duPont v. Delaware Trust Co.

364 A.2d 157, 1975 Del. Ch. LEXIS 175
CourtCourt of Chancery of Delaware
DecidedDecember 24, 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 364 A.2d 157 (duPont v. Delaware Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Chancery of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
duPont v. Delaware Trust Co., 364 A.2d 157, 1975 Del. Ch. LEXIS 175 (Del. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

MARVEL, Vice Chancellor.

In February, 1970, plaintiff1 as one of the five grandchildren remaindermen entitled to receive sixty percent of the corpus of a trust consisting of the rest, residue and remainder of the estate of their grandfather, William duPont, upon the death of their father, William duPont, Jr.,2 the principal life beneficiary in sixty percent of the income of such trust, received 3 from the defendant trustee, Delaware Trust Company, as a part of a purported distribution of his one fifth interest in sixty percent of the corpus of such trust, 699 shares of Hopeton Holding Corporation common stock, constituting a one fifth interest in sixty percent of the 5,825 outstanding shares of common stock of Hope-ton Holding Corporation which had been received by the trustee in exchange for the same number of shares4 of Delaware Trust Company common stock upon the death of William duPont in 1928. /

Upon the death of his father, William duPont, Jr., as noted above, became the life beneficiary in sixty percent of the income of his father’s trust estate not necessary to pay any part of six prior lifetime annuities provided for by the testator, his sister, Marion, having been granted a life estate in forty percent of the income derived from the corpus of such trust not necessary to pay any part of the aforesaid prior six annuities.

The trust in question continued to be administered pursuant to such testamentary directions until the death of William du-Pont, Jr., on December 31, 1965. From and after such date, each of the remainder-men here involved, including plaintiff, became entitled to and received his or her one fifth interest in the dividends declared and paid by Delaware Trust Company on its corresponding number of common stock, payments which they continued to receive pending the ultimate dissolution of Hope-ton Holding Corporation and the receipt of their stipulated Delaware Trust Company shares.

Meanwhile, however, plaintiff having become concerned about having received shares of common stock of Hopeton Trust Company rather than shares of common stock of Delaware Trust Company upon his father’s death, filed this action on August 2, 1972 in which he sought the issuance to him of a one fifth interest in the 3,495 issued and outstanding shares of common stock of Delaware Trust Company placed in trust under the will of the late William duPont for the lifetime of his son, William duPont, Jr., upon plaintiff’s surrender of the shares of common stock of Hopeton Holding Corporation which had been distributed to him in February, 1970 in lieu of a corresponding number of shares of Delaware Trust Company. Such complaint alleged that:

“ * * * By willfully permitting the exchange of the valuable estate assets (Delaware Trust Company common stock) for the common stock of Hopeton, which is much less valuable because it is non-voting stock, Delaware Trust Company willfully breached its fiduciary responsibility to the intended beneficiaries of William duPont, Sr.’s last will and testament * * * ”,

and went on to complain that:

“ * * * The non-voting common stock of Hopeton is not readily marketable and is much less valuable than the-voting stock of DELAWARE TRUST COMPANY, since the holders of the voting preferred of Hopeton can, among other things, at their pleasure choose to [159]*159distribute to the common shareholders nothing * * * ”

Thereafter, on September 2, 1973, on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment, this Court decided that the 1928 exchange of shares of stock of Hopeton Holding Corporation5 for shares of Delaware Trust Company, in light of the then requirements of 8 Del.C. § 160, and other applicable law, was proper under the material undisputed facts and circumstances of the case and granted judgment6 to the defendants.

On April 17, 1974, however, the Supreme Court of Delaware reversed’7 the judgment of this Court, the appellate court being of the opinion that little or insufficient consideration had been given by the trial judge to the interests of the grandchildren entitled to the remainder of the estate of their grandfather. The case was accordingly remanded to this Court for further proceedings designed to determine how the rights of the remainderman under the will of William duPont in the corpus of such estate could best be restored, the Court stating in its denial of defendants’ motion for reargument.

“As we noted in our principal decision, the ultimate remedy to restore the rights of the remaindermen must be furnished by the Vice Chancellor. The nullification of the Hopeton exchange is not necessarily a condition of that restoration although such a procedure might be required.”

However, on remand, further proceedings in this Court designed to restore the rights of the remaindermen under the will of their grandfather, William duPont, which had been found to have been adversely affected by the exchange of shares between Hopeton Holding Corporation and Delaware Trust Company, was not held, the parties having on October 30, 1974, filed a joint petition for which Court approval was sought and obtained through the entry of an order of even date directing the distribution to the five grandchildren of William duPont of their aliquot interest in sixty percent of the common shares of Delaware Trust Company which had been placed in trust for the lifetime of their father with remainder over to them in equal shares in exchange for their shares of Hopeton Holding Corporation stock. As a result of such petition a conditional distribution to each such grandchild was agreed to be made of a one fifth interest in sixty percent of the 116,500 shares of Delaware Trust Company which had been held by Hopeton Holding Corporation during the lifetime of William duPont, Jr., consisting of 13,980 shares to each such grandchild. In addition, it was agreed that a one fifth interest in sixty percent of 18,100 shares of Delaware Trust Company stock bequeathed to Hopeton Holding Corporation by William duPont, Jr., would also be made, namely 2,172 shares to each such grandchild. Furthermore, such petition provided that the forty percent of the 116,500 shares of Delaware Trust Company being held by Hopeton Holding Corporation during the lifetime of Marion duPont Scott as a result of the 1928 exchange as well as forty percent of the 18,100 shares of Delaware Trust Company bequeathed to Hopeton Holding Corporation by her brother would be held by Delaware Trust Company rather than Hopeton Holding Corporation during the lifetime of Marion duPont Scott subject to the provisions of her father’s will. Also conditionally provided for was the dissolution of Hopeton Holding Corporation as well as the 1954 inter vivos trust. The ef-fectuation of all of the above undertakings was made contingent upon the- obtaining of a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service [160]*160of the United States that such transfers or distributions of securities would, if carried out, be free of federal taxation, and such approval was granted on March 6, 1975.

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Related

In re Orchard Enterprises, Inc.
88 A.3d 1 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 2014)
In re the Estate of duPONT
376 A.2d 91 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
364 A.2d 157, 1975 Del. Ch. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dupont-v-delaware-trust-co-delch-1975.