Easton v. Demuth

162 S.W. 294, 179 Mo. App. 722, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 291
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 31, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 162 S.W. 294 (Easton v. Demuth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Easton v. Demuth, 162 S.W. 294, 179 Mo. App. 722, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 291 (Mo. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

REYNOLDS, P. J.

(after stating the facts).-The foregoing is not a very full statement of the long proceedings in this case, it having been in court ever since 1898, and many orders entered in it, but is thought to be sufficient to an understanding of the real issue involved in this appeal. That is, the nature of the title or estate which Alton R. Easton took under the clause of the will of his father which we have set out above.

Counsel for appellants claim that the trust here created is an active trust. Counsel for respondents refer us to 1 Perry on Trusts (3 Ed.), secs. 117 to 120, in support of their claim that this clause creates a direct or express trust. Counsel for appellants, as well as those for respondents, cite us to Carter v. Long, 181 Mo. 701, 81 S. W. 162, in support of their several contentions. Consideration of that case and of the authorities referred to in it, leads us to the conclusion that the trust created by this clause of the will before us, falls into the class of active trusts. It is an active trust in that it is one “requiring the exercise of discretion on the part of the trustee. Therefore it is not to be terminated at the will of the cestui que trust. Claflin v. Claflin, 149 Mass. 19; Young v. Snow, 167 Mass. 287.” [Danahy v. Noonan, 176 Mass. 467.]

Being an active trust, Theodore Demuth Easton, the child born after the testator’s death, is a beneficiary, as would be any other children of Alton R. Easton which may be hereafter lawfully born to him. Carter v. Long, supra, commencing at foot of page 709.

It is well to say here that outside of the above cases as to the character of the trust, very few cases of like character have come before our American courts —none before the courts of our own State. So that in passing upon the incidents of an estate or trust of like character as that before us, we have had resort to [729]*729the English decisions where like eases have often been determined. It is true that counsel for respondents refer us to Woodruff v. Woodruff, 54 N. Y. App. Div. 414, l. c. 417; Chase v. Chase, 2 Allen (Mass.), 101, and Loring v. Loring, 100 Mass. 340, but we do not think that on their facts, on the terms and construction of the wills and on the character of the legacies there considered, they are applicable to the case at bar.

Taking up the consideration of this clause of the will, and treating it as creating an active trust, the father receiving the property in trust for the support and education of his children, is bound to provide reasonably for their support and education, only so long as they remain members of his household and are to be educated. If they leave the home, if they cease to be of the household of the father, especially if a son or daughter marry and set up a separate household; if their education, so far as intended, is completed, he or she is no longer entitled, in law, to look to the parent for support or education out of the fund; is no longer to be considered as falling within the class of those provided for in this clause, “for it can scarcely be supposed that the testator meant an income given with reference to one establishment, to be split in as many different incomes as there are children. ’ ’ [Le-win’s Law of Trusts (12 Ed.), p. 159, sec. 14.]

In Bowden v. Laing, 14 Simons, *113, it is said (l. c. *115) : “When the income of property is given, as it is in this case, to the mother, for the maintenance of herself and her children, what is intended is, that she shall receive the whole of the income, and shall maintain the children out of it so long as they form part of her family. But when they are forisfamiliated, they lose the right to maintenance. ” It is further there held that on the marriage of one of the daughters, her right to maintenance ceased and that on the death of the other daughter, the mother was entitled to have the property transferred to her absolutely.

[730]*730That leaving the family destroys the right to participate in a fund providing for the support of the children by the parent, is also held in Staniland v. Staniland, 34 Beavan, 536.

In Wilson v. Bell, 4 L. R. Chan. App. 581, the clause in the will construed is very like the one before us. It was held by the court that the devise is in the nature of “a gift on a condition, or .a trust.” The court held that one of the children, whose maintenance was provided for in the will, having left the home of her parent of her own accord, had put it out of the power of the one holding the gift or trust to perform the trust any longer as to her, and was not entitled to claim any benefit of - the gift.

So that as to the two daughters and the son Alton, who had left the paternal home, they arc out of the terms of the devise, gift or trust and have no further interest in it.

Nor is Mr. Easton, even treating him as a trustee, bound to account for the income or its expenditure, it not being contended that he had not supported and ■educated his children while residing with him, properly and according to his ability. In point of fact, ever since July 8,1908, when he deposited the fund with the clerk of the court, he appears to have provided for his family out of his own means and without drawing on the fund.

“In cases where a trust for the maintenance of children is implied, the person bound by the trust is regarded in the same light as a guardian of a lunatic or of a minor; he is entitled to receive the fund, and can give a valid receipt for it; and so long as he discharges the trust imposed upon him, he is entitled to the surplus for his own benefit, nor is he obliged to account for the past application of the fund. And the future application is very much according to his discretion, provided he educates and supports the children reasonably, according to their position in the world [731]*731.and the intention of the testator.” [1 Perry on Trusts (3 Ed.), see. 118. To the same effect, see Lewin on Trusts, sec. 13, p. 158.]

In Browne v. Paull, 1 Simons (N. S.), 92 (republication 1851), it is said by Vice Chancellor Cranworth (l. c. 103): “Where the interest of the children’s legacies is given to a parent, to be applied for or towards their maintenance and education, there, in the absence ■of anything indicating a contrary intention, the parent takes the interest subject to no account, provided only that he discharges the duty imposed on him of maintaining and educating the children.” Referring to the conditions of the gift or legacy, the Vice Chancellor (l. c. 104) uses language which is particularly .appropriate to the case before us, saying: “It is always extremely improbable that a testator can mean that the parent shall keep an accurate account of all money expended in the maintenance and education of a child, forming, as that child ordinarily does, part of the parent’s establishment. The great probability always is that nothing more was intended than that the parent should adequately maintain and bring up the child. ’ ’ One of the authorities relied upon by the Vice Chancellor for this conclusion is Hadow v. Hadow, 9 Simons, *438.

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Bluebook (online)
162 S.W. 294, 179 Mo. App. 722, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/easton-v-demuth-moctapp-1913.