Ingalls v. Ingalls

81 So. 2d 610, 263 Ala. 106, 1955 Ala. LEXIS 556
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 30, 1955
Docket6 Div. 554
StatusPublished

This text of 81 So. 2d 610 (Ingalls v. Ingalls) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ingalls v. Ingalls, 81 So. 2d 610, 263 Ala. 106, 1955 Ala. LEXIS 556 (Ala. 1955).

Opinion

LIVINGSTON, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, in Equity. The decree adjudged that the Birmingham Trust National Bank, a national banking corporation, with its situs in Birmingham, Alabama, was effectively removed as co-trustee of a trust designated as Ingalls Trust “B” by action of the sole remaining individual trustee, Robert I. Ingalls, Jr., and further adjudging that the appointment by Robert I. Ingalls, Jr., under said trust indenture, of the Hamilton National Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee, as co-trustee, was proper, valid and legal, and confirming the appointment of the said Hamilton National Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee, as co-trustee.

The question involved is whether the Hamilton National Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee, a national bank organized and chartered pursuant to the Act of Congress of the United States, and having authority under its charter to engage in the business of a national bank, with its place of business in Knoxville, Tennessee, and not within the State of Alabama, has authority under Federal law or under the laws of Alabama to engage in the administration of a trust, the corpus of which has its situs in the State of Alabama.

This particluar proceeding was instituted in the main cause of Robert I. In-galls, Jr., as co-trustee of the estate of Elesbeth Ridgely Ingalls and Barbara Gregg Ingalls, both minors, as complainants against the First National Bank of Birmingham as co-trustee of said minors, and was precipitated by a petition of the Birmingham Trust National Bank of Birmingham, Alabama, seeking to determine whether said bank was effectively removed as co-trustee under Trust “B” by a letter dated August 14, 1952, from Robert I. Ingalls, Jr. (individual co-trustee under said trust) purporting to remove said bank as trustee, and also purporting to appoint the Hamilton National Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee, as co-trustee in lieu of the said Birmingham Trust National Bank.

The trust in question was created by Robert I. Ingalls, Sr., for the benefit of his grandchildren. The trust instrument named Robert I. Ingalls, Jr., as an individual trustee, and provided for a corporate trustee. The trust instrument further provided that the individual trustee was empowered to remove the corporate trustee and appoint another corporate trustee.

In 1950, Robert I. Ingalls, Jr., removed the First National Bank of Birmingham as co-trustee and appointed the Birmingham Trust National Bank ás co-trustee.

In August 1952, Robert I. Ingalls, Jr., notified the Birmingham Trust National Bank that said bank was removed as co-trustee, and that the Hamilton National Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee, was appointed a corporate trustee, whereupon the Birmingham Trust National Bank petitioned the circuit court to determine whether the petitioner had been legally removed as trustee.

The sole question presented to this court is whether or not a national bank domiciled in another state may act as trustee of a trust where all the trust property is located in Alabama.

National banks are created under the National Banking Act which is set forth in Chapter 2, §§ 21 to 213, Tit. 12 U.S.C.A. Section 24, which prescribes the powers of national banks, does not include any authority to act in a fiduciary capacity. The Federal Reserve Act, as amended in 1918, § 11 (k), now section 248(k), Tit. 12 U.S.C.A.,, conferred upon the Board of Governors o£ the Federal Reserve System the power and authority to grant by special permit to national banks the authority to act in fiduciary-capacities when not in contravention o£ state law.

In discussing this section of the U. S. Code, the Supreme Court of the United [108]*108States, in .the case of Missouri ex rel, Burnes National Bank v. Duncan, 265 U.S. 17, 44 S.Ct. 427, 68 L.Ed. 881, said that where state laws permit trust companies which compete with national banks to exercise fiduciary powers, the national banks in those states may exercise equal fiduciary powers.

National banks are subject to the laws of a state in respect to their affairs unless such laws interfere with the purpose of their creation, tend to impair or destroy their efficiency as Federal agencies, or conflict with the paramount laws of the United States. First National Bank in St. Louis v. State of Missouri, 263 U.S. 640, 44 S.Ct. 213, 68 L.Ed. 486.

The case of Boatmen’s National Bank of St. Louis v. Hughes, 385 Ill. 431, 53 N.E.2d 403, 405, 153 A.L.R. 402, was before the Illinois Supreme Court in a mandamus proceedings brought by a national bank in Missouri to compel the State Auditor and Secretary of State of Illinois to accept the bank’s application for the issuance of a certificate permitting it to establish a branch to do a trust business in Illinois. An Illinois statute prohibited the establishment of any branch bank or additional office by any bank in Illinois. In denying the writ of mandamus, the court said:

“* * * We believe that it is the plain intention of section 11 (k) of the Federal Reserve Act to place a national bank on an equal competitive basis with State banks and trust companies of the State in which the national bank is situated, and therefore, a national bank in Missouri is only given that power which competing Missouri State banks and trust companies have under the Missouri law. * * * »

In Hubbell v. First National Bank of Elgin, Illinois, 1953, 57 N.M. 649, 261 P.2d 833, 836, the Supreme Court of New Mexico held a national bank domiciled in Illinois to be authorized to act in a fiduciary capacity as ancillary administrator of an estate located in New Mexico. The Supreme Court of New Mexico, there said.:

“Counsel are in agreement up to a certain point: The measure of the powers of a national bank is the National Banking Act, and powers not conferred by Congress are denied. Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Pottorff, 1934, 291 U.S. 245, 54 S.Ct. 416, 78 L.Ed. 777. The National Banking Law as originally passed gave no authority to act in a fiduciary capacity. From a competitive standpoint, this was a severe handicap to a national bank domiciled in a state permitting state banks to act in such capacity. Therefore, in 1913, Congress enacted paragraph 11 (k) of the Federal Reserve Act, 12 U.S.C.A. § 248(k), as amended in 1918 in the light of actual experience, which reads in part as follows:
“ ‘The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall be authorized and empowered:
* $ $ * * *
“ ‘To grant by special permit to national banks applying therefor, when not in contravention of State or local law, the right to act as trustee, executor, administrator, registrar of stocks and bonds, guardian of estates, assignee, receiver, committee of estates of lunatics, or in any other fiduciary capacity in which State banks, trust companies, or other corporations which come into competition with national banks are permitted to act under the laws of the State in which the national bank is located.

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

Related

First National Bank in St. Louis v. Missouri
263 U.S. 640 (Supreme Court, 1924)
Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Pottorff
291 U.S. 245 (Supreme Court, 1934)
Frye v. Community Chest
4 So. 2d 140 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1941)
Boatmen's National Bank v. Hughes
53 N.E.2d 403 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1944)
State Ex Rel. Eaton v. Hirst
79 P.2d 489 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1938)
Turner's Estate
120 A. 701 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1923)
Hubbell v. First Nat. Bank of Elgin
261 P.2d 833 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 So. 2d 610, 263 Ala. 106, 1955 Ala. LEXIS 556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ingalls-v-ingalls-ala-1955.