In re the Accounting of Fidelity Union Trust Co.

202 Misc. 373, 110 N.Y.S.2d 26, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2765
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedNovember 23, 1951
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 202 Misc. 373 (In re the Accounting of Fidelity Union Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Surrogate's Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Accounting of Fidelity Union Trust Co., 202 Misc. 373, 110 N.Y.S.2d 26, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2765 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1951).

Opinion

Frankenthaler, S.

One of the objections interposed to the account of the trustees is to the credit taken for a loss that resulted upon the sale of the trust estate’s half interest in realty located on Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey. The property was acquired by the testator through a mortgage foreclosure shortly before his death. In the foreclosure proceeding title was taken in the name of testator’s nominee who conveyed to the accounting trustees in November, 1934. The remaining half interest in the property is held by the trustees under the will of Mary C. March, deceased. The trustees under that will are the same persons who are here accounting as trustees under the testator’s will. When the trustees acquired the property the improvements on it were old and in poor condition and the property’s value was chiefly in the land. The [375]*375rents were insufficient to meet carrying charges through the year 1938 and at that time the trustees under the will of Mary C. March applied to the New Jersey Chancery Court for instructions. While the New Jersey proceeding involving the March estate was pending undetermined the trustees herein applied to this court for instructions and for authority to default in the payment of taxes and to permit the property to be sold at a tax sale. The Surrogate denied the application and refused to assume the problems of the trustees or to exercise their discretion (Matter of Chapman, N. Y. L. J., Aug. 25, 1939, p. 458, col. 1). The trustees of the March estate ultimately procured a decree of the New Jersey Chancery Court instructing them to conserve the income from the property by permitting municipal taxes to accumulate. That decree granted those trustees leave to apply to the court for further directions if at a later date the nonpayment of taxes threatened a loss of the corpus. The trustees of the two estates thereafter did not pay taxes for the year 1939 or later years. The property eventually was sold in 1944 for a net figure of $1,800, one half of which was paid to the accounting trustees. The sum so realized was considerably less than the valuation fixed for the trust’s half interest in the prior accounting in this estate. The objectant contends that the decrease in value and resultant loss upon the sale is attributable to the acts of the trustees in failing to apply income to the payment of taxes.

The established rule governing testamentary trusts is that realty taxes are payable from trust income in the absence of a contrary intent expressed in the will (Matter of Albertson, 113 N. Y. 434; Matter of Jackson, 258 N. Y. 281; Martin v. Kimball, 86 N. J. Eq. 10; Outcalt v. Appleby, 36 N. J. Eq. 73; Green v. Green, 134 N. J. Eq. 479). Here the trustees speak of payment of taxes as throwing good money after bad. They justify their failure to pay taxes upon the ground that so long as the other half owner made no contribution to the taxes it would have been foolhardy for the accounting trustees to pay the portion of the taxes allocable to this trust. The fact remains, nevertheless, that so long as income was available for the purpose it was applicable to the taxes and that, if there was justification for withholding tax payments, the amounts withheld did not accrue to the benefit of income. The realty was not worthless but had a value that was realized upon the sale. The tax arrears affected the sales price and in so doing diminished the corpus of the trust.

[376]*376Although the courts of this State have not fully accepted the rule of section 240 of the Eestatement of the Law of Trusts, regarding the administration of unproductive property, it has been held that a power of sale that, under the particular circumstances, effects an equitable conversion of unproductive property imports an intention that permits deviation from the usual rule fixing the burden of normal carrying charges (Lawrence v. Littlefield, 215 N. Y. 561; Furniss v. Cruikshank, 230 N. Y. 495; Matter of Jackson, supra; Matter of Satterwhite, 262 N. Y. 339; Matter of Rowland, 273 N. Y. 100). The facts here present are that the property was unproductive at the date of the testator’s death and never became productive thereafter, the property was acquired only shortly before the testator’s death by foreclosure and not by purchase, the primary trust beneficiary was deceased’s widow, the secondary beneficiary was a niece who was a particular object of bounty under various provisions of the will and the will contains a power of sale. In Matter of Rowland (supra, p. 106) the rule was stated as follows: “ When the character of the trust property, the circumstances surrounding the execution of the will and the relationship of the testator to the beneficiary are such that intent to that effect on the part of the testator may be presumed, a discretionary power of sale will be deemed in certain circumstances a mandatory power for the purpose of effecting an equitable conversion.” Under the law of this State the facts are sufficient to bring the situation within the doctrine of equitable conversion and to require an apportionment of the proceeds of the sale between principal and income.

The law of the situs of the property determines whether or not the will effects an equitable conversion of the realty. (Decedent Estate Law, § 47; Clarke v. Clarke, 178 U. S. 186; Matter of Good, 96 N. Y. S. 2d 798, affd. 278 App. Div. 806; Fidelity Union Trust Co. v. Ackerman, 123 N. J. Eq. 556; 1 Davids on New York Law of Wills, § 502.) Since the proceeds of the sale of the realty are here in the State of domicile, this court has jurisdiction to determine the issues raised by the objections to the account even though reference to foreign law may be necessary (Butler v. Green, 65 Hun 99, 108).

It appears to be the usual rule in New Jersey that while non-income producing realty remains unconverted ordinary taxes and maintenance expenses are to be charged to estate income in the absence of a contrary intent in the will (Outcalt v. Appleby, supra; Green v. Green, supra). In connection with unproductive [377]*377property acquired by foreclosure the courts of that State have applied a rule of equitably apportioning any loss resulting upon the ultimate sale of the property, the reasoning being that, following foreclosure of a mortgage, the holding of a property for anticipated but unattained appreciation is a joint venture between the life tenant and the remainderman (Hudson Co. Nat. Bank v. Woodruff, 122 N. J. Eq. 444, mod. 123 N. J. Eq. 585; Fidelity Union Trust Co. v. Doyle, 135 N. J. Eq. 514). Of course in this State salvage operations in connection with mortgage foreclosures are controlled by section 17-c of the Personal Property Law or the rule of Matter of Chapal (269 N. Y. 464) and Matter of Otis (276 N. Y. 101). The New Jersey Chancery Court has said that in such situations the court attempts to do equity between the parties rather than to lay down an arbitrary rule of apportionment and the applications of the formula found in the New Jersey reports and the one given in section 241 of the Restatement of the Law of Trusts will produce an identical apportionment providing the same interest rate is employed in each calculation (Fidelity Union Trust Co. v. Doyle, supra).

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202 Misc. 373, 110 N.Y.S.2d 26, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-accounting-of-fidelity-union-trust-co-nysurct-1951.