Brown Bros. Harriman Trust Co. v. Bennett

827 N.E.2d 1101, 357 Ill. App. 3d 399, 293 Ill. Dec. 220
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 22, 2005
Docket1-04-2350
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 827 N.E.2d 1101 (Brown Bros. Harriman Trust Co. v. Bennett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown Bros. Harriman Trust Co. v. Bennett, 827 N.E.2d 1101, 357 Ill. App. 3d 399, 293 Ill. Dec. 220 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE FITZGERALD SMITH

delivered the opinion of the court:

This declaratory action involves approval of a trust account sought by the petitioner trustees, Brown Brothers Harriman Trust Company, LLC (hereinafter, Brown Brothers Harriman), Peter Babcock and Sheffield Phelps, and the objection raised by respondents, Charles Bennett and Gerald Bennett, that investment advisory and trustee fees had been improperly charged against the trust income rather than the trust principal in violation of the Principal and Income Act (hereinafter, the Act) (760 ILCS 15/1 et seq. (West 2002)). Respondents, who are the executors of the estate of and the successors in interest to the income beneficiary of the trust, claimed that the charges harmed them by reducing the amount of income received by the estate. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the circuit court granted petitioners’ motion and entered judgment in their favor, approving the accounting, and denied respondents’ motion. Respondents appeal from the denial of their motions for summary judgment and for reconsideration of the same. On appeal, respondents contend that section 14 of the Act (760 ILCS 15/14 (West 2002)) requires that the charges be divided between trust principal and income regardless of explicit language in the trust granting the trustees discretion to determine the allocation of charges to the trust income. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

John W. Stewart, who was the grantor of the trust agreement at issue, died on June 26, 1976. Stewart’s first wife, with whom he had four children, predeceased him. The children from that marriage are Philip B. Stewart, Patricia Stewart Phelps, Robert Forsythe Stewart, and Cynthia Stewart Kaiser. Stewart’s second wife, Varina Margaret Webb Stewart, known as “Marka,” survived him for more than 20 years. Marka was the income beneficiary of the trust until her death on May 23, 2000. Respondents are Marka’s two sons from a previous marriage.

On April 30, 1966, Stewart created a trust agreement between himself as grantor and trustee and trustees Sheffield Phelps and M. Dutton Morehouse. The agreement was amended three times: in August 1968, in December 1972, and in January 1976. The December 1972 agreement, which amended and restated the 1966 trust agreement, is the document relevant to this appeal (hereinafter, the trust or the agreement).

Until his death in 1976, Stewart was one of the trustees of his trust. Stewart’s son-in-law Sheffield Phelps and Morehouse also served as trustees during Stewart’s lifetime. In 1983, Brian Berris was appointed as a trustee; he resigned as trustee in 2000 and was succeeded by petitioner Brown Brothers Harriman. Morehouse was succeeded as a trustee in 1991 by Rodney Waldbaum, who in turn resigned in 2000 and was succeeded by petitioner Peter Babcock.

In Article 111.2(a), the trust provides that after Stewart’s death, all the net income of the trust is to be paid to Marka. It further provides, in Article YT(g), that the trustees shall have the power to exercise their discretion “to determine *** the allocation of apportionment between income and principal of all receipts and disbursements.”

At Stewart’s death, the trust assets totaled more than $10 million, but they were decreased by more than one-half in value by the payment of loans and other obligations. Marka received an average of more than $625,000 per year from the trust, for a total net income of more than $15 million from the trust by the time of her death in 2000. At that time, the trust principal had grown to more than $49 million.

It is undisputed that all the trustees’ fees and investment advisory fees (collectively, the fees) paid from Stewart’s death in June 1976 to the date of Marka’s death in May 2000 were paid from and allocated to the trust income rather than the trust principal.

According to Sheffield Phelps, the practice of allocating the fees to income began during Stewart’s lifetime and the trustees continued that practice after Stewart’s death. According to Phelps, Stewart was primarily responsible for the trust management from its creation in 1966 until his death; during that time, the trustee and investment advisory fees were charged to the trust income with Stewart’s knowledge and approval. Stewart directed the trustees to consider the growth of principal as well as the preservation of the principal and the production of income. The trustees considered the trust administration policies they followed, including the allocation of the fees, to be in keeping with Stewart’s intentions.

In February 2000, following the retirement of one of the trustees, a release and approval of the accounting of the 1966 trust was granted on Marka’s behalf by Marka’s attorney and agent, Ruth Rouss. Rouss signed the release under power of attorney for Marka.

Petitioners subsequently provided respondents with an accounting of the trust from June 16, 1976, through May 23, 2000, i.e., for the entire period from Stewart’s death through the date of Marka’s death.

In June 2002, petitioners filed a complaint for declaratory judgment, seeking approval of their accounting under section 2 — 701 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2 — 701 (West 2002)) for the period of June 26, 1976, through May 23, 2000. Respondents objected to the fact that the trustees’ and investment advisors’ fees were paid against trust income. They claimed that such allocation reduced the amount paid to the income beneficiary and that the fees should have been allocated equally between the trust principal and income.

Both parties ultimately filed motions for summary judgment. Petitioners supported their motion with an affidavit from Sheffield Phelps.

Following a hearing on the cross-motions on March 16, 2004, the circuit court issued a written memorandum opinion and order denying respondents’ motion for summary judgment and granting petitioners’ motion for summary judgment and approving the accounting.

In its written order, the court considered the pertinent statutory provisions of the Act and found that, according to the plain language of the Act in both its earlier and current versions, 1 “the rule that trustees’ fees must be equally apportioned between income and principal can be changed in the trust document.” The court found section 3(a) of the Act to be controlling.

The court then considered whether the trustees acted reasonably and in good faith in making their allocation of the trustees’ and investment advisors’ fees and found that they did. In so finding, the court stated that the evidence established that Marka was paid the net income of the trust after allocation of the fees as mandated by the trust and that her comfortable support was provided for. Finally, in approving the accounting, the court found that at least some trust information was provided to Marka orally, and quarterly reports were sent to Marka’s accountant or to Marka’s daughter.

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Bluebook (online)
827 N.E.2d 1101, 357 Ill. App. 3d 399, 293 Ill. Dec. 220, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-bros-harriman-trust-co-v-bennett-illappct-2005.