Hartley v. Unknown Heirs of Wyatt

117 N.E. 995, 281 Ill. 321
Illinois Supreme Court·Decided December 19, 1917·No. No. 11678·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Carter

delivered the opinion of the court:

A bill, afterward amended, was filed in the circuit court of Edgar county to construe the. will of Shelby Wyatt and to quiet the title in appellants to 73 acres of land in said county. All the defendants in said bill answered, and replications were thereafter filed by the complainants. After the pleadings were settled a hearing was had before the court and the bill was dismissed for want of equity. This appeal then followed.

Shelby Wyatt died testate in 1903, seized in fee of the land in question, leaving one son, John Wyatt, and two daughters. By his will he left certain land to each of his daughters in fee simple and devised the 73 acres in question by the second clause .of the will, which reads as follows:

“Second—I give, bequeath and devise to Timothy Mc-Cuddy, in trust for the use and benefit of my son, John Wyatt, for and during only the lifetime of the said John Wyatt, the following described real estate: [Here follows the description of the 73 acres.] And I hereby give to the said Timothy McCuddy full power and authority to either rent said premises so combed in trust to him and to collect the rents and profits thereof and to pay the same to the said John Wyatt or for his support or benefit, as he, the said Timothy McCuddy, may deem most advisable for the welfare and comfort of the said John Wyatt, or the said Timothy McCuddy may, if he consider it for the best interest of the said John Wyatt, permit him to live upon and farm said premises. After the death of my said son, John Wyatt, I give, bequeath and devise the said premises above devised in trust to the said Timothy McCuddy, to the heirs-at-law of the said John Wyatt. And I hereby direct that the said Timothy McCuddy shall retain as his compensation for his services as such trustee, as aforesaid, ten per cent of the rents and profits arising therefrom.”

John Wyatt at the date-said will was probated had five children by his first wife, viz., James S., Ira and Adelbert Wyatt, and Effie Holaday and Mary Smith. He also had one child, Emma Wyatt, by his second wife. Under a guardian’s sale the share of James S. Wyatt was purchased by Jacob E. Wyatt and A. K. Hartley. Effie Holaday conveyed her share in said land to the same two persons. Since then Jacob E. Wyatt has died, leaving a widow and two children. Ira and Adelbert sold their respective shares to W. T. Watson. Neither Mary Smith nor Emma Wyatt conveyed away her interest in said land, but Mary Smith has since died, leaving a husband and two children as her heirs. The will of Shelby Wyatt was probated November, 1903, and his estate was fully administered. Timothy Mc-Cuddy was trustee until January 14, 1908, when he resigned and John H. Owens was appointed. Owens resigned February 19, 1908, never having qualified or served, and James Wyatt was appointed. On July 7, 1909, James Wyatt resigned and N. Y. Nelson was appointed. Nelson never qualified or served, and since his appointment there has been no trustee nor was any action taken concerning the trustee or the appointing of one, and there is now no person acting as trustee under the will. On July 28, 1909, Timothy McCuddy gave a quit-claim deed of the land in question to John Wyatt. On the same date Wyatt gave a warranty deed to the land to W. T. Watson, and thereafter Watson conveyed an undivided one-half interest in the land to A. K. Hartley.

Appellants claim that the second clause of the will should be construed to mean that the 73 acres were placed in trust in Timothy McCuddy for the use of John Wyatt during the lifetime of John, with the added provision that when McCuddy should consider it for the best interest of John Wyatt the premises were to be turned over to John; that the trust in McCuddy was active in the beginning but became passive when he by his quit-claim deed executed his discretionary power and turned the premises over to John Wyatt; that when the trust became passive the Statute of Uses executed a life estate in the premises in Wyatt, and that when Wyatt took the life estate, under the rule in Shelley’s case he. became seized of the fee simple title in said land.

The question at issue here is whether under said will the 73 acres in question are entirely owned by appellants, Alphaus K. Hartley and William T. Watsón, as tenants in common, or whether the remainder in the premises, after the death of John Wyatt, is owned by the children of John or those claiming under them. Where a trust is an express one, the true test to determine whether the Statute of Uses has intervened is to find the proper construction to put upon the terms of the instrument creating the trust, in order to ascertain what duties are imposed on the trustee, and then determine whether or not they have been performed, and if they have not been performed, the trust still exists and the statute has not intervened. (McFall v. Kirkpatrick, 236 Ill. 281.) The object of this trust was to furnish John Wyatt with an income to live on, or to give him a place where he could earn a living, if in the discretion of the trustee it was decided that it was best to allow Wyatt to occupy and manage the land himself. This trust created by the will of Shelby Wyatt was clearly a spendthrift trust for the benefit of his son, John. It is not necessary that the cestui qu-e trust shall be called a spendthrift, or that the testator shall give his reasons for creating such trust, or that the will shall contain, in express terms,.all the restrictions and qualifications incident to such a trust, or that it contain an express provision against the alienation of the trust property. If it appears from the whole will that the testator intended to create such a trust, such an intention will be given effect. Anderson v. Williams, 262 Ill. 308; Bennett v. Bennett, 217 id. 434; Wagner v. Wagner, 244 id. 101.

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Hartley v. Unknown Heirs of Wyatt, 117 N.E. 995, 281 Ill. 321 (Ill. 1917).

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