In re Sweetser's Estate

67 N.W. 130, 109 Mich. 198, 1896 Mich. LEXIS 828
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 67 N.W. 130 (In re Sweetser's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Sweetser's Estate, 67 N.W. 130, 109 Mich. 198, 1896 Mich. LEXIS 828 (Mich. 1896).

Opinion

Moore, J.

Alvah Sweetser and James W. Sanborn, for many years prior to 1869, were associated in business as lumbermen, merchants, and bankers, at the city of Port Huron, under the firm name of Sweetser & Sánborn. They owned lumber lands in nearly all the pine counties of the State, to some of which they had full title, but much the larger portion were owned in common with other persons and firms. Sweetser died in 1869, leaving all his property to his wife, Mary Jane Sweetser, who was a sister of Sanborn. After Sweetser’s death the business was carried on under the firm name of James W. Sanborn & Co. James W. Sanborn died in April, 1870, leaving a will by which John P. Sanborn and Newell Avery were made his executors and trustees.

Mary Jane Sweetser died in October, 1870, leaving a will, and an estate which was subsequently appraised at upwards of $205,000. By the terms of her will, made in May, 1870, she created specific bequests to the extent of $209,000. She also made provision, in the final item of the will, that the residue of the estate, after payment of all debts and legacies, should be divided equally between four ecclesiastical societies named, and that John P. San-born and Newell Avery should be executors. October 1, 1870, she made a codicil revoking the final item of her will, and providing for the disposal of the residue of the estate in equal parts among her four brothers and sisters, or their heirs. It is claimed that this codicil revoked the appointment of the executors, previously named.

It was apparent to both executors that the estate would not pay the legacies and debts, if closed up in the course of ordinary proceedings in probate court; and as substantially all’ the estate was held in jointure with the Sanborn estate, in which they had qualified as executors and trustees, and Avery was also personally interested in many of the lands, they did not feel at liberty to accept administration of the estate unless matters were so arranged that the general business .could be continued in the manner it had formerly proceeded. As all persons [200]*200interested in the estate wished the business to be continued, a conveyance was made by the residuary legatees named in the codicil, by the terms of which the entire estate was conveyed in fee simple to Sanborn and Avery in trust to carry out the provisions of the will. The habendum and tenendum clause of said deed reads as follows:

“To have and to hold the same, however, in trust, and to and for the uses and purposes of performing and carrying out the provisos, interests, and purposes of the said will of the said Mary J. Sweetser, and for no other purpose, and to which said will special reference is hereby made, with the same effect as though the same were set out herein at length; and this conveyance is upon the further trust, use, and benefit of, all and singular, the legatees and beneficiaries entitled under and by virtue of said will of said Mary J. Sweetser, that any, each, and all of the said legatees and beneficiaries may release and acknowledge payment to the said parties of the second part, in their capacity of and as such executors, of their respective legacies or bequests so contained in said will, and the same shall still be payable under and by virtue of this conveyance and disposition, the same as it would were a power of sale contained in said will; and this conveyance is made to the end and purpose that the terms, conditions, and provisos in said will may be carried out and performed under this conveyance, and to the same effect, and upon the further trust and authority that the parties of the second part proceed and sell, either at public or private sale, as soon as possible without necessary loss from any disposition or conversion of property into money, and to make, execute, acknowledge, and deliver all necessary and proper deeds, conveyances, and bills of sale, of, all and singular, said property, real, personal, and mixed, whereby the purchaser or purchasers shall have conveyed to them all such title and interest in „said estate and property as the said Mary J. Sweetser might or could have conveyed in her lifetime. And the said parties of the second part, in the execution of this trust, and the payment of the legacies as provided for in said will, and in all their duties hereunder, shall and will perform the same in all respects, and be governed in all their acts, the same as they would, and as the law requires [201]*201of them, under said will, did the same contain the same powers of disposition and sale as is above specified and set forth.”

This deed was recorded.

On the date of the execution of the deed, application was made to the probate court for the allowance of the will, and it was admitted to probate. Sanborn and Avery gave separate bonds as executors, each in the sum of $50,-000. The sureties on Sanborn’s bond were John Hibbard and John Johnston; the former of whom is now dead, and the latter insolvent. In 1875 the executors filed accounts in the probate court for the years 1871 to 1874, inclusive; and from time to time statements of account were filed and allowed by the probate court until and including the year 1882. These statements, after the death of Avery, which occurred in 1877, were made and filed by John P. Sanborn, who represented himself as sole executor. The last account filed shows a balance of personal property remaining in Sanborn’s hands amounting to $63,103.23. Afterwards, in 1885, Sanborn furnished to one of the parties interested in said estate a memorandum of property in his hands belonging to the estate, showing land contracts, mortgages, bills receivable, etc., drawing interest, at $91,-000, and real estate valued at $116,465.

Two of the original residuary legatees were Peter San-born and Hannah Merrill, both of whom died some years ago, leaving as an heir at law William H. Sanborn, who likewise died in 1892, leaving as his heir at law Mehitable D. Sanborn, his mother. Mehitable D. Sanborn is the petitioner in this proceeding. January 10, 1893, she filed a petition in the probate court of St. Clair county, asking that John P. Sanborn be required to file a new bond and an account in the probate court as executor of the estate of Mary Jane Sweetser, deceased. The probate court ordered Sanborn to file a new bond in the sum of $50,000. Sanborn appealed to the circuit court, and the said court made an order requiring him to give a new bond in the sum of $100,000, and to file in the probate court of St. [202]*202Clair county his account as executor, within 30 days. Sanborn took no exceptions to the findings of fact of the circuit judge, but did except to the conclusions of law based upon such findings.

The appellant alleges—

“That the petitioner, Mehitable.Sanhorn, had no such interest in the estate as authorized her to file a petition under 2 How. Stat. § 6006, which provides 'that such order may be made ‘ on the petition of any person interested ; ’ that it is undisputed that whatever right William H. Sanborn had in the estate of Mary Jane Sweetser, as heir of two of the residuary legatees, descended to the petitioner, but it is claimed by the appellant that the legal title to the property of the said estate was in John P. Sanborn, under the trust deed, and therefore there was no realty to descend to the petitioner, and her only remedy is in equity.”

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Bluebook (online)
67 N.W. 130, 109 Mich. 198, 1896 Mich. LEXIS 828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sweetsers-estate-mich-1896.