In re the Estate of Thomson

135 Misc. 62, 237 N.Y.S. 622, 1929 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 966
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedAugust 28, 1929
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 135 Misc. 62 (In re the Estate of Thomson) 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 Estate of Thomson, 135 Misc. 62, 237 N.Y.S. 622, 1929 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 966 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1929).

Opinion

O’Brien, S.

In this intermediate accounting by the trustees a question has been raised upon facts not disputed which goes to the validity of the investment of trust funds made by the trustees. In 1927 the Bankers’ Trust Company, one of the trustees, purchased by assignment from the Title Guarantee and Trust Company a mortgage for $310,000 made by the Lizrose Realty Corporation covering premises known as 1013-1023 Avenue J, Brooklyn, N. Y., the payment of which mortgage was guaranteed as to principal and interest by the Bond and Mortgage Guarantee Company. In December, 1927, the Bankers’ Trust Company executed and issued a participation certificate, assigning from itself in its corporate capacity to itself and the other trustees under the will of decedent herein a share in said mortgage to the extent of $2,500. This certificate of participation, duly executed by an officer of the Bankers’ Trust Company, [63]*63was placed with the estate securities in a separate envelope allotted to the estate in the vaults of the trust company. A copy of said certificate was placed with the original mortgage located in the vaults of the Bankers’ Trust Company at 501 Fifth avenue, and a second copy filed with the papers pertaining to said mortgage with the mortgage and real estate department of said company at the Fifth avenue office. Proper records kept at the Wall street office in the estate account showed the ownership of the certificate by the estate and the records kept in the mortgage and real estate department of the Bankers’ Trust Company at the Fifth avenue office under the mortgage showed the interest which the Thomson estate, together with the other participants, had in the mortgage. In this accounting proceeding the special guardian objects to this particular investment and contends that the assignment by the Bankers’ Trust Company of part of the mortgage which it owned to itself, one of the surviving trustees, is prohibited by section 111 of the Decedent Estate Law (as amd. by Laws of 1928, chap. 332) and section 21 of the Personal Property Law (as amd. by Laws of 1928, chap. 362). The former reads in part as follows:

“ § 111. Investment of trust funds. An executor, administrator, trustee or other person holding trust funds for investment may invest the same in the same kind of securities as those in which savings banks of this state are by law authorized to invest the money deposited therein, and the income derived therefrom, and in the shares of' a savings and loan association having an accumulated capital of one hundred thousand dollars or more, organized under the laws of this state, provided, however, that no such investment of the funds of any one estate or trust in any one association shall exceed ten thousand dollars, and in bonds and mortgages on unincumbered real property in this state worth fifty per centum more than the amount loaned thereon, and in shares or parts of such bonds and mortgages, provided that any share or part of such bond and mortgage so held shall not be subordinate to any other shares thereof and shall not be subject to any prior interest therein, and provided further that bonds and mortgages in parts of which any fiduciary may invest trust funds together with any guaranties of payment, insurance policies and other instruments and evidences of title relating thereto shall be held for the benefit of such fiduciary and of any other persons interested in such bonds or mortgages by a trust company, a bank authorized to conduct a trust department or title guaranty corporation organized under the laws of this state, or a national bank located in this state and duly authorized to act as a trustee therein, and that a certificate setting forth that such corporation holds such instruments for' the benefit of such fiduciary and of any [64]*64other persons who may be interested in such bond and mortgage among whom the corporation holding such instruments may be inc uded, be executed by such corporation and delivered to each person who becomes interested in such bond and mortgage. Every corporation issuing any such certificate shall keep a record in proper books of account of all certificates issued pursuant to the foregoing provisions. * * * But no trustee shall purchase securities hereunder from himself.”

The latter statute reads as follows:

§ 21. Investment of trust funds. A trustee or other person holding trust funds for investment may invest the same in the same kind of securities as those in which savings banks of this state are by law authorized to invest the money deposited therein, and the income derived therefrom, and in the shares of a savings and loan association having an accumulated capital of one hundred thousand dollars or more, organized under the laws of this state, provided, however, that no such investment of the funds of any one estate or trust in any one association shall exceed ten thousand dollars and in bonds and mortgages on unincumbered real property in this state worth fifty per centum more than the amount loaned thereon. * * * But no trustee shall purchase securities hereunder from himself.”

The special guardian also relies upon section 231 of the Surrogate’s Court Act (derived from Code Civ. Proc. § 2664-a, as added by Laws of 1916, chap. 588), which reads as follows:

“ § 231. Funds.of estates to be kept separate. Every executor, administrator, guardian or testamentary trustee shall keep the funds and property received from the estate of any deceased person separate and distinct from his own personal fund and property. He shall not invest the same or deposit the same with any person, association or corporation doing business under the banking law or other person or institution, in his own name, but all transactions had and done by him shall be in his name as such executor, administrator, guardian or testamentary trustee.
“ Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

Had the special guardian’s objection been made prior to 1917, it might have been well taken, for under the statutes as they then stood an investment such as this would have been open to attack. The Court of Appeals in December, 1916, in Matter of Union Trust Company (219 N. Y. 514), held:

It has been quite universally held that a trustee should not invest trust funds in his own name. Such rule of law should not be abandoned, qualified or in any way impaired. If an individual trustee should continuously and intentionally invest trust funds in [65]*65his individual name, his conduct in so doing would meet with condemnation by the courts. There is no difference between a corporate trus ee and an individual trustee in its or his duty in respect to investments. Trust funds should not only be kept independent of individual and other trust funds, but the investments thereof should, so far as possible, be clearly defined, and at all times stamped with the individual trust to which they severally belong. * * *
“ The effect of investing trust securities in the name of a trust company and in its own right is the same as if the trust company took the trust fund as a deposit, leaving its investment and the account relating thereto wholly to its bookkeeping and the form adopted by it for keeping its accounts. Such holding of a trust fund does not outwardly distinguish the funds held by it as trustee from the funds of individual depositors with the trust company.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In re the Estate of Frazer
150 Misc. 43 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1933)
In re the Estate of Flint
148 Misc. 474 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 Misc. 62, 237 N.Y.S. 622, 1929 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 966, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-thomson-nysurct-1929.