Johnson & MacEwan v. Provident Trust Co.

4 Pa. D. & C. 248, 1924 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 294

This text of 4 Pa. D. & C. 248 (Johnson & MacEwan v. Provident Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson & MacEwan v. Provident Trust Co., 4 Pa. D. & C. 248, 1924 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 294 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1924).

Opinion

Gordon, Jr., J.,

— This a bill in equity by Eldridge R. Johnson and Eldridge Johnson MacEwan against the Provident Trust Company of Philadelphia for a decree declaring the termination of a trust created by deed dated Sept. 26, 1922, and directing delivery of the corpus of the trust to Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, cestui que trust, and one of the plaintiffs. The case is before the court on hearing on bill and answer.

The salient facts are as follows: By deed of trust, executed Sept. 26, 1922, Eldridge R. Johnson, one of the plaintiffs, deposited with the Provident Trust Company of Philadelphia, the defendant, 100 shares of stock in the Victor Talking Machine Company, which has since been increased to 700 shares by the declaration of a 600 per cent, stock dividend. The deed of trust provides that the plaintiff, Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, shall receive the net income of the trust until he shall attain the age of thirty years, “at which time said trustee shall pay over, transfer and assign the capital or principal of said trust unto said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, absolutely, clear of all trusts.” The deed further provides as follows: “If said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan should die before he shall have attained the age of thirty years, then and in such case said trustee shall pay over, transfer and assign the capital or principal of said trust unto such person or persons and in such manner, shares and proportions as said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan may by his last will and testament direct, limit and appoint; and in default of such direction, limitation and appointment, unto such child or children of said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan as he may leave living at his decease, share and share alike; and [249]*249in default also of such child or children of said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan living at his decease as aforesaid, said trustees shall pay over, transfer and assign the capital or principal of said trust unto the person or persons who would have been entitled to take and receive the same if said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan had died intestate possessed thereof absolutely and in his own right and such distribution had been made under the then existing intestate laws of the State of Pennsylvania.”

At the time of the creation of the trust Eldridge Johnson MacEwan was a minor. He is now of age and unmarried. The deed also contains a spendthrift clause, and in the seventh paragraph provides: “It is hereby expressly declared that this deed and the trusts thereby limited and declared shall be and are irrevocable.” Paragraph 7 of the bill sets forth that “Eldridge R. Johnson has become and is now absolutely convinced that Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, the beneficiary of the said trust, is thoroughly competent and capable of managing and looking after his own property, possessions and investments, and no reason exists why the same should be further held in trust under the terms of the said trust agreement, or why his possession of the said trust property should be longer deferred.”

The answer of the defendant objects to the termination of the trust upon the ground: First, that the plaintiffs are not the only persons interested in the trust; second, that the spendthrift clause prevents the termination of the trust; and, third, that by its terms the trust is irrevocable.

We are of the opinion that the first objection raised by the defendant, that the plaintiffs are not the only persons interested in the estate, is not sound. The general rule laid down in Culbertson’s Appeal, 76 Pa. 145, is that: “Although a trust may not have ceased by expiration of time, and although all its purposes may not have been accomplished, yet, if all the parties who are or who may be interested in the trust property are in existence and sui juris, and if they all consent and agree thereto, courts of equity may decree the termination of the trust and the distribution of the trust fund among those entitled.”

This principle has been recognized in a long line of decisions, of which the following may be cited as examples: Sharpless’s Estate, 151 Pa. 214; Brooke’s Estate, 214 Pa. 46; Harrar’s Estate, 244 Pa. 542; Stafford’s Estate, 258 Pa. 595; Behringer’s Estate, 265 Pa. 111.

The objection under consideration raises a question of parties, and it is, therefore, necessary to consider the nature of the interests created by the deed and what interests must be present before a termination of the trust can be decreed. The defendant contends that the remainder to possible children and heirs-at-law in the event of the death of the cestui que trust before the age of thirty years makes such remaindermen necessary parties to this proceeding. We cannot agree with this contention. The interest of the plaintiff, Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, is vested subject to be divested by the contingency of his death before he reaches the age of thirty, and is the only vested interest created by the deed. The trust is raised primarily for the benefit of MacEwan. It is evident from its very terms that the settlor expects the cestui que trust to live until thirty, at which time he will receive the corpus of the estate absolutely. He now receives the entire beneficial interest, and the contingent or substitutionary interest in possible children and heirs would arise in the event of the death of the beneficiary before thirty and his failure to dispose of the property by will. The beneficiary here has all the indicia of complete ownership, save a restriction upon his present enjoyment of the corpus of the estate for a limited period due to the spendthrift clause. [250]*250Until he reaches thirty, he enjoys the entire beneficial interest, and. may, without restriction, dispose of the corpus of the estate by will or permit it to pass to his heirs under the intestate laws; and upon reaching thirty, he acquires complete ownership and possession. Except for the spendthrift clause, the interest which is now vested in him is as broad as absolute ownership. The substitutionary remainder to children does not affect the situation, for, of course, there can be no present interest to protect in unborn children of an unmarried man. We are satisfied that, under the authorities, a provision in favor of contingent or substitutionary remaindermen, such as is in the deed of trust under consideration, does not prevent a termination of the trust on the application and agreement of all persons having vested interests: Wyllner’s Estate, 65 Pa. Superior Ct. 396; Disston’s Estate, 257 Pa. 537; Foyle’s Estate, 26 Dist. R. 751; Gallagher’s Estate, 26 Dist. R. 176; Richards v. Lawrence, 12 Dist. R. 673; Bruntrager’s Estate, 2 D. & C. 747.

With respect to the second objection of the defendant, we are of the opinion that the spendthrift clause in the deed does not prevent our declaring it terminated at the request of all parties interested in the trust. The distinction is well recognized between spendthrift trusts created by will or by a cestui que trust for his own benefit and protection, on the one hand, and, on the other, those created by third persons for purposes of protection to the beneficiary, where the necessity for such protection has ceased to exist, there being no other purpose of the trust to be enforced.

The principles upon which spendthrift trusts created by will are upheld are clearly stated in Morgan’s Estate, 223 Pa. 228, in which Mr. Justice Stewart said: “The law rests its protection of what is known as a spendthrift trust fundamentally on the principle of cujus est dare, ejus est d&sponere.

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Related

Dodson v. Ball
60 Pa. 492 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1869)
Yarnall's Appeal
70 Pa. 335 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1872)
Culbertson's Appeal
76 Pa. 145 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1874)
Merriman v. Munson
19 A. 479 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1890)
Bristor v. Tasker
19 A. 851 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1890)
Sharpless's Estate
25 A. 44 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1892)
Reidy v. Small
26 A. 602 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1893)
Brooke's Estate
63 A. 411 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1906)
Morgan'S Estate
72 A. 498 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1909)
Harrar's Estate
91 A. 503 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1914)
Disston's Estate
101 A. 804 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1917)
Stafford's Estate
102 A. 222 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1917)
Behringer's Estate
108 A. 414 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1919)
King v. York Trust Co.
122 A. 227 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1923)
Wyllner's Estate
65 Pa. Super. 396 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1917)
Holdship v. Patterson
7 Watts 547 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1838)

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Bluebook (online)
4 Pa. D. & C. 248, 1924 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-macewan-v-provident-trust-co-pactcomplphilad-1924.