In re Trusteeship of Tischer

32 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 281, 1933 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1807
CourtMontgomery County Probate Court
DecidedAugust 16, 1933
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 281 (In re Trusteeship of Tischer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montgomery County Probate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Trusteeship of Tischer, 32 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 281, 1933 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1807 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1933).

Opinion

Wiseman, J,

It will be necessary to review briefly the history of this case in order that the issues herein may be clearly understood.

In 1925 one George W. Tischer died leaving a will in which he established a trust in favor of Hazel Tischer, a minor. The Dayton Savings & Trust Company was originally appointed trustee. Through a merger with the [282]*282City National Bank, the Union Trust Company, the new organization, was named as successor trustee. In August 1931 Hazel Tischer became of age and the fourth and final account of said trusteeship was filed in September of that year. Exceptions were filed to the fourth and final account, and to all previous accounts, by Hazel Tischer, in which she alleged that during the administration of said trust the trustee had violated the terms of the will in' making investments of the fund in Joint Stock Land Bank bonds. The will provided that the trustee should invest said fund in safe securities of its own choosing by and with the approval of the Probate Court of Montgomery county, Ohio, and the executors * * *. The facts show that the trustees converted Liberty bonds and invested the proceeds thereof in Joint Stock Land Bank bonds without first obtaining the approval of the Probate Court or the executors.

Upon the filing of the fourth and final account by the trustee and the tendering of said bonds, which had greatly depreciated on the market, Hazel Tischer refused to accept the same and contended that inasmuch as the trustee had violated the terms of the will in reference to investments, she should receive the original amount of the fund in the trust.

The facts further show that the trustee in filing his intermediary accounts disclosed in the accounts the nature of the securities held and the income derived therefrom. These accounts were formally approved by the Probate Court, no question being raised with reference to the investments.

At the hearing in the Probate Court the trustee was represented by Burkhart, Heald and Pickrel, which firm of attorneys .gave advice to the trustee in the preparation of the account, and also prepared and filed said account for trustee, prepared the case on exceptions and represented the trustee in court in the hearing. The Probate Court decided that the trustee had violated the terms of the will and that the ward should be entitled to the principal sum of said fund. From the judgment of the Probate Court the trustee took appeal to the Common Pleas Court, which reversed the judgment of the Probate Court and [283]*283held that inasmuch as the Probate Court had from time to time approved the accounts filed by the trustee, which accounts set forth the nature of the investments, and that inasmuch as no objections had been interposed, the approval of the accounts by the Probate Court in fact was tantamount to an approval of the investment itself.

The case was carried to the Court of Appeals which court sustained the judgment of the Common Pleas Court.

• In the preparation of the appeal from the Probate Court to the Common Pleas Court, the hearing in the Common Pleas Court, the preparation of briefs in the matter, the hearing in the Court of Appeals and the preparation of briefs in that court, and, in fact, all of the legal services rendered to the trustee after the hearing in the Probate Court were rendered by Messrs. Hubert A. Estabrook, Daniel W. Iddings and Sidney G.' Kusworm who were designated by the attorney general of Ohio as special counsel in connection with the liquidation of the Union Trust Company, the trustee herein, which closed its doors on October 31, 1931, and which from that date was operated under the supervision of the state banking department.

The Union Trust Company acting through Ira J. Fulton, superintendent of banks of the state of Ohio, desiring to terminate said trust asks the judgment of the Probate Court with reference to compensating the attorneys who have rendered service in this matter. Applications have been filed for the payment of compensation to the firm of Heald, Zimmerman, Clark and Machle, which has succeeded the firm of Burkhart, Heald and Pickrel, insofar as receiving compensation for legal services rendered in this matter. An application has also been filed to compensate Messrs. Estabrook, Iddings and Kusworm, special counsel designated by the attorney general in representing the superintendent of banks in the liquidation of the trust company, for services which they have rendered in this matter.

It is a well-settled principle of law that the trustee in the first instance is personally bound to its counsel for all services rendered to it' in matters involving the trust. The trustee will be privileged to take credit in its account for compensation for all counsel fees paid by it, which in [284]*284the judgment of the Probate Court are reasonable and just.. The trustee in this matter desires the judgment of the Probate Court in these matters so that it may properly file its final account and take credit for such counsel fees as the court will allow.

These facts present a case which might be divided into three phases, first, the services which were rendered by counsel to the trustee in advising and in preparing and in filing the fourth and final account for which compensation is asked, and, second, services rendered by counsel for the trustee in preparing for the hearing, and in the actual trial of the exceptions to the fourth and final account in the Probate Court, for which compensation is asked, and, third, services rendered by special counsel designated by the attorney general in the appeal to the Common Pleas Court in conducting the matter in the Common Pleas Court; in taking the matter to the Court of Appeals and in conducting said matter in the Court of Appeals for which compensation is asked.

Unquestionably counsel who advised and prepared the fourth and final account for the trustee have rendered service to the trustee for the benefit of the trust, and in furtherance of the proper administration of said trust, for which they should be paid a reasonable fee and the trustee would be entitled to take credit therefor in its fourth and final account.

In considering the nature of this case, the issues involved together with the nature of the investments and the amount of said fund, the court is of the opinion that the trustee should be allowed to take credit in its account for a counsel fee for rendering this service, in the amount of Fifty ($50.00) Dollars, which the court believes to be reasonable.

The trustee also asked the court for its judgment in compensating the same counsel for preparing for the hearing in the Probate Court and the actual trial of this case on exceptions in the Probate Court. This phase of the case-presents a very difficult problem for the court to decide. Upon investigating the law in this case both counsel and the court are of the opinion that the law in Ohio and elsewhere-bearing'üpon this subject is very unsettled.

[285]*285Counsel for the trustee contends that in rendering service in this phase of the case it was doing so in furtherance of the administration of the trust and that the trustee should be privileged to retain counsel in defending its own conduct and its own administration and therefore should have the right to take credit in its account for a reasonable counsel fee for such services.

Counsel for the cestui que trust,

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Related

Loud v. St. Louis Union Trust Co.
281 S.W. 744 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1926)
Ellis v. Kelsey
150 N.E. 148 (New York Court of Appeals, 1925)
Patterson v. Northern Trust Co.
122 N.E. 55 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1919)
Clark v. Anderson
76 Ky. 111 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1877)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 281, 1933 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1807, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-trusteeship-of-tischer-ohprobctmontgom-1933.