In re the Estate of Wilson

167 Misc. 758, 4 N.Y.S.2d 634, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1615
CourtNew York Surrogate's Court
DecidedMay 12, 1938
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 167 Misc. 758 (In re the Estate of Wilson) 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 Wilson, 167 Misc. 758, 4 N.Y.S.2d 634, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1615 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1938).

Opinion

Millard, S.

Decedent died on January 17, 1922, leaving a will which was admitted to probate on January 27, 1922. On the same day letters testamentary were issued to William H. Sage, Columbia Trust Company and Grace Wilson, who were named as executors in said will. Their account as executors was judicially settled by decree on July 12, 1923. Thereafter they qualified as trustees. Columbia Trust Company, one of the trustees, by the process of reorganization, has now become the Irving Trust Company. Upon the death of Grace Wilson, on October 5, 1936, her son, Lester G. Wilson, was appointed successor trustee under the provisions of the will. Grace Wilson left a will under which William H. Sage and Herbert S. Schoonmaker have qualified as executors. All of the above-named parties have joined in the present accounting proceeding, which covers the period from April 4, 1924, through July 1, 1937.

The accounting trustees have requested a construction of paragraphs eighth,” “ ninth ” and “ fourteenth ” of the will, which read as follows:

“ Eighth. I give and bequeath to my executors and trustees herein named and their successors the sum of Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in trust nevertheless for the following uses and purposes: they shall collect the income and profits thereof, pay all expenses for the proper care and maintenance of said trust fund including [760]*760taxes- and other charges, and pay the net income derived therefrom to Ethel Beedle in quarterly payments for and during her natural life and on her death said principal sum shall fall into and form part of my residuary estate.
“ Ninth. I give and bequeath to .my executors and trustees herein named, and their successors the sum of Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in trust nevertheless for the following uses and.purposes: they shall collect the income and profits thereof, pay all expenses for the proper care and maintenance of said trust fund including taxes and other charges, and pay the net income derived therefrom to Adele Galletti for and during her natural life, and upon the death of the said Adele Galletti, I direct my said executors and trustees to pay the net income from said principal sum of $10,000 to Jack Galletti, her husband, for and during his natural life, and upon his death or upon the death of Adele Galletti without the said Jack Galletti, her husband, her surviving, said principal sum shall fall into and form part of my residuary estate.
“ I further direct that in neither this trust nor in any trust mentioned in this will shall my trustees be required to give bonds for the discharge of their duties.”
Fourteenth. I give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my estate real and personal, whatsoever and wheresoever situated, including all lapsed or invalid legacies or devises to my executors and trustees herein named and their successors, in trust, nevertheless, for the following uses and purposes: they shall collect the income and profits thereof, pay all expenses for the proper care and maintenance of said trust fund including taxes and other charges, and pay the net income derived therefrom to my beloved wife Grace Wilson in quarterly payments for and during her natural life, and on her death the principal of said trust fund shall be divided into two equal parts and the net income of one of said parts paid to each of my two children Lester Godfrey Wilson and James Godfrey Wilson, Jr., during the natural life of each respectively, and on the death of each his part of said principal fund shall be paid to the issue of such child so dying, share and share alike per stirpes, or in default of issue to his widow or if there be no widow then to the survivor of my said two sons or if there be no such survivor then to the issue of my said son leaving issue him surviving, or in default of such issue to my next of kin under the statute of distribution of the State of New York living at the time of such distribution.
“ The provisions of this will for the benefit of my wife are made to her in lieu of all dower or other rights in my estate. Wherever in this will any part of my estate is devised or bequeathed to [761]*761‘ issue or ‘ next of kin ’ it refers to the issue or next of kin per stirpes living at the time of the death of the next preceding life beneficiary. Wherever herein the term ‘ widow ’ is used as entitling her to share in the distribution of any trust fund together with issue, said widow is to take an equal share with said issue, that is if there are three issue (per stirpes) then living and a widow, each of them is entitled to one quarter.”

At the time of the death of this decedent, section 11 of the Personal Property Law provided as follows:

§ 11. Suspension of ownership. The absolute ownership of personal property shall not be suspended by any limitation or condition, for a longer period than during the continuance and until the termination of not more than two lives in being at the date of the instrument containing such limitation or condition or, if such instrument be a last will and testament, for not more than two lives in being at the death of the testator. * * * In other respects limitations of future or contingent interests in personal property, are subject to the rules prescribed in relation to future estates in real property.”

This section was amended, effective September 1, 1930, but the amendment became applicable only to estates or wills of persons dying after August 31, 1930, and hence has no bearing upon the case at bar.

It becomes apparent, from a reading of paragraphs “ eighth ” and “ ninth ” of the will, that the trust provisions contained therein offend the statute, that is to say, that in both paragraphs it is provided that, upon the death of the primary beneficiaries, the corpus of the trusts created therein are to fall into and form a part of the residuary estate.

Under paragraph fourteenth ” of the will, a trust is set up for the benefit of two lives in being at the time of the execution of the will and since the life beneficiaries of the trusts under paragraphs “ eighth ” and “ ninth ” of the will were also in being at the time of its execution, the power of alienation is unlawfully suspended. The trusts created under paragraphs “ eighth ” and ninth ” are merely incidental to the main testamentary scheme of the decedent. Under the rule of judicial salvage, these trusts may be validated to the extent of the payments made to the primary beneficiaries, namely, Ethel Beedle, Adele Galletti and Grace Wilson. (Matter of Trevor, 239 N. Y. 6; Matter of Green, 146 Misc. 530, affd., 263 N. Y. 575.) Under the conditions existing here, no acceleration is possible. (Matter of Kerwin, 161 Misc. 364.) I, therefore, hold that, as to the principal of the trusts created under paragraphs eighth ” and “ ninth ” of the will, decedent died [762]*762intestate from and after October 5, 1936, the date of death of Grace Wilson.

Since, under paragraph fourteenth ” of the will, the provisions for the benefit of testator’s wife are expressly made in lieu of all dower or other rights in my estate,” and she, having elected to take under the will, is thereby precluded from sharing in the intestate property (Matter of Silsby, 229 N. Y. 396, at p. 403; Matter of Bloodgood, 129 Misc. 398, at p.

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Bluebook (online)
167 Misc. 758, 4 N.Y.S.2d 634, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-wilson-nysurct-1938.