Atwood v. Holmes

28 N.W.2d 188, 224 Minn. 157, 1947 Minn. LEXIS 521
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 20, 1947
DocketNo. 34,325.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 28 N.W.2d 188 (Atwood v. Holmes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atwood v. Holmes, 28 N.W.2d 188, 224 Minn. 157, 1947 Minn. LEXIS 521 (Mich. 1947).

Opinion

Magney, Justice.

Winnifred B. Atwood, on her own behalf and, originally, as natural guardian of her three minor children, Thomas G., Alexander B., and Joyce W., brought action to procure a declaratory judgment as to the meaning and proper construction of the terms of a living trust created by Herbert J. Atwood during his lifetime. The action was brought against the trustees of the trust; William E. Atwood as residuary legatee of the estate of Jay H. Atwood, deceased; Arthur G. Ryan as administrator of the estate of Roland H. Tietze, deceased; and William E. Atwood. The court made findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order for judgment. Ryan, as administrator of the estate of Roland H. Tietze, appeals from the order of the court denying his motion for amended findings or a new trial.

Herbert J. Atwood, a widower and a resident of the city of Duluth, 69 years of age, created a living trust by a written instrument dated December 14, 1985. He was the president and the owner of practically all the stock of the Atwood-Larson Company, a grain commission firm, operating in the city of Duluth. He had four children, Jay H., Eva, George H., and William E. Atwood. Jay and William were unmarried. Eva was married to Roland H. Tietze and had no children. George was married to plaintiff Winnifred, and they had three children, mentioned above. Herbert J. Atwood had been successful in business and had acquired a considerable amount of property. For reasons which he sets out in the instrument itself, he created a living trust, turning over to himself and 13 other individuals, four being his three sons and his son-in-law, as trustees, the larger part of his holdings. He expressed the reasons for the creation of the trust in the following language:

*159 “Herbert J. Atwood, the donor above named, desiring that his children hereinafter named may, by means of this trust, be at once independently established with competencies sufficient to assure their support and maintenance; that such children may, as co-trustees of this trust, become familiar with the risks, burdens, details and methods of an active business, under the supervision of said donor and in association with the experienced and able men who will be co-trustees hereunder; that the donor may, as he sees fit, during the years to come, be in a position to gradually relieve himself of the sole care and management of the properties now and hereinafter conveyed to this trust; and that the high surtaxes on income now in force, and the higher surtaxes on such income which it appears may be established by both state and federal governments, may be avoided as far as lawfully may be through the division of the income producing property of the donor hereby effected, hereby establishes and declares this irrevocable trust, to be known as the ‘Atwood Family Trust’, * * * ”

He thus intended to provide support and maintenance for his four children; a business training for the three sons and the son-in-law through their association with himself and other successful and competent businessmen in the handling of a large, active business; an opportunity for him gradually to relieve himself of the sole care and management of the properties conveyed; and a means of avoiding high income and surtaxes as far as lawfully might be done through the division of his income-producing property. Although he gives four reasons for the creation of the trust, it is apparent from the provisions set out in the main body of the instrument itself that his uppermost intention was to provide adequate support and maintenance for his four children; in other words, to provide security for them.

He transferred to the trustees 3,600 shares of the capital stock of the Atwood-Larson Company, a Minnesota corporation, 250 shares of the capital stock of the Atwood Stock Farm Company, an Iowa corporation, 24 shares of the capital stock of the Farmers Grain Company of Grandin, North Dakota, and 48 shares of the capital *160 stock of the Argusville Farmers Elevator Company of Argusville, North Dakota. He divested himself of all beneficial interest in the property transferred to the trustees. The Atwood-Larson Company was the corporation under which he did business. Its assets represented the financial result of his lifework, and the Atwood Stock Farm Company owned his boyhood home in Iowa. At the time of the creation of the trust, a gift tax was paid on the basis of a gift in equal value to each one of settlor’s four children. The trustees set up and established the value of the trust property at $412,400, which was the valuation placed on the shares of stock by the settlor in his gift tax return and the valuation accepted by the bureau of internal revenue. Thus, originally, each of settlor’s four children had an interest of some kind in property valued at $108,100. The 3,600 shares of capital stock of the Atwood-Larson Company did not represent all the shares of that company owned by settlor. Something less than 5,000 shares had been issued, and settlor retained ownership of a substantial part of the balance, his children also being the owners of some of this stock. The 3,600 shares were valued at par, or $360,000. The 250 shares of the Atwood Stock Farm Company comprised all the shares of that company and were valued at $200 per share. The stock of the other two companies was of small value.

In November 1937 settlor died. The same year his youngest son, William, married. On July 8, 1939, Eva Atwood Tietze, settlor’s daughter, died testate, all her property being willed to her husband, Eoland H. Tietze, who died within a few hours of Eva. He left no will, and Arthur G. Eyan was appointed administrator of his estate. On August 5, 1942, George H. Atwood, settlor’s second oldest son, died, leaving surviving him his widow, Winnifred, and three minor children, already named. On January 22, 1943, Jay H. Atwood, settlor’s eldest son, died testate. He left no spouse or children and by his will bequeathed his property to his brother William. Thus, by January 1943, three of settlor’s four children had died, the youngest son, William, alone surviving. He is and has been ever since its creation a trustee of the trust.

*161 We are asked to construe certain terms of the trust instrument, and this we must do from the language of the instrument itself. The record is practically barren of any other information from which the intent of the settlor may be ascertained. It does disclose that he had a natural affection for his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren, and that is about all. The instrument itself discloses that he had little confidence in the business judgment and discretion of his children or in their ability or desire so to manage their lives and affairs that they might enjoy the ordinary comforts and necessities of life.

The sole question at issue here is whether Roland H. Tietze acquired an inheritable interest in Eva’s share of the Atwood-Larson Company and the Atwood Stock Farm Company so that his personal representative and his heirs succeed to any interest therein. The question submitted to us involves a determination of settlor’s intent as to the extent and nature of the interest, if any, in certain stocks held in trust, of a surviving spouse upon the death, before the termination of the trust, of one of settlor’s four children. It becomes necessary to quote extensively from the trust instrument in order to present the picture.

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Related

St. Paul Electrical Workers Welfare Fund v. Cartier
182 N.W.2d 187 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1970)
In Re Trust Created by Atwood
114 N.W.2d 284 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1962)
Atwood v. Holmes
38 N.W.2d 62 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1949)
In Re Living Trust Created by Atwood
35 N.W.2d 736 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1949)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 N.W.2d 188, 224 Minn. 157, 1947 Minn. LEXIS 521, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atwood-v-holmes-minn-1947.