First National Bank & Trust Co. of Muskogee v. Roberts

1970 OK 60, 467 P.2d 482
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 31, 1970
DocketNo. 42589
StatusPublished

This text of 1970 OK 60 (First National Bank & Trust Co. of Muskogee v. Roberts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First National Bank & Trust Co. of Muskogee v. Roberts, 1970 OK 60, 467 P.2d 482 (Okla. 1970).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Justice:

R. C. Roberts, Administrator of the Estate of Mabel W. Burleson, deceased, filed his petition in the trial court seeking a determination relieving that estate of any liability to The First National Bank and Trust Company of Muskogee, successor trustee of the trust estate of Lascelles W. Cranston, deceased, for the acts of Mabel W. Burleson occurring during her lifetime in the performance of her duties as trustee of the trust estate of Lascelles W. Cranston, deceased. From a judgment sustaining plaintiff’s petition, defendant successor trustee appeals.

On appeal, reference will be made to the parties as they appeared in the trial court.

The determinative issue before us on appeal is the effect of a final decree entered in a probate proceeding and of a judgment entered by the district court, both of which interpreted provisions relating to a testamentary trust contained in a holographic will dated April 23, 1953, and executed by Lascelles W. Cranston. After making initial directions and specific bequests, the pertinent part of the Cranston will involved herein provides:

“All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate and property of whatsoever nature and wherever situate whereof I may die siezed [sic] or possessed I bequeath to my said associate in joint ventures Mabel W. Burleson aforesaid my executor and trustee hereinafter named for the following uses and purposes, to-wit:
“ * * * I will and direct that the entire net income and interest * * * shall belong to the said Mabel W. Burle-son aforesaid for and during her lifetime or until she changes her marital status by remarriage, and no longer and she shall not be called upon to make any accounting to any person whatsoever for such interest and net income received from said trust estate.”
“6. Immediately upon the death or remarriage of said Mabel W. Burleson, I hereby will and direct, nominate, constitute and appoint the First National Bank and Trust of Muskogee, Oklahoma, Trustee for the purpose only of liquidating and distributing the Trust Estate property and funds to the devisees hereinafter named after payment of liquidating expenses to-wit: (naming testator’s brother Charles’ two daughters and Mrs. Burleson’s daughter as devisees to share equally).

Lascelle W. Cranston died in December, 1953, and his above mentioned will was duly admitted, to probate in the County Court of Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. In April, 1956, the final decree was entered in the probate proceeding. The pertinent parts of this final decree, as applicable [484]*484to the questions and testamentary trust involved herein, are as follows:

“19. That, in order to properly distribute decedents estate, the court not only has the authority to, but also should of necessity, construe and interpret said Will;
“That this Decree, construing and interpreting said Will, is to be read in its entirety, without reference to any other instrument, and the construction and interpretation of said Will, as hereinafter set out constitutes the sole and only instrument transferring decedent’s estate
JJJ ⅜ * * ⅝
“B”
“All the rest and residue of decedent’s estate be, and it is, hereby distributed, transferred, vested, assigned and conveyed to Mabel W. Burleson as trustee of the trust created by the Will of Lascelles W. Cranston, deceased, as construed and interpreted in this Decree.
“TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the same in trust for her own use and benefit during her natural life or until she re-marries.
“During her lifetime, or until she remarries, the said Mabel W. Burleson shall hold, use and deal with said property without any restriction whatsoever just as if she were the owner in her individual capacity of the fee simple title, and she shall not be required to make a bond, or give other security, for the faithful performance of her duties as said trustee, or to make an accounting to any person.” (Emphasis added).
* * * * * *
“Immediately upon the death or remarriage of the said Mabel W. Burle-son, the title and possession of all property then remaining in her hands as trustee shall vest in, and be delivered to, The First National Bank and Trust Company of Muskogee, Oklahoma, as trustee for the purpose only of liquidating the trust property, and distributing the funds.” (Emphasis added).

Subsequent to the entry of the final decree in the probate proceeding, and within a few months thereafter, Mabel W. Burleson in her capacity as trustee of the testamentary trust, filed in the District Court of Muskogee County her petition, pursuant to the Oklahoma Trust Act, then 60 O.S.1951, § 175.1 et seq., seeking an interpretation ' of the testamentary trust created in the last will of Cranston. Defendant successor trustee herein, as well as the residuary beneficiaries named in the Cranston will, were made parties to the proceeding.

In its judgment entered on November 28, 1956, in the above proceeding, the district court found, inter alia, that the County Court of Okmulgee County had jurisdiction to enter the final decree in the probate proceeding and that such decree had not been appealed and was res judicata and binding; that the testator Lascelles W. Cranston was not a lawyer and did not have the assistance of a lawyer in the drafting of his holographic will; and that two paragraphs of the will of Cranston relating to final distribution of the trust properties and to the residuary legatees or devisees were ambiguous. In its conclusions of law the district court interpreted the provisions of the Cranston will creating the testamentary trust in precisely the same language (with the minor change of one word) as had the final decree entered by the county court in the probate proceeding. There was no appeal from this judgment of the district court.

Mabel W. Burleson occupied the position of trustee of the trust involved herein until her death in December, 1965. Subsequent to her death, plaintiff, administrator of her estate, filed his petition herein seeking a determination that he had correctly advised defendant of all property for which he had any liability to deliver to defendant as successor trustee of the trust created by Cranston’s will and that the above recited judgment of the district [485]*485court was res judicata. Defendant answered by alleging that Burleson had disposed of properties of the trust during her lifetime for which she had made no accounting and that plaintiff, as administrator, should now make such an accounting.

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1957 OK 117 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
1970 OK 60, 467 P.2d 482, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-bank-trust-co-of-muskogee-v-roberts-okla-1970.