Farrington v. Richardson

53 N.W.2d 210, 74 S.D. 369, 1952 S.D. LEXIS 21
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 1, 1952
DocketFile No. 9270
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 53 N.W.2d 210 (Farrington v. Richardson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farrington v. Richardson, 53 N.W.2d 210, 74 S.D. 369, 1952 S.D. LEXIS 21 (S.D. 1952).

Opinion

SICKEL, P. J.

The olographic will of Ella McNair was admitted to probate in Beadle county and Clarence Kip Richardson was appointed administrator with the will annexed. His final account and petition for distribution was filed, and after hearing the account was settled and decree of distribution was entered in the county court. From these orders an appeal was taken to- the circuit court by the heirs of testatrix. The only question decided by the circuit .court was the interpretation of paragraph XIY of the will, and it is from that decision that the heirs have appealed to this court.

Paragraph XIY of the will reads as follows: “I give, devise and bequeath unto George E. Longstaff (not Royl & Longstaff) as trustee and in trust the following properties and all the rest and remainder thereof The trustee is to hold the same, pay taxes and repairs thereon and pay to Cecil Richardson $1000 each year from the net proceeds and to hold the remainder in trust for ten years when it may be paid to said Cecil Richardson, if he is living- and if not, it may be turned to Huron College to found a scholarship fund for needy worthy ambitious students. This to be known as the J D McNair scholarship fund.” Then follows a description of the property affected by the above paragraph of the will. A photographic copy of the above paragraph is set forth in Re McNair Estate, 72 S. D. 604, 38 N.W.2d 449, 452.

The circuit court decided: “Cecil Richardson, named in Paragraph XIY of the Will, died fourteen days before Ella [372]*372McNair departed this life. His death before hers eliminates and nullifies the provisions of the Will for him, whether they were valid or invalid. But the elimination of the provisions in Paragraph XIV for Cecil does not destroy the fourteenth paragraph or leave the balance of Paragraph XIV without effect. The provisions of Paragraph XIV for Cecil can be eliminated without doing violence to the general testamentary scheme or plan expressed by Ella McNair in this paragraph; and with the ineffectual provisions for Cecil eliminated, this paragraph of the Will devises and bequeaths all the rest and remainder of her estate, including the property therein described as well as any other of her property not previously disposed of, to Huron College to- found the J. D. McNair scholarship fund for needy, worthy, ambitious students.”

Appellants contend that “the error here consisted in the finding that the concededly intended attempted but illegal trust may be eliminated, and by such elimination automatically converted into a general residuary clause, for the reason that when such intended trust is eliminated it leaves nothing, and it is clear from the language voiced by the decedent that she intended no residuary clause and intended to dispose of the income only from the properties for a ten-year period, and had not intended that Cecil Richardson should have any part of the principal of such properties and intended that Huron College should have nothing except what Cecil would receive, if he did not survive the ten-year period”.

The first consideration is the contention of appellants that the trust for Cecil Richardson created a perpetuity and suspension of the power of alienation as to the property described therein and that it is void under SDC 51.0231, 51.-0232 and 51.0417, and appellants’ further contention that when such trust is eliminated paragraph XIV is ineffectual for any purpose and the property described in that paragraph of the will passes to the heirs at law as property not disposed of by the will.

The bequest to Cecil Richardson was placed in trust for a term of ten years after the death of testatrix, and was postponed until the expiration of the term. It was contin[373]*373gent on the possible death of Cecil Richardson before the expiration of the term. If Cecil Richardson should live until the end of the term he would receive the entire bequest contained in paragraph XIV of the will and Huron College would take nothing. The bequest to Huron College was also postponed until the expiration of the ten-year term and it was contingent on the probability or possibility that the life of Cecil Richardson might extend beyond the end of that term. According to the will, if Cecil Richardson should die before the expiration of the term the future interest of Huron College could not vest in anyone, and the power of alienating the property would be suspended, from the date of death until the expiration of the term and this would violate the rule against perpetuities. 41 Am.Jur., Perpetuities and Restraints on Alienation, § 3. The death of Cecil Richardson did occur before the expiration of the ten-year term and respondents concede that the bequest to Huron College cannot be sustained if the devise to Cecil Richardson is to be considered.

It conclusively appears from the evidence that Cecil Richardson died fourteen days before the death of the testatrix and respondents contend that this event extinguished the trust in his favor. SDC 59.0215. The fact of suspension and postponement, or the term thereof, is determined with reference to the circumstances existing at the time the will took effect. 48 C.J., Perpetuities, § 112; 70 C.J.S., Perpetuities, § 45f. The above text in Corpus Juris Secundum states the rules as follows: “Where a person by whose life a suspension or postponement is attempted to be measured is dead when the instrument takes effect, the limitation is to be read as if it contained no provision for suspension or postponement during such life; and so, where a will according to its terms would create a suspension for an excessive period, but before the death of the testator one or more of the measuring lives has expired, the limitation is not invalid if the remaining provisions do not create an illegal suspension.”

The application of the above rule is demonstrated in the case of Tallman v. Tallman, 3 Misc. 465, 23 N.Y.S. 734, 738. There the will devised a life estate to the wife of testa[374]*374tor, and the remainder to the two children of an adopted daughter on condition that the survivor of the two daughters marry and have issue, otherwise to the residuary legatees. The death of the wife occurred before that of the testator. The residuary legatees claimed that the devise suspended the power of alienation for more than two lives in being and therefore violated the rule against perpetuities. The court said: “But the will speaks as of the time of the testator’s death, and whatever might have been the effect, had Maria E. Tallman, his wife survived him, matters not, as by her death before him the legacies and devises to her lapsed, and are not to be considered in estimating the terms within which alienation is restrained, or the absolute ownership suspended. The death of the testator’s wife before his death leaves it as if she had not been named in the will.” By the death of Cecil Richardson before that of testator the devise to him lapsed, and the part of paragraph XIV relating to that devise is not to be considered in the interpretation of the will.

Respondents contend that “Paragraph XIV is a residuary-clause; it is a disposition of all that part of the estate not therefore disposed'of.

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Related

Geppert v. Winans
59 N.W.2d 727 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1953)
In Re McNair's Estate
53 N.W.2d 210 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1952)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 N.W.2d 210, 74 S.D. 369, 1952 S.D. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farrington-v-richardson-sd-1952.