Cullen Center Bank & Trust v. Texas Commerce Bank, N.A.

841 S.W.2d 116, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2834, 1992 WL 322679
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 5, 1992
DocketA14-92-00235-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 841 S.W.2d 116 (Cullen Center Bank & Trust v. Texas Commerce Bank, N.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cullen Center Bank & Trust v. Texas Commerce Bank, N.A., 841 S.W.2d 116, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2834, 1992 WL 322679 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

J. CURTISS BROWN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment granting partial distribution of the Estate of William T. Moran, deceased. The Trustees of the Louise Jarrett Moran Trust (UM Trust), appellees, filed an application, and an amended application, for partial distribution of this Estate. Cullen Center Bank & Trust, Trustee of the Betty Anne Frank Trust, appellant, was the only beneficiary to object to the partial distribution. After a hearing on the matter, the trial court granted the amended application. Appellant raises 37 points of error, complaining the trial court erred in the construction of the will, in ignoring the prior settlement agreement, in denying its motion to modify, in refusing several of its proposed findings of fact, and because there is factually and legally insufficient evidence to support the granting of the application. We affirm.

William T. Moran died on November 30, 1983, a resident of Harris County, Texas. His Estate consisted of approximately $85 million in assets and $200,000 in debts. His last will and testament and seven codicils were admitted to probate on December 20, 1983. The co-executors qualified and continued to serve the Estate until 1990 when they resigned pursuant to a settlement agreement. The will was construed in a declaratory judgment action because it bequeathed more than 100% of the Estate’s residue to the residual beneficiaries. Under Paragraph 1(e)(4), it was determined that 26% of the Estate was to pass to the UM Trust as a marital trust for the benefit of Louise Jarrett Moran. Under the provisions of the will dealing with the UM Trust it was mandatory that Louise J. Moran receive the income from her trust.

There was an additional provision in the will concerning the UM Trust under paragraph 20 which stated:

Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing to the contrary, I expressly provide that in the event that my wife shall survive me, the share of my estate devised to the Trustee of “THE LOUISE JARRETT MORAN TRUST” pursuant to the provisions of subparagraph (4) of paragraph (e) of Article 1 hereof shall be free from and undiminished by any inheritance taxes or other taxes payable by reason of my death, and, similarly, the bequest made pursuant to the provisions of subparagraph (1) and (2) of paragraph (e) of Article 1 hereof shall be free from and undiminished by any inheritance taxes or other taxes payable by reason of my death.

This provision was construed to mean that the UM Trust was to receive its 26% from and be undiminished by estate and inheritance taxes, and any interest or penalties thereon payable to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The co-executors of the Estate elected to pay the estate taxes under a deferment plan provided in section 6166 of the Internal Revenue Code. See I.R.C. § 6166 (1984). In this manner the Estate did not have to pay all the taxes at once and could deduct the interest payments made on the unpaid tax. The Estate was entitled to a substantial U.S. estate tax benefit in the form of a marital deduction for the UM Trust’s portion of the Estate. The terms of the will, including Paragraph 20, were consistent with the marital deduction requirement that the marital gift “be free and clear of any taxes, interest and so forth for estate purposes.” Thus, there *120 was nothing in Paragraph 20 which would disqualify the Estate for the deduction as long as the co-executors properly complied with the provision.

In order to protect the UM Trust’s portion of the residuary estate from the payment of any of the taxes or interest on those taxes as the Will provided, the co-executors set up the Louise J. Moran Pro Rata Account (UM Pro Rata Account) at First City National Bank. This account was set up on the advice of several legal experts in the area of estate planning and probate as a method to prevent the dimin-ishment of the UM Trust’s portion of the residuary estate and to protect the marital deduction. The co-executors were to pay into the UM Pro Rata Account $0.26, as the UM Trust’s share, for every $0.74 paid by the Estate in taxes and interest or penalties on such taxes. The beneficiaries of the Estate or their legal representatives were informed of the UM Pro Rata Account and its purpose. The account was reflected on the Audited Financial Statements of the Estate. Additionally, on the monthly statements of the Estate’s cash and short term investments, the funds were deducted from the Estate’s cash and shown as cash belonging to the UM Pro Rata Account. In this manner the funds were not taxable at the Estate level.

In 1986, 1987, and 1988, all of the income amounts generated by the UM Pro Rata Account were distributed to the UM Trust, without objection by any of the beneficiaries, including appellant. The UM Trust or Louise J. Moran, individually, paid the income taxes on the income distributed to it in these years. Although a decision was made by the co-executors to distribute the income to the UM Trust again in 1989, the distribution was never made. In 1990, the income from the UM Pro Rata Account was also not distributed but was retained in the account by the Estate. The executors’ performance of their duties to the Estate was somewhat impaired at this time due to their involvement in, and concentration on, a lawsuit involving all three co-executors, and Betty Anne Franke and the Franke family, as intervenors. As part of the settlement agreement for this suit, all three co-executors had to resign from their positions making the uniform performance of the Estate's administrative duties difficult.

Neither the Estate nor the UM Trust paid the income taxes on the income generated by the account in the 1989 and 1990. However, in 1992 the trial court authorized the administrator to enter into a closing agreement with the IRS and pay these taxes out of the UM Pro Rata Account. The UM Trust was also ordered to pay the taxes on the income from the account for 1991. In the fall of 1991, the UM Trust’s amended application for partial distribution of the funds in the UM Pro Rata Account was granted.

In points of error five, eight, eleven, fifteen, and thirty-six, appellant complains the trial court’s findings of fact numbers two, three, five, and ten are against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. Appellant’s point of error thirty-six is a reworded duplication of its point of error eleven. Among appellant’s other thirty-two points of error, it alleges there is no evidence and insufficient evidence to support all of these same findings of fact.

As a procedural aside for appellant’s benefit, a point of error complaining the evidence is insufficient to support a finding is proper when an appellant is attacking an adverse finding regarding an issue on which appellant did not have the burden of proof. See 4 Roy W. McDonald, Texas Civil PRACTICE in DistRict and County Courts § 18.14 (1971); Robert W. Calvert, “No Evidence" and “Insufficient Evidence” Points of Error, 38 Tex.L.Rev. 361, 362-63 (1960); Michol O’Connor, Appealing Jury Findings, 12 Hous.L.Rev. 65, 66-67 (1974). On the other hand, a point of error complaining the finding is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence is proper when an appellant is attacking an adverse finding regarding an issue on which appellant had the burden of proof See 4 Roy W. McDonald, Texas Civil Practice § 18.14; Calvert,

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841 S.W.2d 116, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2834, 1992 WL 322679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cullen-center-bank-trust-v-texas-commerce-bank-na-texapp-1992.