Goodwyn v. Cassels

93 So. 405, 207 Ala. 482, 1922 Ala. LEXIS 174
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 11, 1922
Docket3 Div. 564.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 93 So. 405 (Goodwyn v. Cassels) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goodwyn v. Cassels, 93 So. 405, 207 Ala. 482, 1922 Ala. LEXIS 174 (Ala. 1922).

Opinion

*484 THOMAS, J.

Cardinal rules fdr the construction of wills need not be repeated. Smaw v. Young, 109 Ala. 528, 20 South. 370; Duncan v. De Yampert, 182 Ala. 528, 62 South. 673; Ralls v. Johnson, 200 Ala. 178, 75 South. 926; Gunter v. Townsend, 202 Ala. 160, 79 South. 644; Jemison v. Brasher, 202 Ala. 578, 81 South. 80; Lyons v. Bradley, 168 Ala. 505, 53 South. 244; Crawford v. Carlisle, 206 Ala. 379, 89 South. 565.

Generally speaking, words employed in a will are of two classes, peremptory or preca-tory; of direct and positive terms, as distinguished from entreaty, request, desire, wish, or recommendation. Within the latter class fall these words of Mr. Young’s will:

“I prefer that they [trustees] do not buy any real estate,”

—and in the former are the words:

“Said trustees shall immediately after my decease take posséssion of all my said property and estate and convert the same into cash. * * * Said trustees are hereby authorized and empowered to sell any of my property either at public or private sale * * * and to the reinvestment of such proceeds the purchaser shall not be bound to look. No part of my estate shall be disposed of by the said trustees except for the purpose of reinvestment.”

It should be stated that testator evinced no intent to create a trust “for the purpose of accumulation only” (22 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law [2d Ed.] p. 727, § VIII; Code, 1907, § 3410; Pearce v. Pearce, 199 Ala. 491, 74 South. 952; Campbell v. Weakley, 121 Ala. 64, 25 South. 694), but a trust for the objects and subjects of testator’s bounty.

The rule of sections 3410, 3417, of the Code has no application to the title to the lot in question or its alienation by said trustees, since the purchase price paid by said trustees after'testator’s death was personal property at the date of the death of testator; wills operating, not from the date of-execution, but that of the death of the testator (Caldwell v. Caldwell, 204 Ala. 161, 85 South. 493; Crawford v. Carlisle, supra; Gray’s Perpetuities, § 231; 5 M. A. L. § 243); or, if in lands, was required to be converted “into cash” by express direction given in section 2, item I, of Mr. Young’s will. It was, by the doctrine of equitable conversion, personal property.

Under the maxim that equity regards as done that which ought to be done (Craig v. Leslie, 3 Wheat. 563, 578, 4 L. Ed. 460; 21 C. J. § 191, p. 201), it is established that, where a testator directs the lands or other properties to be sold and converted into money on his death, there takes place what is known as an equitable conversion; and, so far as concerns the will of testator as to the land of his estate held at his death or thereafter purchased or acquired by his trustee as a part of the trust estate, it becomes converted, under this doctrine, into money, and is governed by the laws relating to personal property rather than that relating to land (Hibler v. Oliver, 193 Ala. 369, 375, 69 South. 477; Flomerfelt v. Siglin, 155 Ala. 633, 639, 47 South. 106, 130 Am. St. Rep. 67; Taylor v. Crook, 136 Ala. 354, 377, 34 South. 905, 96 Am. St. Rep. 26; Allen v. Watts, 98 Ala. 384, 388, 11 South. 646; Moore v. Campbell, 102 Ala. 445, 14 South. 780; Johnson v. Holifield, 82 Ala. 123, 2 South. 753; High v. Worley, 33 Ala. 196). See, also, McKleroy v. Musgrove, 203 Ala. 603, 615, 84 South. 280; Tatum v. C. B. & T. Co., 185 Ala. 249, 255, 64 South. 561; Bispham’s Principles of Equity (6th Ed.) § 307 et seq.; 3 Pom. Eq. Jur. (3d Ed.) §§ 1160-1162. If an imperative provision in a will directs that testator’s real estate be sold, the doctrine of equitable conversion is not inapplicable merely because the same is not to be accomplished until some specified future time. Massey v. Modawell, 73 Ala. 421; High v. Worley, supra; 1 Tiffany’s Real Prop. (2d Ed.) §§ 118, 120, 316. This doctrine of conversion is applicable in applying the rule against perpetuities. Gray’s Rule Against Perpetuities, §§ 264, 265, 266.

It is provided in section 2 of item I of the will:

“It is my will and desire that said trustees shall immediately after my decease take possession of all my said property and estate and convert the same into cash. They shall then proceed as rapidly as practicable to loan the said estate on real estate mortgages in the South preferably improved city real estate, and in no case shall the loan exceed sixty per cent-of the value of the real estate loaned on.”

The direction for conversion of the property of the estate “into cash” (money — 1 Words and Phrases) immediately after testator’s death and the taking possession of the properties and affairs of the estate by the trustees is imperative: there was an equitable conversion, and the devise is that of money. Cropley v. Cooper, 19 Wall. 167, 22 L. Ed. 109, 113; Neilson v. Lagow, 53 U. S. (12 How.) 98, 107, 13 L. Ed. 909, 913; Benham v. Taylor, 46 U. S. (5 How.) 233, 12 L. Ed. 130, 147. The doctrine had no application to the facts in Lyons v. Bradley, supra, and Crawford v. Carlisle, supra.

The will declared imperatively that “no part of my estate shall be disposed of by the said trustees except for the purpose of reinvestment,” and conferred on the trustees the *485 right to sell any part of the trust estate for such purpose, and implies a power of sale of property acquired by reinvestment. Perry on Trusts (5th Ed.)-§ 764 et seq.; Scottish-American Mortg. Co. v. Massie, 94 Tex. 339, 60 S. W. 544; First Nat. Bank v. Lee (Ky.) 66 S. W. 413.

In the execution of the trust in accordance with the intention of the testator, manifested by his will, the legal title to the “home for my [his] wife and children living together,” when acquired, vested and remained in the trustees, subject to the use or estate provided by testator. This was necessary to enable the trustees at all times during the administration to execute the trust declared. As to the vacant lot described in the bill and purchased with moneys of the estate, the will was mandatory to sell, and, of necessity, to convey in fee simple absolute, when not to be used for the erection thereon of the dwelling for testator’s wife and children, testator’s properties being required by the will to be immediately converted into cash, and to do this it was necessary that the trustees convey “a legal estate” that was vested in the trustees, or “commensurate with the interest which they must convey in execution of the trust.” Neilson v. Lagow, supra, 53 U. S. (12 How.) 107, 13 L. Ed. 913. Such was the testamentary direction and necessity as to the lands not used as a home for the “wife and children living together.” The power to purchase real estate for a home for testator’s wife and children living together was broad enough to buy or build such a home. The purpose for which the lot was originally purchased did not change or affect the power and duties of the trustees to convert same into money by a sale when it was not used as a home.

Pursuant to the foregoing view, the conveyance to the lot or land made the subject of the bill, from grantors Annie A; Roque-more and husband to the trustees, was to the trustees on such terms as to indicate the particular property was purchased for the purpose of the trust (Gulf Red Cedar Co. v. O’Neal, 131 Ala. 117, 30 South. 466, 90 Am. St. Rep. 22; McRae’s Adm’r v. McDonald, 57 Ala.

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Bluebook (online)
93 So. 405, 207 Ala. 482, 1922 Ala. LEXIS 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goodwyn-v-cassels-ala-1922.