Einbecker v. Einbecker

44 N.E. 426, 162 Ill. 267
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJune 13, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 44 N.E. 426 (Einbecker v. Einbecker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Einbecker v. Einbecker, 44 N.E. 426, 162 Ill. 267 (Ill. 1896).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Magruder

delivered the opinion of the court:

Since the death of the testator, George Einbecker, the income from his estate has proved to be insufficient to pay to his widow, Anna Einbecker, the appellee herein, the sum of §125.00 per month directed by the will to be paid to her so long as her young'est child, Cecelia, remained with her; and the question in this case is, whether, there being a deficiency in the income, the corpus of the estate may be resorted to to make up the deficiency. Is the appellee entitled by the terms of the will to be paid out of the estate the full sum of §125.00 per month even if a portion thereof must be taken from the corpus of the estate; or, the income of the estate being less than §125.00 per month, must she be confined in her allowance to the income as it is, and leave the corpus untouched?

It is often difficult to determine whether an annuity is to be paid out of the capital of an estate, or only out of the income of the estate. But the question must be decided, as a general thing, by so construing the language of the testator’s will as to ascertain his intention; and when the intention is ascertained, it must be carried into effect. Each case will depend largely upon the meaning of the words used by the testator in his will. (Baker v. Baker, 6 H. L. Gas. 616.)

In Irwin v. Wollpert, 128 Ill. 527, we said, that a direction to pay an annuity out of the'rents and profits charges only the rents and profits, and not the corpus of the estate, unless a contrary intention appears. In DeHaven v. Sherman, 131 Ill. 115, we said: “The rule is, that unless it appears it was intended by the testator to charge the payment of the annuities upon the corpus of the estate, they can only be enforced against the trustee, personally, so far as he has received the rents. The fee in the realty, whether for life or for years, cannot be sold for their payment.” In Forbes v. Richardson, 11 Hare, 354, the vice-chancellor said: “I do not find any case where a direction for payment out of annual rents and profits has been held to giye a right against the corpus.” The words, “rents and profits,” as used in wills in this connection, have generally been held to mean the annual rents and profits; and the old'chancery rule, construing testamentary gifts of fixed sums by way of annuities payable out of rents and profits as authorizing the taking of a sufficient sum from the body of the estate to make up a deficiency, has been so modified as to make it the chief object of construction even in such cases to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the testator. (Delaney v. Van Aulen, 84 N.Y. 16; 1 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, 594).

“Where an annuity is granted out of the income, and the income subsequently turns out to be insufficient for full payment, the deficiency cannot be made up from the corpus of the estate.” (13 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, p. 177; Delaney v. Van Aulen, supra; Baker v. Baker, supra; Foster v. Smith, 1 Phil. Ch. 629; Earle v. Billingham, 24 Beav. 446; Sheppard v. Sheppard, 32 id. 194; Darhon v. Rickards, 14 Sim. 537).

In the case at bar, the terms of the will must be examined in order to determine whether the testator, George Einbecker, intended to make the allowance to his wife a charge upon the capital of his estate as well as upon the income thereof, or whether he intended that it should be paid out of the income alone. We think it apparent, upon a cursory examination of his will as a whole, that he did not anticipate that the income of his estate would be insufficient to yield the amount of the allowance given to his wife. The intention to make the allowance pay-' able out of the income, and not out of the body of the estate, will also appear from a study of particular parts of the will.

After giving each of three of his sons a saloon, he gives and bequeaths all his real and personal estate, except said three saloons, to his trustees to hold in trust for certain purposes. The first of these purposes is stated as follows: “In trust to manage my estate, collect the rents and other incomes arising therefrom, make leases of my real estate for such terms as they may deem best, and to invest and re-invest all moneys coming to their hands as such trustees in good interest-bearing securities.” This language indicates an intention to have the estate so managed as to make it produce an income. Management of the estate here means the making of leases and the investment of moneys, and the collection of rents and other incomes. The next purpose, for which the property is to be held in trust, is stated as follows: “In trust, further to pay my wife * * * out of the moneys so arising from my estate the sum of §100.00 during her natural life,” etc. The word, “so,” refers back to the next preceding paragraph, where the first purpose of the trust is stated. It is “out of the moneys so arising from my estate” that the allowance of the widow is to be paid, that is to say, out of moneys arising from leases and investments, from rents and' interest, or, in other words, from rents and profits. The phraseology used expressly negatives the idea, that the capital or corpus of the estate is to be drawn upon for the allowance. It is true, that paragraph 6 of the will gives the trustees power to sell and convey any and all of the real estate, but the proceeds of the sale are to be invested, because the trustees are directed to “invest and re-invest all moneys coming to their hands as such trustees in good interest-bearing securities.” “All moneys coming to their hands” include the proceeds of sales made by them. It is the moneys arising from the investment of such proceeds, and not the proceeds themselves, which are to be applied towards the payment of the allowance.

That the widow’s allowance was intended to be derived from the income, and not from the corpus, is further apparent from the following language: “When my estate is divided between my children, as hereinafter stated, my said trustees shall retain in their possession a sufficient capital consisting either of real estate or securities, to insure, from, the income arising from the same, the prompt payment of the monthly allowance so made to my wife as aforesaid.” We fail to see how words can more clearly indicate an intention to have the allowance paid out of the income, and not out of the body of the estate, than do the words here used.

Again, a subsequent clause of the will reads as follows: “Upon the death of my wife the property and securities retained by my trustees for the purpose of insuring the payment of the allowance to her as above stated, shall also be partitioned and divided between all my children,” etc. Here is a gift over at the death of the annuitant of the entire property or fund out of which the annuity was to be paid. If is not a gift over of the residue of the fund after deducting what maybe necessary to make up a deficiency in the annuity. In this respect there is a clear distinction between many of the cases referred to by counsel for appellee and the present case.

There is much confusion and conflict among the English decisions upon this subject. In Williams on Executors (9th ed. p. 1212, note p), there is a reference to the cases in which annuities have been held payable out óf the corpus or capital of the testator’s estate, and those in which annuities have been held payable out of income. The cases are also referred to in Theobald on Law of Wills,—2d ed.—pp. 635-637.

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44 N.E. 426, 162 Ill. 267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/einbecker-v-einbecker-ill-1896.