In re Estate of Bolling

211 N.E.2d 104, 4 Ohio Misc. 51, 33 Ohio Op. 2d 68, 1965 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 302
CourtCuyahoga County Probate Court
DecidedJune 10, 1965
DocketNo. 598951
StatusPublished

This text of 211 N.E.2d 104 (In re Estate of Bolling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Cuyahoga County Probate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Estate of Bolling, 211 N.E.2d 104, 4 Ohio Misc. 51, 33 Ohio Op. 2d 68, 1965 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 302 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1965).

Opinion

Andrews, Chief Referee.

The Central National Bank of Cleveland, as executor of the estate of Stewart Bolling, brings this application for an order of distribution of certain assets held by it and ready for distribution in such manner as the court may determine.

The assets listed in the application are an “account receivable” in the amount of $17,332.66 (paid up since the filing of the application) and principal cash amounting to $842.15 at the time the application was filed.

At a hearing held before me on October 7, 1964, counsel agreed that the amount in dispute is the $17,332.66. Any funds in addition to this are unrelated to the “account receivable” and are part of the residuary estate. The “account receivable” consisted of an indebtedness from Big Lonely Ranch, Inc., to the testator, for money which he advanced to the company.

During the course of the hearing, counsel decided to attempt a settlement, and further proceedings were postponed pending such an attempt. After several months, counsel reported that a settlement was impossible, and after the filing of further briefs, the matter was submitted to me for decision.

The question at issue is whether the fund representing payment of the account receivable passes as part of the residuary estate under item six of the will, one-half to testator’s widow and one-half in trust for his daughter, Barbara, or whether it passes under item five, in trust for the lineal descendants of testator’s son, Stewart Norris Bolling.

The dispositive provision of item five states:

* * I give and bequeath any and all securities issued by Big Lonely Ranch, Inc., a Virginia Corporation, which I may own at the time of my death, to Central National Bank of Cleveland * * *, in trust * * . .

If the account receivable comes within the term, “any and all securities issued by Big Lonely Ranch, Inc.,” the fund representing it passes under this item; if not, under item six.''

No testimony was given at the hearing. However, counsel agreed in open court to the.correctness of the facts contained in separate affidavits, one by the executor and the other by the guardian ad litem for the lineal'descendants of Stewart Norris Bolling. They agreed also to the correctness of the facts quot-'. ed in the October 7,1964, brief of the guardian ad litem from a [53]*53certain journal entry therein identified. The journal entry related to inheritance tax proceedings in this court, and I have examined it in full.

Counsel left to me the determination of the relevancy of the facts.

The extrinsic facts do not play a significant part in the construction of the will, but it will be helpful to mention a few of them at this point, in order to understand how the “account receivable ’ ’ was created.

Among his business interests, the testator owned stock in Big Lonely Ranch, Inc. Until October 12, 1959, his son, Stewart Norris Bolling, was also a stockholder. On that date the company bought in all the stock owned by Stewart Norris Bolling, paying $24,157.00 in cash, and giving two promissory notes for $12,000 each, maturing on August 12, 1960, and August 12, 1.961, respectively.

On August 17, 1959, Big Lonely Ranch had borrowed $24,-000 from a bank in Virginia. Whether this was done in order to make the cash payment on the purchase of Stewart Norris Bolling’s stock, we do not know from the agreed facts.

The testator executed his will on March 31, 1960. On April 5, 1960, he advanced $5,000 to Big Lonely Ranch, and on July 25, 1960, another $12,909.46. This made a total of $17,909.46, but, as already observed, the parties agreed at the hearing that the amount in dispute is $17,332.66, and there is no reason for me to encumber this opinion by including the details of how they reached that agreement.

The testator died suddenly and unexpectedly on August 4, 1960, at the age of seventy-five. He left surviving him his second wife, Mary K. Bolling; their daughter, Barbara Bolling, a minor; his son by a former marriage, Stewart Norris Bolling; and his son’s five minor children.

At the time of his death, and presumably when he made his will, the testator owned all the common stock of Big Lonely Ranch, Inc. The company had no preferred stock, bonds, or debentures. The stock has already been properly distributed under item five of the will.

With reference to his loan to Big Lonely Ranch, there was no evidence of any promissory note, or of any agreement between the company and the testator relating to repayment.

[54]*54The payment of the $17,332.66 by Big Lonely Ranch to the executor was made on December 26, 1963.

If item five stood alone, the solution of the problem presented would be simple. In business parlance we do not regard as the “securities” of a corporation, simple debts owed by the corporation to an individual. Rather, the word “securities” connotes such things as stocks, bonds, and debentures. Indeed, the guardian ad litem for the lineal descendants of Stewart Norris Bolling admitted at the hearing that except for item ten, section B, paragraph 12 of the will, the word, “securities,” would not include an account receivable.

Paragraph 12 defines the word, “securities,” as follows:

“The term ‘securities,’ wherever used in this instrument, shall include common and preferred stocks, contractual obligations of every kind, whether secured or unsecured, equitable interests in real or personal property, and intangible property of every description and howsoever evidenced.”

If that broad definition carries back to item five, and if the indebtedness in question falls within the definition, the indebtedness would apparently constitute a “security” within the meaning of item five.

The guardian ad litem points to the words, “wherever used in this instrument,” and declares that they mean exactly what they say. To restrict the definition of “securities” to its ordinary meaning, would not be interpretation or construction, he argues, but a bald rewriting of the will.

Counsel for the widow and daughter emphasizes that item five not only mentions “securities,” but adds “issued by Big Lonely Ranch, Inc.,” and he claims that the debt in question cannot be regarded as anything “issued by” the company. I will consider this point later.

Counsel for the widow and daughter also maintains that the preamble to section B of item ten, together with the general pattern of section B and of the will as a whole, leads to the conclusion that section B, including paragraph 12 thereof, relates solely to the administration of the trust property in the hands of the trustee, and has nothing to do with the question of what property passes under the dispositive provisions of the will. The complexity of the will, involving several trusts, and the innumerable powers and definitions required to carry out [55]*55the plan of the will, necessitated general definitions, such as that of “securities” in paragraph 12 of section B, continues counsel. The definition is obviously designed to give the trustees wide latitude in investing, he adds.

At this point it becomes necessary to consider the will in more detail, although I will examine only those parts of it which bear especially upon the problems involved. In connection with individual clauses, I will sometimes take up directly certain points raised by counsel concerning the particular clause.

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Bluebook (online)
211 N.E.2d 104, 4 Ohio Misc. 51, 33 Ohio Op. 2d 68, 1965 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-bolling-ohprobctcuyahog-1965.