Donaldson v. Allen

81 S.W. 1151, 182 Mo. 626, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 194
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 20, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 81 S.W. 1151 (Donaldson v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donaldson v. Allen, 81 S.W. 1151, 182 Mo. 626, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 194 (Mo. 1904).

Opinion

MARSHALL, J.

This is a proceeding in equity to construe the will of Thomas Allen, deceased, to have the trust created by the will terminated and dissolved, to require the trustees to account, and to have the real estate covered by the trust partitioned.

The facts, which are practically conceded, are these :

Thomas Allen was a prominent citizen of St. Louis, was a lawyer, the president of a railroad, a man of large fortune and had been a member of Congress. Pie died testate, in 18S&, leaving his widow and seven children, to-wit, the plaintiffs, Elizabeth L. Donaldson and Alice Maud Allen, since intermarried with Louis Lombard, and the defendants, William Russell Allen, Thomas Allen, George W. Allen, Annie L. Allen, since intermarried with Louis Chauvenet, and Bradford Allen, [635]*635who has since died, leaving a widow, Helene G. Allen, and a daughter Annie, now intermarried with Pietro Lante de la Rovere.

By the terms of his will the testator gave his widow his homestead in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and likewise his homestead in St. Louis, for life. He also gave her absolutely the household furniture, carriages, horses and other personal property at both places. He further gave her for life, a lot on Main street, between Market and Chestnut streets in' St. Louis; he also gave her for life, whatever ground he owned on the east side of Carondelet avenue, near the arsenal, in St. Louis, and his farm of two hundred and seventy-two acres near Pittsfield, Massachusetts; also certain books, pictures, etc., absolutely. He also gave her absolutely one hundred thousand dollars in cash, and one hundred thousand dollars in the five per cent consolidated bonds of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad Company. He also gave her absolutely all the real estate conveyed to him by Joseph J. Clark, lying in the city of St. Louis and in the county of Jefferson.

He authorized his executrix and his executors to divide the property known as the Southern Hotel, by forming it into a corporation composed of his seven children, and dividing the stock equally among them. He gave certain specific legacies and forgave certain debts due him. The will then provided as follows:

“The residue of my estate, real and personal, which I may own at the time of my decease, it is my will shall be disposed of and bestowed as follows: The several stocks and bonds which may be held by me in corporations and all other of my notes, bonds and mortgages (excepting notes given me for accruing rents), and money, I desire may be divided into seven equal parts, or shares, and given in kind as far as practicable to each of my seven children, viz.: Elizabeth L. Donaldson, William R. Allen, Thomas Allen, Jr., George W. Allen, Bradford Allen, Annie L. Allen, and Alice Maud [636]*636Allen, in equal parts as far as may be, excepting the shares of stock which I may hold in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat Job Printing Company, which I give and bequeath to my son Bradford Allen, in addition to the share above mentioned. I desire and direct also that my executors shall take fifteen of my second mortgage bonds of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad Company of one thousand dollars each and set apart and hold the same for the use and benefit of my daughter, Alice Maud Allen, paying over to her or to her use the semiannual interest thereon until she arrive at the age of twenty-one years, at which time I desire that said fifteen bonds be given her absolutely, and this in addition to the share above mentioned. And as to any real estate wherever situate, other than that above disposed of, 1 give and bequeath the same to my executors hereinafter named, in trust, to be held, improved, leased, sold, or otherwise disposed of as to them may seem best for the use cmd benefit of my own children above-named in equal shares, with the following exceptions : Desiring that my homestead in Pittsfield, which has been as to the major part in my family.for over one hundred years, should continue to be held and occupied by one or more of my descendants as long as may be, it is my will that, after the decease of my wife, if she survives me, the same homestead shall be sold and conveyed to whichever of my children shall be willing to give the most therefor, the sum to be paid to be divided equally among my children, the purchaser or purchasers deducting his or hers or their shares therefrom.”

He then appointed his wife, Ann R. Allen, and his sons, "William R. Allen and George W. Allen, the executrix and executors of his will, without bond.

The will was admitted to probate in 1882, and the executrix and executors entered upon their duties. The exact value of the estate is not disclosed by the record, although it does appear that the trust property is only a small part thereof, and is of the value of $100,000 to [637]*637$130,000, consisting of some land in St. Lonis and in Illinois, and about six thousand acres of unimproved land in Arkansas, which was worth about two dollars and a half an acre at the time of his death, and about three dollars an acre at the time of the trial, and yielded a revenue of about $4,000 a year, and that the carrying charges of the trust were about $2,000 a year. The widow died in January, 1897, and the two sons continued to administer upon the estate and finally settled it in April, 1898. The magnitude of the estate may be conceived from the fact that the commissions allowed the executors amounted to $109,846.64, and the prompt and efficient manner in which the executors performed their duties and made distribution of the estate is shown by the fact that upon settlement there was not enough cash remaining in the hands of the executors to pay their said commissions in full, but there remained due them on that account from the estate the sum of $20,556.14, which has never been paid. After Mrs. Allen’s death the sons continued to act as trustees of the real estate under the clause of the will above set out, from April, 1898, until December 23, 1901, when this suit was instituted. During that time there was not very much done except to collect the rents, pay the taxes, occasionally sell some of the unimproved land as opportunity presented itself, and distribute the net profits among the several devisees, and this they did. William Russell Allen attended principally to the business, as he had done during the continuance of the executorship, although he consulted his co-executor and cotrustee, George W. Allen. William Russell Allen divided his time nearly equally between St. Louis and Pittsfield. After the termination of the ex-ecutorship, just as they had done during its continuance, Mr. Allen employed one J. W. Wallace, as agent, to collect such rents and to deposit them to his, Allen’s, credit as such trustee. The only books that were kept by the trustees were, first, a plat book which the testator [638]*638had used for the same purpose, which showed the various parcels of land. When any part was sold a memorandum thereof was made on the face of the plat book. Second, a deposit book, which showed the amount deposited in the bank, and a receipt book, the stub of which showed the amount received, from whom and for what purpose. 'Wallace attended to this part of the business. On the twentieth of January, 1900, Wallace absconded, and it was then ascertained that he was short in his accounts $3,758.33. It also appeared that for some time prior thereto Mr. Allen had not checked up Wallace’s accounts, nor compared his receipts with his deposits, and that Wallace had withheld the said amount from his receipts and had not deposited it.

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Bluebook (online)
81 S.W. 1151, 182 Mo. 626, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donaldson-v-allen-mo-1904.