In re Edwin Forrest Home

1 Pa. Fid. 219

This text of 1 Pa. Fid. 219 (In re Edwin Forrest Home) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Edwin Forrest Home, 1 Pa. Fid. 219 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1981).

Opinion

Opinion by

Bruno, J.,

This matter. is before the court upon the petition of William J. Green, as mayor of the City of Philadelphia, for a citation directed to the board of managers of The Edwin Forrest Home to show cause why they should not file an account pursuant to Section 7181 of the Probate, Estates and Fiduci[220]*220aries Code of 1972, as amended. A timely answer was filed thereto by the board of managers. Additionally, Lawrence Barth, Esquire, entered an appearance for the Attorney General as parens patriae.

Edwin Forrest, the famous Shakespearean actor, died on December 12, 1872, leaving a will dated April 5, 1866 and codicils thereto dated April 5, 1866 and October 8, 1871. The will and codicils were probated before the Register of Wills of Philadelphia County on January 16, 1873.

By his will, Edwin Forrest created a residuary trust for his sisters, Caroline and Eleanora, for their lives or until their respective marriages, and directed that no later than twenty-one years after the death of the survivor of his sisters his trustees were to form a corporation to operate an institution to be known as “The Edwin Forrest Home,” the paramount purpose of which “shall be for the support and maintenance of actors and actresses decayed by age or disabled by infirmity ...”

On April 7, 1873 the trustees created a nonprofit corporation under the then existing laws of the Commonwealth. The Orphans’ Court of Philadelphia County, by an adjudication of Hanna, J., dated May 10, 1882, awarded the assets of the estate to The Edwin Forrest Home.

The articles of incorporation and the bylaws of the Home reflect the plan for the Home outlined by Edwin Forrest in his will.

Article VI of the will and Section 6 of the articles of incorporation provide in relevant part as follows:

There shall be a picture gallery for the preservation and exhibition of my collection of engravings, pictures, statuary and other works of art.. .

The petition for a citation filed by the mayor of Philadelphia alleges, in pertinent part, as follows:

9. Within the last several years the current managers have undertaken certain actions with a stated purpose of liquidating by sale some, if not all of the collection of engravings, pictures, statuary and other works of art comprising the art collection of Edwin Forrest, said collections being bequeathed in trust to the Edwin Forrest Home for preservation and exhibition.
10. The current managers have entered into a written contract with Christie’s Auction House whereby two statues entitled “Comedy [221]*221and Tragedy” by William Rush and seven other paintings which were part of the Edwin Forrest Art Collection have been placed on public display and will be sold at public auction at Christie’s in New York City, New York on Thursday, May 22, 1980.

[As facts developed, this court issued a preliminary injunction on May 21, 1980, restraining the sale of “Comedy and Tragedy” and all other artworks in the collection. By agreement of all parties, the preliminary injunction was continued until the resolution of this matter and of other matters pertaining to the Home before the court.] The mayor contends that by selling the artworks the board of managers is not faithfully executing the terms of the will, and, therefore, an account is necessary.

The board of managers, in its answer, specifically denies the allegations contained in paragraphs 9 and 10 as being irrelevant and immaterial to the issue of whether an account should be filed in accordance with §7181 of the P.E.F. Code.

The mayor of the City of Philadelphia (hereinafter “petitioner”), claiming to be a party in interest under Article V of the will, contends that the Home holds the assets of Edwin Forrest’s estate in trust; therefore, as a trustee, the Home is subject to the accounting requirements of §7181 of the P.E.F. Code. That being so, the Home must file an account in accordance with Rule 61 of the Supreme Court Orphans’ Court Rules and with Rule 61.1 of the Philadelphia County Orphans’ Court Rules. In the alternative, the petitioner contends that regardless of the applicability of §7181 of the P.E.F. Code, the court can order an orphans’ court trustee type of account pursuant to Section 7783 of the Corporation Not for Profit Code, which is captioned “Review of Corporate Action.”

The board of managers of the Edwin Forrest Home (hereinafter “Respondents”) disagree. They submit that the mayor is not a party in interest under the will of the testator but rather under Section 5 of the articles of incorporation. They further submit that the Home holds the assets of Edwin Forrest’s estate in fee and not in trust. That being so, they are not required to file a trustee’s account.

The respondents do not contend that the Home is not subject to the jurisdiction of this court. Section 711 (21) of the [222]*222P.E.F. Code and Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration No. 2156 clearly vest the orphans’ court with jurisdiction over and control of nonprofit corporations. They do contend, however, that the Pennsylvania Nonprofit Corporation Law of 1972 was specifically enacted by the legislature to govern the internal affairs of nonprofit corporations; therefore, absent some specific reference in the Nonprofit Corporation Law to the applicability to the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code to nonprofit corporations (as in, for example, Section 7549 (b) of the Nonprofit Code), the Probate, Estates and Fiduciaries Code cannot be applied to nonprofit corporations.

To resolve this problem, it must first be determined the manner in which the Home holds the assets of Edwin Forrest’s estate. If the Home holds the estate as a trustee then it must file a formal trustee’s account in conformity with Local Rule 61.1. If, however, the Home holds the assets in fee for its corporate purposes, a determination must be made concerning the type of account, if any, which the Home must file. The matter appears to be one of the first impression.

Edwin Forrest’s will makes delightful reading. It is elegantly written. It betokens an age, quite unlike ours, when gentlemanliness was one of the highest civic virtues and when gentlemen of wealth and privilege felt honor-bound to aid their less fortunate fellow citizens. Nonetheless, the will, like the writing of the bard so admired by the testator, is not free from ambiguity. However, careful exegesis discloses that the Home holds the property in fee for its general and charitable purposes.

After giving his entire estate in trust for the benefit of his sisters, the testator directs his trustees to “take and hold all said property and estate in trust for an institution, which they will call ‘The Edwin Forrest Home,’ to embrace the purposes of which I hereinafter give the outline, which institution shall be established at my country place called ‘Springbrook’ . . The testator then outlines in some detail his plan for the Home. Finally, in the paragraph immediately preceding the signature clause, Edwin Forrest charges his trustees with the duty of forming a corporation for the purpose of carrying into effect his plan for the Home. He instructs them as [223]*223follows:

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1 Pa. Fid. 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-edwin-forrest-home-pactcomplphilad-1981.