In Re Succession of Meadors

135 So. 2d 679, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 1567
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 22, 1961
Docket9589
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 135 So. 2d 679 (In Re Succession of Meadors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Succession of Meadors, 135 So. 2d 679, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 1567 (La. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

135 So.2d 679 (1961)

Succession of Dr. Hudson L. MEADORS.

No. 9589.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

November 22, 1961.
Rehearing Denied December 27, 1961.
Certiorari Denied February 6, 1962.

Simon, Carroll, Fitzgerald & Fraser, Shreveport, for respondents-appellants.

Meadors, Shaw & Meadors, Homer, for plaintiff-appellee.

Before HARDY, GLADNEY and BOLIN, JJ.

BOLIN, Judge.

The decedent, Dr. Hudson L. Meadors, died testate while domiciled in the State of Tennessee, and was survived by a wife and numerous collateral relations. His last will and testament was probated in Tennessee, and the Nashville Bank and Trust Company of Nashville, Tennessee, was confirmed as Testamentary Executor thereof. Since decedent at his death owned immovable property located in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, ancillary proceedings were instituted in that parish and the Tennessee executor was also confirmed as executor for the Louisiana property of the decedent.

The will of decedent, after making several particular legacies, bequeathed the residue of his estate to the Nashville Bank and Trust Company, in trust, to hold, manage and dispose of according to the particular *680 instructions contained in the instrument. The trust instrument provides mainly that the trustee collect the properties, administer them, and pay to one Annie Mary M. Winters, a sister of decedent, the sum of $100 per month during her life, and all of the remaining income to the decedent's wife, Marjorie Bowers Meadors during her life, the trust instrument further provides that upon the death of either the sister or the wife, all of the income is to be paid to the survivor until her death, at which time the trust will terminate and the property of the trust estate will go to decedent's heirs at law and next of kin as determined by the laws of Descent and Distribution of the State of Tennessee. The trust instrument also provides that the trustee has the discretionary authority to encroach upon the principal of the trust estate in order to take care of any emergency needs of the wife because of illness, accident or other unusual circumstances. The instrument also authorizes the trustee, in its discretion, to determine whether any or all property (except stock dividends) coming into its possession shall be treated as principal or income.

On December 7, 1960, the Nashville Bank and Trust Company petitioned the court for a rule to show cause why, among other things:

1. Petitioner's final account should not be approved and petitioner discharged as executor of the estate;

2. Lynn Haston should not be appointed trustee of the property left by decedent in the State of Louisiana (in place of petitioner who was disqualified by the Louisiana Trust Estates Act from serving as trustee) and be sent and placed in possession of the said properties to hold them in trust subject to the terms and conditions of decedent's last will and testament; and

3. The oil and/or gas royalties, lease bonuses and/or delay rentals earned or to be earned from the Louisiana property should not be classified as "income" and treated as such by the trustee.

Respondents filed an answer to the petition and rule, opposing same insofar as it pertained to the treatment of oil and/or gas royalties, lease bonuses, or rentals contending they should be classified as principal and accordingly be considered as comprising a part of the corpus of the Trust Estate and eventually be invested to produce income. However, on April 7, 1961, the court rendered judgment rejecting respondent's opposition and making the rule absolute.

On April 4, 1961, respondents employed their present counsel. After the judgment was signed and a motion for a new trial was overruled, respondents appealed. After the appeal was lodged in this court, an exception of no cause or right of action was filed.

In their brief respondents set forth the following errors in the proceedings below:

"1.

"The District Court erred in approving the first and final account of the testamentary executor and discharging the said executor.

"2.

"The District Court erred in ordering Lynn Haston sent into and placed in possession of decedent's Louisiana immovable property, as trustee in trust for the use and benefit of Marjorie Bowers Meadors and Annie Meadors Winters.

"3.

"The District Court erred in authorizing Lynn Haston, as trustee of the Louisiana properties of decedent, in his absolute discretion to determine whether any oil and/or gas royalties, lease bonuses, and/or delay rentals earned or paid or which may be earned or paid in the future and attributable to the Louisiana properties owned by the decedent which come into the possession of the said trustee shall be treated as principal or income."

*681 We will first direct our attention to the exception of no cause or right of action which is predicated on respondents' contention that the will of Dr. Hudson L. Meadors is absolutely null under Louisiana law insofar as it affects Louisiana immovable property because it contains prohibited substitutions and because it commits the institution of heirs and other testamentary dispositions to the choice of a third person.

LSA-C.C. art 1520 provides, in part, as follows:

"Substitutions and fidei commissa are and remain prohibited.

"Every disposition by which the donee, the heir, or legatee is charged to preserve for or to return a thing to a third person is null, even with regard to the donee, the instituted heir or the legatee."

Article 4, Section 16 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1921, as amended, LSA, reads, in part, as follows:

"* * * No law shall be passed authorizing the creation of substitutions, fidei commissas or trust estates; except that the legislature may authorize the creation of trust estates for a period not exceeding ten years from the settler's death as to a beneficiary which is not a natural person; ten years from the settler's death as to a beneficiary who is a natural person or until the death of the beneficiary whichever is the longer period * *."

And Section 1 of the Trust Estates Law, (LSA-R.S. 9:1791), provides, in part, as follows:

"* * * Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed * * * as authorizing the creation of substitutions, fidei commissa, or trust estates except to the limited extent expressly provided for herein."

Thus it is seen that the Legislature and the people have sought to retain our traditional prohibitions against substitutions, fidei commissa, and trust estates except to the very limited extent expressly provided for in the Trust Estate Law. Therefore, if a trust device is incorporated in a testamentary trust, and that trust device is not expressly permitted by our Trust Estates Law or is recognizable as creating a prohibited substitution, that portion of the will containing the trust device must be held to be a nullity.

In the will in question, the testator left all property not specifically devised or bequeathed to a trustee, in trust, to hold, manage, and dispose of according to the terms set forth in the will. The will provided that the trustee should distribute the income of the trust as follows:

"My Trustee shall pay over to my sister, Annie Mary M.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 So. 2d 679, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 1567, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-succession-of-meadors-lactapp-1961.