McDonald v. Evatt

62 N.E.2d 164, 145 Ohio St. 457, 145 Ohio St. (N.S.) 457, 31 Ohio Op. 67, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 509
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 27, 1945
Docket30300
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 62 N.E.2d 164 (McDonald v. Evatt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDonald v. Evatt, 62 N.E.2d 164, 145 Ohio St. 457, 145 Ohio St. (N.S.) 457, 31 Ohio Op. 67, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 509 (Ohio 1945).

Opinion

Hart,-J.

Where, by the terms of a testamentary trust created and being administered in another state, the trustees are authorized, but not required, to make distribution of unexpended income from the trust to the legatee of one of the beneficiaries, does such legatee, a resident of this state, who has received distribution of income under such trust and who, upon the termi- ■ nation of the trust, will receive one-seventh of the corpus of the trust, have a taxable interest in this state, the value of which is based upon the income yield *461 from the trust investment paid to such legatee as income during the previous calendar year? This is the ultimate question for determination in this case.

It may be conceded that the relation of the appellant to the trust estate in question and the nature of his interest therein were determined by the West Virginia court. Lozier v. Lozier, 99 Ohio St., 254, 124 N. E., 167; Blair v. Commr. of Internal Reverme, 300 U. S., 5, 81 L. Ed., 465, 57 S. Ct., 330. The decree of that court, construing the trust created by the will of Robert M. Gilleland and the bequest to George H. McDonald under the will of Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald with reference to his and her interest in such trust, provides that the devise and bequest to George H. McDonald, the appellant, contained in the will of his wife Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald “applies to, affect and disposes of any assignable interest which the said Edna Gilleland McDonald may have under the will of her father, Robert M. Gilleland, deceased, which she, the said Edna Gilleland McDonald, has not received in her said lifetime.” It is undisputed that, pursuant to such decree of the court, the trustees thereafter did pay to appellant the sums in question, as income from the corpus of the trust estate.

The appellant claims that the West Virginia court held that Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald had no assignable or alienable interest in such income, and claims that such court could not have held otherwise since the distribution of income from such trust was within the discretion of the trustees. He further claims that, as a consequence, there was no interest in such income which could pass by her will to him as her husband; that it did not vest either in her or in Trim as her legatee until the death of the mother, when the entire interest, both corpus and income as a part of the corpus, would pass and vest; and that the payments already made to appellant were, and those to be made *462 to him during the lifetime of the mother will he, advancements from the corpus of such estate.

In the opinion of this court that position is untenable. Although it was within the discretion of the trustees to accumulate “unexpended net income” and thereby make it distributable at the time of the death of Nellie U. Gilleland, the fact remains that they did not do so, and, even if such distribution had been so delayed, it would be made as income and not as a part of the corpus of the estate which passed under the will and vested in the legatees as of the date of the death of Robert M. Gilleland.

Where by the terms of a trust it is provided that the trustee shall pay to a beneficiary only so much of the income and principal, or either, as the trustee in his uncontrolled discretion shall see fit to pay, the beneficiary cannot compel the trustee to pay him any part of the income or principal. Morris v. Daiker, Admr., 35 Ohio App., 394, 172 N. E., 540. However, this rule does not apply where the trustee has discretion, as in this case, merely as to the time of payment and the beneficiary is ultimately entitled to the whole or to a share of the trust property. 1 Restatement of Trusts, 383, Section 155 (1) b; 1 Scott on Trusts, 774, Section 155; Houghton v. Tiffany, 116 Md., 655, 82 A., 831.

Consistent with the rules of law here stated, where, by the terms of a trust, the income arising from the trust property over a term of years is payable on or before the expiration of such term at the discretion of the trustee to a beneficiary who is definitely ascertainable at the time of the creation of the trust, and the corpus of the trust is payable to such beneficiary at the expiration of such term, a transferee of the entire interest of such beneficiary can compel the trustee to pay him the interest so assigned, as and when payable. 1 Restatement'of Trusts, 339, Section 133, comments c and d\ Endicott v. University of Virginia, 182 Mass., *463 156, 65 N. E., 37; Zane v. Sawtell, 11 W. Va., 43; Morgan v. Morgan, 60 W. Va., 327; 1 Bogert on Trusts and Trustees, 525, Section 188.

The appellant further claims that the one-seventh of the corpus of the trust and the income arising therefrom vesting in him under the will of his wife, became subject to a succession tax levied against him by the state of Ohio under its inheritance tax laws, and that to subject such property to an intangible personalty tax before a reconversion by him of such trust property into some other form of taxable property, constitutes double taxation thereon not contemplated or permitted under the tax laws of this state. The West Virginia court found that six-sevenths of the unexpended net income arising from the trust had “been distributed and paid by said trustees to the six surviving children of said Robert M. Gilleland [including Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald] up and until the death of Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald, and that since’ her death one-seventh of the said [total] unexpended net income has been segregated, set apart, kept and held as income,” and that it was “of the opinion and doth adjudge, order 'and decree that the said trustees * * * may pay the one-seventh of said unexpended net income segregated and set apart as aforesaid and one-seventh of said unexpended net income which may hereafter accrue or arise, to George Henry McDonald, surviving husband of said Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald, deceased * * *.” Thus it is to be observed that the distribution of unexpended net income to the appellant was that which accrued after and not before the death of Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald.

A succession tax is applicable only to property owned by the decedent at the time of his death or conveyed by him in contemplation of death. In this case, such property so taxable included the corpus and the *464 income thereon to the date of death, but it did not include the income accruing on such corpus after the death of the owner. By Section 5332, General Code, an inheritance tax is “levied upon the succession to any property passing, in trust or otherwise, to or for the use of a person * * (Italics ours.) Such taxes accrue and are payable as of the date of succession which is the date of the death of the decedent, except as to successions subject to some contingency which prevents their vesting on such date. Section 5336, General Code. The income distributed to appellant for the tax years 1941,1942 and 1943 accrued on the corpus of the trust after the death of Edna Nancy Gilleland McDonald.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
62 N.E.2d 164, 145 Ohio St. 457, 145 Ohio St. (N.S.) 457, 31 Ohio Op. 67, 1945 Ohio LEXIS 509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdonald-v-evatt-ohio-1945.