Cochrane v. . Schell

35 N.E. 971, 140 N.Y. 516, 56 N.Y. St. Rep. 464, 95 Sickels 516, 1894 N.Y. LEXIS 1244
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 16, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by116 cases

This text of 35 N.E. 971 (Cochrane v. . Schell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cochrane v. . Schell, 35 N.E. 971, 140 N.Y. 516, 56 N.Y. St. Rep. 464, 95 Sickels 516, 1894 N.Y. LEXIS 1244 (N.Y. 1894).

Opinion

Andrews, Ch. J.

The time fixed by the will for the final vesting of the estate is the death of the testator’s daughter Sarah Ann Kip. Whatever view, therefore, may be taken as to the nature of the remainders, whether they are regarded as vested or contingent, there can under the will be no suspense of the power of alienation of the estate beyond the period of a single fife in being at the death of the testator. The remainders must vest in possession on the death of the daughter, and whether vested or contingent they do not, as limited, transgress the rule of perpetuity, and unless they fail for some other reason they must be sustained.

The judgment below affirmed the validity of the trust *526 created by the ninth section of the will and of the remainders given to the eight grandchildren of the testator by the twelfth section and adjudged that the income from the trust estate, beyond what was required to pay the annuities given by the ninth section, belonged to and was distributable among the eight grandchildren, all of whom are still living. The General.Term did not in terms decide whether the remainders given to the grandchildren were vested or contingent, and declined to pass upon the question argued by some of the counsel, whether upon the death of any grandchild during the continuance of the trust estate, leaving no issue, the share of the one so dying would descend to his or her heirs or next of kin, or would accrue by survivorship to the surviving grandchildren. The General Term was of the opinion that as this latter question might never become a practical one, and was not material to the disposition of the question before it, its determination should be postponed until an exigency arises which shall render its determination necessary. The decision of the General Term upon this point is justified upon the ground stated, as also by a consideration of the issues framed by the pleadings, and involves to so great an extent a matter of judicial discretion, that this court should not, we think, review its.conclusion.

The primary question in the case respects the validity of the trust created hy the ninth section of the will. It is claimed in behalf of the appellant that the trust is void on the ground that it was a trust for the receipt of rents, profits and income of real and personal estate to pay annuities, and that this is not a purpose for which an express trust, under the 3rd subdivision of section 55 of the Statute of Uses and Trusts, is authorized, and that consequently, under section 58 of the same statute, no estate in the land vested in the trustees, and that the whole estate subject to the payment of the annuities as a charge descended according to its nature to the heirs ánd next of kin of the testator. The remainders it is insisted were so limited as to be dependent upon the trusts, and that failing, the remainders fell also. The further claim is made *527 that even if the trust is valid to any extent, it can he sustained only as to such portion of the estate as is required to provide an income to meet the annuities, and that the residue of the estate beyond that amount is liberated from the trust.

The validity of the trust will be first considered, and in disposing of this question it will be convenient to regard it as a trust of realty only, since if it can be sustained as a trust of that species of property, a fortiori can it be sustained as a trust of personalty. By the ninth section of the will the testator devised and bequeathed to his executors and trustees all the residue of his real and personal estate in trust, to collect and receive the rents, profits and income and pay thereout, first the taxes, insurance and expenses, and then the annuities specified therein during the life of the daughter. The substantial purpose of the trust expressed in the ninth section, and the only one which it can be claimed supports the title in the trustees, was to pay the annuities mentioned, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $20,000. The payment of the charges and the annuities would not exhaust the probable income of the estate. It is found that the net annual income of the testator’s estate for three years prior to his death had been $80,000, and that it was probable that the annual income thereafter during the trust term would exceed that sum. There was no express direction for the accumulation of the large surplus income which would be likely to arise and be received by the trustees, nor any express disposition thereof as such made by the will. But in the absence of any express direction for accumulation or other disposition, it would be the duty of the trustees under the will to retain and accumulate it, and from this duty a direction for accumulation is implied. (Gilman v. Reddington, 24 N. Y. 9.) If the will in this respect is carried out, the accumulated fund, together with the corpus of the estate, will go to the eight grandchildren or their issue at the termination of the trust under the twelfth section. But it is conceded that the implied direction for accumulation is void, because it was to commence at the testator’s death and was, or might be, for the benefit of *528 persons not then in being, and of adults as well as infants. (1 Rev. St. 726, § 37; Manice v. Manice, 43 N. Y. 376.) This implied direction for an unlawful accumulation is one of the grounds relied upon for invalidating the trust and will be hereafter considered.

The testator attempted to create a trust under the 3d subdivision of sec. 55 of the Statute of Uses and Trusts. The main objection to the trust, viz., that a trust for the receipt of the rents and profits of land for the payment of annuities, is not one of the purposes for which an express trust can be created under that subdivision, presents a question which has not, as we understand, been adjudicated by any court of final jurisdiction in this state. But in the case of Lcmg v. HojpJce (5 Sandf. 363) Judge Duer expressed the opinion that a trust to pay annuities could not be created under the 3rd subdivision of section 55 of the statute, but only under the 2nd subdivision. The question in that case related to the validity of a trust of real and personal property created by will, which as was claimed unduly suspended the power of alienation. It was insisted that alienation was suspended, not only during the life or minority of the youngest child of the testator, but also during the lives of two annuitants whose annuities were charged on the income of the estate. The learned judge first answered the claim by showing that if the annuities suspended alienation, they being distinct and independent, the suspension would terminate as to each annuity and as to each share of the capital set apart to produce it, on the death of the annuitant, thus creating a suspension at most for two lives, viz., the life of the youngest child of the testator and of an annuitant in addition, a term within the statutory period. The learned judge having thus given a conclusive answer to the objection made, proceeded to make the further answer that annuities charged on land or the rents and profits of land, whatever direction may be given for their payment, are alienable by the beneficiary and do not suspend the power of alienation of the land by the trustee, for the reason that a *529

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Bluebook (online)
35 N.E. 971, 140 N.Y. 516, 56 N.Y. St. Rep. 464, 95 Sickels 516, 1894 N.Y. LEXIS 1244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cochrane-v-schell-ny-1894.