In re the Judicial Settlement of the Accounts of Maguire

250 A.D. 324, 294 N.Y.S. 358, 1937 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8336
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMarch 10, 1937
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 250 A.D. 324 (In re the Judicial Settlement of the Accounts of Maguire) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Judicial Settlement of the Accounts of Maguire, 250 A.D. 324, 294 N.Y.S. 358, 1937 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8336 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinions

Sears, P. J.

Josephine V. Blodgett, a resident of Buffalo, died October 25, 1924, leaving a will dated July 20, 1923, and a codicil dated September 20,1923, of which the appellant Frank J. Maguire was named executor and trustee. He duly qualified and has acted in such capacities. The validity of his acts as trustee are under attack in this proceeding.

The testatrix was survived by a daughter Gertrude H. Blodgett, who, at the time of her mother’s death was forty-seven years of age and unmarried, and a son Harry C. Blodgett, who was then married but had no children. The precise age of Harry C. Blodgett does not appear in the record.

With the exception of relatively small pecuniary and specific bequests and the devise of the homestead (which for the purposes of this appeal may be disregarded) the will indicates a studied endeavor on the part of the testatrix to make equal provision for her two children. After bequeathing $50,000 to each, she directed that any gifts which she might make before her death to either of [326]*326her children should be considered as advances made in anticipation of her testamentary provision for them and that such gifts should be adjusted by her executor through payment from her estate of whatever sums might be required to equalize any difference in the totals of such advances.

The will directed that the residuary estate be divided into two parts, equal as nearly may be,” and impressed each part with a trust. The income from one equal part which for convenience is here called “ the Gertrude H. Blodgett trust ” was to be paid to the daughter Gertrude for life. Upon the daughter’s death the principal and its accumulated income was to be paid to the testatrix’s son subject only to the prior payment therefrom of a small bequest to a local church. It was further provided in the will that if testatrix’s son should not survive her daughter the principal and accumulated income should be paid to his surviving issue. It was further provided in the will that if the son should then be dead and no issue surviving, the principal and income should pass as follows: $10,000 to testatrix’s sister, Mary Ann Van Cleef, and the residue “ in equal shares to the brothers and sisters of [testatrix’s] deceased husband, Milton J. Blodgett; the children of such as may be dead to take the shares which their parents would have taken if alive, per stirpes and not per capita.”

For convenience the accounting executor and trustee Frank J. Maguire is called in this opinion the appellant.” The contestants of the trustee’s accounting are a surviving brother and a surviving sister of testatrix’s husband and the surviving daughter of a deceased sister and the surviving grandson (the sole surviving issue) of another deceased sister of testatrix’s husband. These last mentioned four persons are for convenience designated in this opinion the ultimate remaindermen.” This disregards, for the moment, the claim of the first three named ultimate remainder-men that the grandson of a deceased sister is not a remainderman within the description contained in the will. The claim is referred to later.

The other equal part of testatrix’s residuary estate, called here for convenience “ the Harry C. Blodgett trust,” was correspondingly impressed with a trust and the income directed to be paid to testatrix’s son Harry C. Blodgett during his life and upon his death $10,000 was to be paid from the principal and its accumulated income to his wife, Beatrice, and the remainder to his issue, and in default of issue, to the testatrix’s daughter, if living, but if she was not then living, to the ultimate remaindermen named as residuary legatees on the disposition of the Gertrude H. Blodgett trust.

[327]*327As to each of the trusts it was also provided in the will that upon the son or daughter of the testatrix attaining the age of sixty years, his or her respective trust should terminate and its principal with accumulated income should be paid over to the beneficiary for life without restriction.

The provisions thus far referred to outline the general disposition of the estate. Other clauses important on certain questions before us on this appeal are referred to later.

The testatrix’s son, Harry C. Blodgett, survived bis mother less than seven months. He died May 7,1925, without having reached the age of sixty years, leaving a widow, Beatrice D. Blodgett, but no issue. Under these circumstances the corpus of the Harry C. Blodgett trust became payable on his death to his sister Gertrude H. Blodgett who survived him, subject only to the payment therefrom of the bequest to his widow of $10,000.

The testatrix’s daughter, Gertrude H. Blodgett, married Ernest Zulauf in 1929 and died on the 12th day of January, 1934, at the age of fifty-seven years, leaving her husband, but no children surviving her.

The account of the appellant as executor of the will of Josephine V. Blodgett was settled by decree of the Surrogate’s Court dated November 27, 1925. Prior to that day and apparently on the 1st day of October, 1925, the appellant treated the residuary estate as turned over to himself as testamentary trustee. The residuary estate at that time consisted of cash and securities. Thereafter the appellant as trustee filed intermediate accounts annually upon which decrees of settlement were granted.

When the appellant filed his petition and final account as trustee in April, 1934, in the proceeding now before us and prayed for final settlement, it was disclosed that upon no one of his prior accountings either as executor or trustee had citations been issued to the ultimate remaindermen nor had any of them appeared or waived notice of the proceedings. Thereupon the surrogate properly ruled that the ultimate remaindermen were not bound by the prior decrees of settlement and it was finally stipulated by the appellant, executor and trustee and the ultimate remaindermen that not only the appellant’s final account as executor in 1925 but all of the subsequent accounts as trustee with the decrees applicable to each were open and before the court for consideration. The ultimate remainder-men then filed objections to the accounts bringing into question the legality of the acts of the appellant in administering the estate as executor and as trustee.

A fundamental objection-which has resulted in very large surcharges against the appellant relates to the method pursued by [328]*328him in making division of the residuary estate into the equal Gertrude H. Blodgett and Harry C. Blodgett trusts. When the appellant filed his final account as executor on November 27, 1925, the account showed that he had already begun to treat the residuary estate as under his control as trustee and the first intermediate accounting of the appellant as trustee charged himself as trustee with the receipt from himself as executor of an inventory of cash and securities aggregating $407,039.25. The first account shows that the appellant as trustee had already sold certain stocks and bonds included in the inventory so as to put himself in funds to be able to pay the corpus of the Harry C. Blodgett trust in cash, to the remaindermen, Beatrice D. Blodgett and Gertrude H. Blodgett. Thus Beatrice D. Blodgett received $10,000 and Gertrude H. Blodgett $193,198.24. There were at the same time retained by the trustee in the corpus of the Gertrude H.

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Bluebook (online)
250 A.D. 324, 294 N.Y.S. 358, 1937 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-judicial-settlement-of-the-accounts-of-maguire-nyappdiv-1937.