Hunt v. Dallas Trust & Savings Bank

237 S.W. 605, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 9
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 3, 1921
DocketNo. 8582. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 237 S.W. 605 (Hunt v. Dallas Trust & Savings Bank) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunt v. Dallas Trust & Savings Bank, 237 S.W. 605, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 9 (Tex. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinions

This suit was brought by Dallas Trust Savings Bank for the purpose of obtaining a construction of the will of Mrs. Irene Hunt Springfield, who, when she died, left her will in the following language:

"1. I desire and elect that all my just debts be paid out of my estate without delay by my executor hereinafter named.

"2. I devise and bequeath to my husband, Wells Lancaster Springfield, the sum of $25,000 to be paid to him out of my separate estate.

"3. I devise and bequeath to my husband all personal property owned by me at my death.

"4. I devise and bequeath to my husband a life estate in all real property owned by me at my death, the $25,000 bequest set forth in No. 2 above having been first deducted.

"5. In case my husband shall not survive me and at his death it is my desire that all property owned by me at my death shall be distributed in the following manner:

"(a) I devise and bequeath to my sister, Mrs. Estelle Hunt Plowman, a one-third interest in and to all my property, both real and personal.

"(b) I devise and bequeath unto my brother, Grafton S. Hunt, a one-third interest in and to all my property, both real and personal.

"(c) The remaining one-third I desire to be distributed as follows:

"(1) I desire that my executor hereinafter named shall pay the sum of $5,000 to my brother, Zimri Hunt.

"(2) I desire that the remaining portion of this one-third interest, above referred to, shall be distributed equally between Grafton Wortham Hunt and Zimri Hunt, Jr., children of my brother, Zimri Hunt.

"(3) In the event my husband does not survive me and my property shall descend to the parties named in paragraph 5(a), (b) and (c), above set forth, it is my desire that the Dallas Trust and Savings Bank of Dallas, Texas, hereinafter appointed my executor shall have the absolute management and control of the property herein bequeathed to the two sons of my brother, Zimri Hunt, named in (c)(2) above, with power to dispose, invest, control and manage same until both Grafton Wortham Hunt and Zimri Hunt, Jr., shall have attained the age of thirty years, at which date the said Dallas Trust and Savings Bank shall deliver unto them the property herein bequeathed.

"6. My property consists of my separate property and a one-half interest in the community estate of my husband, Wells Lancaster Springfield, and myself, consisting mainly of real estate, located in the City and County of Dallas, and State of Texas.

"7. It is my desire that in case I die before my husband that the execution of the terms of this will shall be placed in the hands and management of the Dallas Trust and Savings Bank of Dallas, Texas, which said bank shall have absolute control and right to dispose and management of my estate during the lifetime of my husband and in furtherance of this desire I devise and bequeath unto the said Dallas Trust and Savings Bank of Dallas, Texas, all my real property to be held by it in trust for the purpose of carrying out the terms of this will.

"8. I hereby constitute and appoint the Dallas Trust and Savings Bank executor of this my last will and testament and direct that no bond or security be required of it as such executor. It is my wish that no further action shall be had in the courts of this State in the administration of my estate than to approve and record this will and to return an inventory and appraisement of my estate and list of claims."

After the will had been duly probated and the Dallas Trust Savings Bank had qualified as independent executor, a portion of the land was sold for the purpose of complying with the second clause of the will, and, out of the proceeds of the sale, the $25,000 bequeathed to Mr. Springfield was paid in full. The trial court to which the case was submitted by its decree adjudged that the will authorized the bank to sell the unsold land at its discretion, from which decree appellants have appealed.

The clause of the will of primary concern in this suit, and the legal significance and effect thereof in its relation to other portions of the will, is clause No. 7. The controversy revolves around the respective conflicting conclusions of appellants and appellees as to the powers, rights, and duties the testatrix intended by this clause to confer upon the bank. It is contended on behalf of appellants, who are all the remaindermen to whom the entire estate is to pass in fee upon the termination of the life estate, that clause 7 passes no title or estate to the bank which would survive its tenure as executor, and that, if clause 7 means anything at all, it is that, when the bank's duties as executor are discharged, then its maxium possible relationship to the estate will be one of agency with limited powers, and that this relationship will not arise until its duties as executor are ended.

Appellants having concluded that the powers conferred by clause 7 of the will do not go beyond the limited powers of agency, they advance the proposition that such powers cannot be exercised to destroy the purposes of the testatrix reflected in other portions of the will, which purposes forbid the conferring upon the bank, by the terms of clause 7, of the qualities of a trustee, or the right and authority to convert the real estate for purposes of investment over the objection of the owners of the fee title in remainder; and it is contended that, under the rules of law and the terms of the will, the estates in remainder immediately vested in the beneficiaries to whom they were given, upon the probating of the will, as of date of Mrs. Springfield's death, although the beneficial enjoyment was deferred until the expiration of the life estate given to the testatrix's husband. The position is advanced throughout appellants' argument that the intention stands out from the will that Mrs. Springfield desired her husband to take a life *Page 607 estate in her real estate, and her other devisees to take estates in remainder in real estate, and that, if the bank is held to have the power and authority under the terms of clause 7 to convert the land into other forms of assets in pursuit of its own unrestrained inclination, the declared intention of the will will be defeated, so that the privilege of enjoying the advantages of ownership of the land as intended will be defeated and destroyed.

On the other hand, appellants say that, if clause 7 of the will is construed in conformity with their view, it will be held to be "a reservoir in which are to be found stored certain powers of the trust company as executor, as well as certain powers of it as agent," so that the intention of the will reflected in other portions of it will be given effect, and the land itself thus will be passed to the heirs of the testatrix. Appellants say that the powers of the bank reflected in clause 7 are subordinate to the dispositions and inseparably joined with the scheme of the will elsewhere contained in its provisions. They give it the following application: They say that the provision for the payment of the testatrix's debts out of her estate is to be carried out through the right of control, management, and disposal given in clause 7; that the provision for the payment of the $25,000 to Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 S.W. 605, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunt-v-dallas-trust-savings-bank-texapp-1921.