Atkinson v. Reynolds

268 N.W. 480, 131 Neb. 557, 1936 Neb. LEXIS 248
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 24, 1936
DocketNo. 29507
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 268 N.W. 480 (Atkinson v. Reynolds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atkinson v. Reynolds, 268 N.W. 480, 131 Neb. 557, 1936 Neb. LEXIS 248 (Neb. 1936).

Opinion

Eberly, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment or decree rendered by the district court for Lancaster county on December 1,. 1934, in a case entitled, “In the Matter of the Estate of C. E. Reynolds, Deceased,” then and there pending oh appeal from the county court of Lancaster county, Nebraska, and also from the order of that court overruling the motion for a new trial addressed to the aforesaid judgment.

H. B. Reynolds (formerly executor of the last will of C. E. Reynolds, deceased), and Francis Y. Robinson, as administrator of the estate of E. C. Wilson, deceased (said Wilson also having been a coexecutor of the last will of C. E. Reynolds, deceased), are the appellants.

The judgment appealed from, in addition to a general finding against the appellants, contained as a specific finding: “The former executors of this estate, H. B. Reynolds and E. C. Wilson, have failed to account for, and should be required to account for, property and estate of $10,446.” The judgment entered thereon recited that appellants, “and each of them, be and they hereby are ordered and required to deliver and pay to Ira E. Atkinson, administrator de bonis non herein, unadministered property and estate of $10,446, with interest thereon at 6 per cent, per annum from this date; * * * that the foregoing is additional to those assets shown in the final account filed by H. B. Reynolds, all of which the. said H. B. Reynolds is specifically ordered and directed to turn over and deliver to the said administrator de bonis non.”

The record discloses that H. B. Reynolds, as sole surviving executor of the last will and testament of C. E. Reynolds, deceased, filed his final report as such, in the county court of Lancaster county, Nebraska, on January 18, 1934, Objections were filed thereto by Ann M. Reynolds, as-widow, devisee and legatee, which were duly adopted by Ira E. Atkinson, as administrator de bonis non of said estate. Francis V. Robinson, administrator of the estate [560]*560of E. C. Wilson, deceased, in behalf of his decedent (who was in his lifetime coexecutor of the last will of C. E. Reynolds, deceased), filed, in behalf of the estate represented by him, a final report which was also challenged by Ann M. Reynolds. There were also objections filed to said final reports by H. B. Muffly as trustee in bankruptcy of the Federal Trust Company. A hearing was had which resulted in a finding and judgment by the county court of Lancaster county against H. B. Reynolds and the estate of E. C. Wilson, deceased, and ordering and requiring each of them to deliver and pay to Ira E. Atkinson, administrator de bonis non, unadministered property and estate of $10,-000, together with interest thereon. An appeal from this judgment to the district court for Lancaster county, Nebraska, resulted as hereinbefore stated.

A careful consideration of the pleadings and evidence discloses that the proceedings were prosecuted by the objectors exclusively on the theory that the proceeds of a certain life insurance policy on the life of C. E. Reynolds, or at least a sufficient part thereof to pay the claims allowed against his estate, constituted assets of the estate of C. E. Reynolds, which it was the duty of his executors, as such, to receive, collect, care for, safeguard, and pay over to the claimants thereto entitled, and which they had failed to do.

The nature of this trust fund and the obligations of the executors in reference thereto are, therefore, the controlling questions in this case.

To sustain liability against the appellants in this case, it is essential that this trust fund, or some portion thereof, be deemed to be within the scope of, or included in, the statutory direction that “Every executor * * * shall, within three months after his appointment, make and return,, under oath, into the county court from which he received his letters, a true inventory of the real estate, and of all the goods, chattels, rights and credits of the deceased which shall have come into his possession or knowledge.” Comp. St. 1929, sec. 30-401. Unless embraced in the classes of [561]*561property thus enumerated, the trust fund in question constitutes no part of the assets of the estate, and it is only in their dealings with the assets of their .decedents’ estates that executors and their bondsmen incur liability.

A careful study of the record, in connection with the briefs of the parties, discloses that there are no vital facts in serious dispute, so far as the controlling question is concerned.

The following will aid in depicting the situation here presented:

C. E. Reynolds died on December 27, 1930. At and prior to his death he was the owner of 503 shares of the capital stock of the Federal Trust Company, and also possessed the controlling stock of the Federal Credit Company, both of Lincoln, Nebraska. He was in truth the managing officer of both institutions, reputed rich, and a leader in the local business world. He left a last will and testament, bearing date of June 13, 1930, which was in due course admitted to probate. H. B. Reynolds and E. C. Wilson, named therein as executors, were duly appointed, qualified, and entered upon the performance of their duties.

This will provided in “Part One:” “I direct that my just obligations, if any, the expenses of last illness and burial, and the expenses incident to the administration of my estate, shall all be first fully paid.”

Then following as “Part Two” were bequests for the benefit of his children, to be handled by trustees.

In “Part Three,” “all the capital stock which I may own at the time of my death in both the Federal Trust Company and the Federal Credit Company” was bequeathed to trustees named, who were charged with carrying on the business in which these corporations were engaged, with paying the dividends accruing on his stock to his wife, and finally with selling and disposing of the capital stock, to them devised, and transmitting the proceeds to Ann M. Reynolds, his wife.

In “Part Five,” all the rest, residue and remainder of the deceased’s estate was bequeathed to his wife, Ann M. Reynolds.

[562]*562At the time of his death, C. E. Reynolds was insured in the sum of $50,000 by the terms' of a life insurance policy issued by the Aetna Life Insurance Company, which was payable, “upon receipt at its home office of due proof, of the death of Corl E. Reynolds (herein called the insured), to the beneficiary, Federal Trust Company, Lincoln, Nebraska, as trustee,” and which policy contains the followingrecital:

“The Aetna Life Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, shall not be responsible for the application or disposition of the proceeds of this policy by the trustee, and payment to and receipt by the trustee shall be a full discharge of the liability of said insurance company hereunder.”

On August 21, 1930, Corl E. Reynolds, herein referred to as C. E. Reynolds, entered into a trust agreement with the Federal Trust Company with respect to this $50,000 policy of insurance, which, in the first and second paragraphs thereof, provided, among other things, for the collection of the amount due upon such policy, after the death of Reynolds, by the Federal Trust Company, and authorized the deduction by the latter of all payments theretofore advanced by this trust company in the payment of premiums accruing on the policy, together with interest thereon at 6 per cent, per annum.

The third paragraph of this trust agreement provided:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Trust of Rosenberg
727 N.W.2d 430 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 2007)
Haakinson & Beaty Co. v. Inland Insurance
344 N.W.2d 454 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1984)
Perkins v. Parkins
309 S.E.2d 781 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1983)
Child v. Hayward
400 P.2d 758 (Utah Supreme Court, 1965)
Krone v. Lacy
305 F.2d 245 (Eighth Circuit, 1962)
Wilmington Trust Co. v. Carpenter
168 A.2d 306 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1961)
Wilmington Trust Company v. Carpenter
168 A.2d 306 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1961)
Ex Parte Ingalls
93 So. 2d 753 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1957)
Uptegrove v. Metropolitan Life Insurance
15 N.W.2d 220 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1944)
Anderson v. Northwest Security National Bank
293 N.W. 527 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1940)
In Re Anderson Life Ins. Trust
293 N.W. 527 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1940)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 N.W. 480, 131 Neb. 557, 1936 Neb. LEXIS 248, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atkinson-v-reynolds-neb-1936.