams was not receiving her $500 weekly payments. She was threatening litigation, which the trust desired to avoid, as it had neither the resources nor personnel to litigate, so the two entered into a standby agreement. Mrs. Williams agreed that if the trust would pay her $200 per week for 118 weeks and $300 per week thereafter for life until $250,000 was paid, she would forebear asserting any indebtedness against the trust arising out of the note or requiring that Mrs. Williams assert rights for her benefit under the various prior contracts. If the payments ceased, both the trust and Mrs. Williams would be restored to their respective positions (except for payments made). The trust agreed, while insisting that it denied that any of her rights existed.

The trust then paid Mrs. Williams $200 per week for 118 weeks and $300 per week for the next 415 weeks, until June 3, 1968, when the payments ceased. Altogether, Mrs. Williams received $148,400 from the trust under the standby agreement.

In the meantime, the court directed that all claims against the trust be filed or be forever barred. Mrs. Williams made claim for $101,600. The United States made claim for a tax lien against the cemetery stock held by the trust for unpaid income taxes due from Mr. Williams. After an [536]*536evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the claims of Mrs. Williams and the government. Both appealed. We have jurisdiction because of the amount in controversy, since the appeals were pending here on January 1, 1972.

The receiver had asked the court to determine all claims and liens upon property of the trust. Mrs. Williams asserted in her claim that there was still due her $101,600 under the collateral pledge agreement and that she had a first lien on all the cemetery stock held thereunder. She asked for judgment against the trust for the $101,600 and a declaration that she was the owner of the stock and the $2,122,600 note.

The United States contended it was entitled to a lien on the cemetery stock, claiming that although the stock had been purchased by the trust, the transfer occurred after the federal tax lien had attached to the property of Mr. Williams.

In the trial Mrs. Williams was contending the trust was obligated to make the payments to her until $250,000 was paid and that the cemetery stocks were collateral for the payment. She asked the court to order the stocks sold to pay her $101,600 claim and also for a judgment against the receivership estate for any deficit. Mrs. Williams took the position that the standby agreement did not cancel any of the prior agreements.

Some five months after the hearing closed, Mrs. Williams moved to amend her claim, which the trial court refused to permit. While continuing to maintain that she had a lien on the cemetery stock, Mrs. Williams sought to raise the amount for which she sought judgment from $101,600 to $159,600, contending she was entitled to receive $500 per week from the trust as long as the default in payment by the trust continued. In effect, she was asserting by her proposed amendment that the trust was obligated under the standby agreement to go on paying her indefinitely. At the hearing, her position had been that what she was entitled to was $101,600 plus,interest, representing the balance due on her $250,000 claim. In refusing the amendment the trial court pointed out that it was late and constituted a change from the original claim. Additionally, the trial court found in its conclusions of law that the standby agreement “contains no promise by the Trust to pay any sum of money to Florence P. Williams and created no debt or obligation of any kind running from the Trust to Florence P. Williams.” We agree with the trial court’s conclusion. The standby agreement was for the purpose of forestalling litigation during the time payments continued. Once payments ceased, the parties returned to the original status quo, except for payments made during the interim. In fact, at the hearing on the motion for new trial, Mrs. Williams’ counsel acknowledged his agreement with the above finding of the trial court.

The receiver asks that Mrs. Williams appeal be dismissed, asserting she is trying to litigate here on a theory different from that pursued below. It is true Mrs. Williams asserts novation and partial assignment in her brief, theories not mentioned below and therefore not available here. But her basic theory, both here and below, is that she has a lien or security interest in the cemetery stock which survived the sale of the stock to the trust and the financing plan used by Mr. Williams and the trust to pay for it. We therefore decline to dismiss the appeal and will consider the lien claim on the merits.

We are convinced the trial court erred in its conclusion and finding that Mrs. Williams does not have a lien upon the cemetery stocks held by the bank.

From the outset Mrs. Williams and counsel were at pains to insure collateral security for the alimony which Mr. Williams had agreed to pay her at $500 per week for her life. On July 1, 1955, he agreed by written contract to turn the cemetery stock over to Mrs. Williams’ attorney to be held as collateral security [537]*537for payment of the alimony. On default, Mrs.

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487 S.W.2d 534, 1972 Mo. LEXIS 830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/associated-cemetery-management-inc-employees-profit-sharing-trust-v-mo-1972.