In Re Williams' Estate

10 P.2d 219, 167 Wash. 524, 1932 Wash. LEXIS 680
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 8, 1932
DocketNo. 23501. En Banc.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 10 P.2d 219 (In Re Williams' Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Williams' Estate, 10 P.2d 219, 167 Wash. 524, 1932 Wash. LEXIS 680 (Wash. 1932).

Opinions

Herman, J.

This matter is presented to the court by separate appeals of Hannah E. Williams, widow of O. B. Williams, deceased, and three different groups of claimants under his will. The hearing upon the petition for distribution was consolidated with the cause of William W. Woodcock et al. v. E. S. McCord and Howard Cosgrove, Executors, et al., a proceeding previously instituted by a group of employees of decedent against the executors and trustees under the will of O. B. Williams. Since the filing of the last *526 mentioned snit, Mr. McCord has died, and the surviving trustee and executor, Mr. Cosgrove, is appearing as one of the respondents. The other respondent, Joseph Lloyd Williams, who is the adopted son of decedent and his first wife, appears hy separate counsel.

When O. B. Williams died in 1924, he left a nonintervention will, providing in a general way for the disposal of. a substantial fortune, and suggesting a sale of his mill business to his employees. With reference to this non-intervention will, there has been much litigation, various aspects of which have been passed upon by this court and are reported as follows: In re Williams’ Estate, 145 Wash. 19, 258 Pac. 851; In re Williams’ Estate, 147 Wash. 381, 266 Pac. 137; In re Williams’ Estate, 150 Wash. 695, 271 Pac. 1006; Horton v. McCord, 158 Wash. 563, 291 Pac. 717; Woodcock v. McCord, 160 Wash. 607, 295 Pac. 734.

The final decree and judgment was signed September 2, 1931, as a final decree and judgment in the consolidated causes of In re Williams’ Estate and Woodcock v. McCord. From that final decree and judgment, there are four distinct appeals.

One of the three groups of claimants appealing consists of the brothers and sisters of decedent, who' were bequeathed five thousand dollars each, and five brother and sisters (together with the assignee of one of the brothers) of the testator’s first wife, who were bequeathed four thousand dollars each. These appellants will be hereafter referred to as the Winifred I. Williams group.

The decree of distribution and judgment sets forth the names of twenty-three employees who are thereby entitled- to form and take stock in the corporation to be organized for the purpose of purchasing the mill business under the provisions of the will. As before *527 stated, one of the consolidated causes being considered in this appeal is the case of Woodcock v. McCord, and is a suit brought by three employees on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated to compel the sale of the mill business to a corporation to be formed by decedent’s employees. A number of the employees are now represented by Mr. Snyder in that suit, and these appellants will be referred to as the Woodcock group. Associated with this group in the appeal, and designated as part thereof, are two widows of deceased employees, who claim the right to stock in the corporation. They, like the employees of this group, have for their counsel Mr. Snyder.

Fourteen of the employees, preferring to have their interest represented by attorneys Bogie, Bogle & G-ates, have appealed in these consolidated causes, and will hereafter be referred to as the Walsh group.

The Walsh and Woodcock groups maintain the trial court erred in not holding that they were entitled to purchase for $75,000, not only the business, the good will, the material and approximately $16,000 cash in the operating fund of the O. B. Williams Company, but also the real estate on which the buildings stand, the buildings and profits of approximately $150,000 from the business earned during the time it was conducted by the trustees.

Appellant Hannah E. Williams contends that the attempt to create a trust by subdivision (a) of the third paragraph of decedent’s will is invalid, because it does not definitely provide a beneficiary capable of coming into court and claiming the benefit of the bequest. This question has not heretofore been disposed of by this court. The Walsh and Woodcock groups both claim that, by virtue of that paragraph, they are entitled to purchase, for the sum of $75,000, the mill, the mill business, the buildings, the real estate, the *528 cash on hand and the profits earned by the executors since the decedent’s death.

The pertinent parts of the paragraph in question are as follows:

“I give, devise and bequeath unto E. S. McCord and Howard Cosgrove, both of Seattle, Washington, all the rest, residue and remainder of my property, real, personal and mixed of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate, for the following purposes and uses and upon the following trusts, to-wit:
(a) 1 suggest that my said Trustees, as soon after my death as convenient, sell and dispose of my stock of merchandise, mill cmd mill plant, to a corporation to be organised by my employees and that sv,ch corporation pay for such business, including the good will, the sum of Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000) and that it be sold to such corporation on liberal terms as to time, but that at least Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) should be made payable within one year from the date of the sale, and at least Seventy-five Hundred Dollars ($7,500) be paid each year thereafter until the full amount of the purchase price shall have been paid. Deferred payments should bear interest at the rate of six per cent (6%) per annum, and no dividends to be declared by such corporation until the full sum of Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000) has been paid. Insurance in the sum of at least Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000) should be carried on the mill and the stock. A rental of not less than Four Hundred Dollars ($400) per month, together with all taxes and assessments on the property at No. 1943 First Avenue South should be paid by the corporation, and a rental of One Hundred and Twenty-five Dollars ($125) per month, together with all taxes and assessments upon the mill site at Sixth Avenue South and Henrietta Street, Seattle, Washington; and I suggest that all employees ivho have been in my employment for five years and longer should hold stock in such corporation, should they so desire, and that heads of departments should have larger holdings of stock in such corporation, the amounts of stock to be held by the various stockholders to be determined by my Trus *529 tees. And snch. corporation should not he permitted to go into debt for any sum larger than the indebtedness of the O. B. Williams Company at the time of my death. All the provisions of this sub-division of my will in regard to the formation of such corporation and the purchase of said business, merchandise and other property, and in fact, all of the provisions of this sub-division, are not mandatory upon my Trustees, but are merely a suggestion as a basis for working out a plan by which said business can be handled advantageously.

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Bluebook (online)
10 P.2d 219, 167 Wash. 524, 1932 Wash. LEXIS 680, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-williams-estate-wash-1932.