Grundy v. Drye

48 S.W. 155, 104 Ky. 825, 1898 Ky. LEXIS 232
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedDecember 1, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 48 S.W. 155 (Grundy v. Drye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grundy v. Drye, 48 S.W. 155, 104 Ky. 825, 1898 Ky. LEXIS 232 (Ky. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

JUDGE BURNAM

delivered the opinion of the court.

Charles Grundy died, testate, in the year 1881, and his, sons, Thomas and Palmer Grundy, and his brother, Samuel R. Grundy qualified as executors on the 24th day of October, 1881, executing their own bond, without security. By the terms of the will, Samuel R. Grundy was not only named as executor, but also trustee of testator’s daughter, Mrs. Tucker; and he qualified as trustee, with Thomas S, and Palmer Grundy as sureties, on October 25, 1881, in the-County Court of Washington county. On June 22, 1882,. •he filed in the same court his resignation as trustee, but no order has been made by that court discharging him from the trust. On November 24, 1883, the executors made a settlement of their accounts in the County Court, which showed that there was going to each of the three children of Charles Grundy, to-wit, Thomas S. Grundy, Palmer Grundy, and Mrs. Tucker, $6,735.76. On August 21, 1884* [831]*831Mrs. Susan Tucker and her husband, James H. Tucker filed a suit in the Washington Circuit Court seeking to discharge the trust imposed by the will on Samuel R. Grundy, for the reason, as set out in the petition, that Samuel R. Grundy had refused to act as trustee, and because of her inability to induce any one else to do so, in his stead, and asked the court to enter judgment discharging the trust, and for payment by the executors of her share of the personalty directly to herself. To this petition a general demurrer was filed by the executors, and sustained, and the action dismissed. On appeal to this court, that judgment was reversed on January 28, 1886, this court saying: “We do not think the facts stated in the petition are such as to authorize a judgment discharging the trust .whereby the manifest intention of the testator will be defeated.....In this case, Samuel R. Grundy, having once accepted the office of trustee, it seems to us, was not bythe mere tender of his resignation in the County Court discharged from his duties. But, whether he was or not, as one of the executors of the will he is to be regarded as a trustee as to the money in the hands of the executors, and he and the other executors should be held accountable to Lucy Tucker for the interest thereon to the date of the settlement.....The judgment must be, therefore, reversed, and the cause remanded, with directions to hold the executors responsible for the funds in their hands for the use of Lucy Tucker, until a trustee is appointed in the place of Samuel R. Grundy, which the court, in its discretion, may or may not do.’’ See 83 Ky., 541.

After the return of the case to the Circuit Court of Washington county, no further steps were taken therein until the September term, 1891, when the case was ordered to be reinstated upon the equity docket; At the March [832]*832term, 1802, the cause was .preferred, to the master commissioner, to ascertain the amount in the hands of the defendants, as executors of Charles Grundy, devised in trust to Susan Tucker by the will of her father, and also to report what sums had been paid to Susan Tucker, and the commissioner was directed to report to the next term of the court. No report was made under this order of reference before the death of Mrs. Tucker, who died in 1893, intestate, leaving, surviving her, her husband, James II. Tucker, and three children. James II. Tucker, before he died, transferred all his interest in the fund due his wife to his children by Susan Tucker, and this transfer was filed in the records of this case. On May 5, 1894, after the death of James H. Tucker, the children of Susan Tucker instituted their action against the executors, to recover what was due their mother, as shown by the County Court settlement; and on the 14th day of May, 1894, Thomas S. Grundy filed a suit in equity against Palmer Grundy, the personal representative of Samuel Grundy and the children of Susan Tucker, and asked and obtained from the clerk an injunction restraining the plaintiffs from prosecuting actions against him, and proceeding to collect their claims against him except in that suit. Thereupon the children of Susan Tucker filed answer ancj cross petition in the suit instituted by Thomas S. Grundy, as executor of Charles Grundy,, setting up their claim. The defendants filed general demurrer to the suit of the heirs and representatives of Susan Tucker against the executors which was sustained; and in the suit of Thomas Grundy, executor of Charles Grundy, against the heirs and representatives of Susan Tucker, a demurrer to their answer was sustained also. From these judgments, they appealed to this court, and they were both reversed on April 1, 1896, this court saying: “These two [833]*833cases must go back, and be consolidated, and a settlement made, and a judgment rendered for what is due from the trust fund to the parties entitled to it. The personal representative of the deceased husband of Mrs. Tucker should be made a defendant, although it appears that his interest was transferred to his children in his lifetime. This he had the power to do. Still, his personal representative may contest the transfer, and, if he is not a defendant, either party may bring him before the court by proper pleading. The ordinary action must be transferred to equity, and tried with the case of Thomas Grundy. The judgments are both reversed and remanded for that purpose, and that a settlement may be had and a judgment rendered for what is due the appellant.” Drye v. Grundy’s Ex’rs, 18 Ky. Law Rep., 13 [35 S. W., 119]. In the meantime, in July, 1895, Thomas S. Grundy, one of the executors, made an assignment, and it seems to be admitted in the record that he is insolvent.

After the return of the cases to the lower court, Samuel R. Grundy’s executor and Palmer Grundy both filed answers. Samuel R. Grundy’s’ executor denies any liability by reason of having qualified as trustee, because the County Court of Washington county had no authority to take any bond as trustee, and that Thomas S. Grundy, one of the executors of the wall of Charles Grundy, had, in fact, handled, collected, and managed the estate of Charles Grundy, deceased, under his will; that he did not receive or handle any of the assets; and that the executors had never at any time set apart any of the funds or assets in their hands for the benefit of Susan Tucker; and further relied upon the fact that on the 17th day of March, 1881, Susan Tucker and her husband, James IT. Tucker, had appointed Thomas S. Grundy trustee, instead of S. R. Grundy; “that [834]*834Thomas S. Grundy had accepted the trust, and acted' under it, and retained in his hands, by consent of the cestui que trust, all the trust funds from year to year, making payments of the interest to the beneficiaries of the trust.” And the defendant, Palmer Grundy, for answer to the petition of appellees, seeks to escape responsibility — First, because he says he had never collected or received any property or assets of his father’s estate, or exercised any dominion or authority or control over same, and had only received his portion as one of the devisees under the will long after the settlement made in November, 1883. He alleges that his brother, Thomas S. Grundy was the real executor, and had charge and control of all the assets, to the exclusion of the defendant, and paid to him his portion under the will. He further relied upon an alleged agreement entered into between Susan Tucker and her husband, James H. Tucker, by which, on the 17th of March, 1884. Thomas S. Grundy was appointed trustee for Susan Tucker, in place of Samuel R.

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Bluebook (online)
48 S.W. 155, 104 Ky. 825, 1898 Ky. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grundy-v-drye-kyctapp-1898.