In Re the Estate of Hoagland

105 A.2d 825, 15 N.J. 592, 1954 N.J. LEXIS 303
CourtSupreme Court of New Jersey
DecidedJune 14, 1954
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 105 A.2d 825 (In Re the Estate of Hoagland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re the Estate of Hoagland, 105 A.2d 825, 15 N.J. 592, 1954 N.J. LEXIS 303 (N.J. 1954).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Oliphant, J.

This is an appeal from a part of a judgment of the Monmouth County Court, Probate Division, entered December 9, 1953, which denied the application of PoTter Hoagland for the confirmation of an appointment by him of a corporate co-trustee of a trust created by the last will and testament of Raymond Hoagland, deceased. The appeal was certified here on our own motion, R. R. 1:10-1 (a). The appeal is taken by a legatee and trustee under the will and also by the guardian ad litem for infant beneficiaries and remaindermen. There are no respondents.

The testator died a resident of Rumson, New Jersey, on April 17, 1927, and his will was admitted to probate by the [594]*594Monmouth County Surrogate’s Court on April 29, 1927. A substantial part of his property was left in trust, and since that date Eaymond Hoagland, Jr., one of the designated trustees, was discharged by an order of the Monmouth County Orphans’ Court dated March 20, 1930. A second trustee, Joseph C. Hoagland, recently resigned and was discharged by the judgment now under review.

The present application was made by Porter Hoagland, the one remaining trustee, who exercised the power of appointment given by the 13th paragraph of the will and designated as a substituted trustee, City Bank Farmers Trust Company of the Borough of Manhattan, New York, New York, a trust company with its principal place of business in the City of New York. The 13th paragraph of the will states that any surviving trustee is empowered to designate as a substituted trustee “a Trust Company having its principal office in the Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New York, and generally recognized as a Trust Company of the highest class and of the strongest financial rating and resources.” It is not disputed that the suggested trustee, City Bank Farmers Trust Company, generally meets the qualification set forth in this paragraph.

The question here presented is whether such trust company can be appointed in view of the provisions of R. S. 17:9A-316(B):

“B. A foreign bank, other than one excluded by subsection A of this section, may transact business in this State only as executor or as testamentary trustee or guardian, and then only when named in a decedent’s will or codicil thereto. Before transacting such business in this State, a foreign bank shall secure from the commissioner a certificate of authority to transact such business. The commissioner shall not issue a certificate of authority to a foreign bank unless a qualified bank is permitted to transact business as executor, or as testamentary trustee or guardian, when named in a will or codicil thereto, in the jurisdiction in which the foreign bank has its principal office.”

The trial court denied the application to confirm the appointment on the ground that a foreign bank or trust com[595]*595pany could only be designated when it is named in the will, and that the language of the statute was controlling rather than the language of the will.

The appellant argues that under the law in effect at the time the testator died and when the will was probated in 1927, the prohibition found in the statute and relied on below was not part of the statutes of this State.

Our original statute, L. 1907, c. 35, sec. 1, 1 Comp. Stat. p. 183, sec. 58, was in broad and general language and prohibited foreign banking corporations from transacting business generally in this State and merely permitted them to transact business in this State to the extent that similar corporations of New Jersey were permitted to transact business in such state, kingdom or government of the foreign banking corporation, and provided further that every foreign banking corporation had to comply with the laws of this State for doing business here. The history of this statute is discussed in The Pennsylvania Co., etc. v. Gillmore, 142 N. J. Eq. 27, p. 36 et seq. (Ch. 1948).

At the time of the probate of this will the New York statute, L. 1923, c. 23, par. 223, permitted a foreign bank to act under the last will and testament of any deceased person in that state, provided that New York banking institutions were permitted to act as executor or trustee in the state where such foreign corporation had its domicile. So at the time of the probate of the will the City Bank Farmers Trust Company could have qualified to transact business in this State.

However, in 1941 our Banking Act was amended by L. 1941, c. 190 and foreign banking institutions which were acting as executors and trustees under wills of decedents domiciled in this State were brought under strict regulation. These enactments were precipitated in a large part by the decision and situation disclosed in the case of In re Johnston’s Estate, 127 N. J. Eq. 577 (Prerog. Ct. 1940), affirmed 129 N. J. Eq. 104 (E. & A. 1941), where a foreign banking institution had attempted to administer the will of [596]*596a testator domiciled in this State according to the laws of the State of Pennsylvania.

L. 1941, c. 190 limited foreign banking institutions from transacting business in this State “except as executor of the last will and testament or codicil thereto of a decedent or except as a trustee under the last will and testament or codicil thereto of a decedent and then only when named therein as such trustee.” And this statute further required that if such corporation should comply with the requirements of this State for the transaction of business and should procure a certificate of authority from the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, post certain bonds and comply with the regulations and rules promulgated by the Commissioner, and it was further provided that such transaction of business would not be permitted unless similar corporations of this State and national banking associations admitted to transact business in this State were permitted to transact business in the same fiduciary capacities in that foreign state, kingdom or government. These provisions are now found in the present Banking Act, including section 17:9A-316 et seq., since all prior provisions were repealed by L. 1948, c. 67, sec. 336; N. J. S. A. 17 :9A-336.

The argument of the appellant is that the designation of the City Bank Farmers Trust Company pursuant to the power of appointment contained in the will relates back to the date of the testator’s death and the time of the probate of the will, at which time there was no requirement that a foreign bank or trust company be named in the will. He argues that to construe the statute as having a retrospective effect would be contrary to the intendment of the statute and would cause injustice in defeating the intention of the testator who died prior to the enactment thereof. He further argues that it would impair interests established by a will probated prior to its enactment.

The statute in question is the general banking act of this State and was enacted under the reserve police power of this State. That the State had the power to enact such [597]*597a statute is not open to question. Noble State Bank v. Haskell, 219 U. S. 104, 31 Sup. Ct. 186, 55 L. Ed. 112 (1911); Shallenberger v. First State Bank of Holstein, 219 U. S. 114, 31 Sup. Ct.

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Henry v. New Jersey Department of Human Services
9 A.3d 882 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 2010)
In Re the Estate of Hoagland
105 A.2d 825 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1954)

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Bluebook (online)
105 A.2d 825, 15 N.J. 592, 1954 N.J. LEXIS 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-hoagland-nj-1954.