Reibold v. Evans

28 Ohio Law. Abs. 266, 13 Ohio Op. 409, 1938 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 895
CourtMontgomery County Probate Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1938
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 28 Ohio Law. Abs. 266 (Reibold v. Evans) 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
Reibold v. Evans, 28 Ohio Law. Abs. 266, 13 Ohio Op. 409, 1938 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 895 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1938).

Opinion

OPINION

By WISEMAN, J.

In case No. 78486-A the court is required to determine whether or not special assessments which nave been paid out of the income of the life tenant should be apportioned between the life tenant and the remaindeimen, and, if so, what portion of said assessment each should bear.

In ease No. 78486-B, the court is required to allocate and adjust- between Winifred Reibold, the life tenant, and the remaindermen, one-fourth of the total attorneys’ fees allowed in a partition c-uit which was amicably settled between the parties without a sale.

The court finds that Louis Reibold died September 19, 1908. His last will and testament was executed in the year 1904, and was probated September 22, 1908. In a will construction suit in the Common Pleas Court of this county, the court found and decreed that there was devised and bequeathed to Louis S. Reibold a fee simple estate in an undivided one-fourth of the property known as the Reibold Building, which estate vested upon the death of the testator. Louis Reibold. The court further held that the estate devised to Louis S. Reibold was subject only to a trust created in the will of Louis Reibold, under the provisions of which the trustee was to retain control of the corpus for a period of twenty-five years after the death of Louis Reibold. The will of Louis Reibold provided that during the continuance of said trust the trustee was to take full charge of the real estate, manage and control the same, lease, rent, pay the taxes, repairs and fire insurance, etc. On August 1, 1924, the trustee entered into a lease with Thomas Elder, et al, which lease expired in September 1933, the date of the termination of the trust. In this lease the lessees agreed to pay all taxes and assessments, and in accordance therewith during the term of the lease, the lessees payed the Miami Conservancy assessments. Upon the termination of the trust, on September 19, 1933, a partition action was filed in the Common Pleas Court, in wliich a receiver was appointed who collected the rents and paid out of the rentitl income' all taxes and assessments which became payable between September 19, 1933, and June, 1936. A new lease was entered into with the Elder & Johnston Company commencing January 1, 1937, for a period of twenty-five years, which provides in paragraph four that the lessee shall pay all taxes and assessments which have been or may be levied, assessed or charged against said premises after June 1936. Said lease specifically provides, In paragraph four, that “all of the payments described in this paragraph shall; to the extent that they are so made,, he treated for all purposes as if so much additional rent had been paid by the lessee to the less- or, and the latter had made such payments out of such rents.” ' In accordance’ with the provisions óf the lease, the Elder & Johnston Company has paid all .of the conservancy assessments due and payable since June, 1936.

The court finds that Louis S. Reibold died June 11, 1924, leaving a last will and testament in which he devised his one-fourth interest in the Reibold Building, which came to him under the will of Louis Reibold, to a trustee, and provided further that the trustee should pay the entire net income to his widow, Winifred Reibold, for life, and upon her death such 'property shall pass to [268]*268certain remaindermen. In Item Five of the will of Louis S. Reibold, he provides: “I do give and devise to my executor hereinafter named, all my title and interest under the will of my uncle, Louis Reibold, and otherwise in and to the following described real estate, * * * known as the ‘Reibold Building’, * * * to be held in trust nevertheless for the following purposes: Said executor shall have the entire management and control of said property so devised to it under this item, subject, of course, to the provisions of the will of my said uncle, with full power to lease same, to rent same, to collect the rents and pay the taxes, repairs and fire insurance, * * * pay the net income from said trust property under this item, to my wife, Winifred Reibold, in quarterly installments, during her natural life, or while she remains my widow.”

The question for the court to determine is whether or not, under the wills of Louis Reibold and Louis S. Reibold, one-fourth of the Miami Conservancy assessments levied against the Reibold Building after the death of Louis S. Reibold, should be charged against the income of the life tenant or against the interest of the remainder-men. The power of the Probate Court to hear and determine this issue does not arise by virtue of the provisions of 83894 GC (See Whipple v Ortlepp, 21 Abs 11), inasmuch as this statute is not applicable but falls within the general jurisdiction of the Probate Court as provided by §10501-53 GC (par. 13).

Does the word “taxes” as used in the wills of Louis Reibold and Louis S. Reibold include Miami Conservancy assessments? Was the trustee under the will of Louis Reibold authorized to deduct the Miami Conservancy assessments from- the income during the life of the trust? Is the trustee under the will of Louis S. Reibold authorized to deduct the amount of the .Miami Conservancy assessments from the income in order to arrive at the net income due the life tenant, Winifred Reibold? The cardinal rule for the court to follow in a will construction suit is to ascertain the intention of the testator and to give effect thereto. The will of Louis Reibold was executed in 1904. He died in 1908, and his will speaks as of the daté' of his death. The Dayton flood occurred in 1913, five, years after his death. Shortly thereafter .the Miami Con-, servancy District was organized, and levied., assessments against property in the district for 1he. purpose of paying for the erection of dams m order to provide for flood prevention. The matter of payment of conservancy assessments could not have been in the mind of Louis Reibold, either at the time the will was executed or at the time of his death. Louis S. Reibold executed his will on April 28, 1924, and died June 11, 1924. His will was probated June 23, 1924. In his will, Louis S. Reibold places his one-fourth interest m the Reibold Building, being the same interest which came to him under the will of Louis Reibold, his uncle, in a trust, and with respect to the management and control of said trust, including the payment of taxes and the payment of the net income to the life tenant, makes a similar provision to that found in the will of Louis Reibold, and stipulates that the management and control of such interest shall be subject to the provisions of the will of his uncle. It is evident that Louis S. Reibold intended to charge the income of the life tenant with the same expenses of operation as were charged as operating costs under the terms of the will of Louis Reibold. The court concludes that the word “taxes” as used in the will of Louis Reibold did not embrace and was not intended to include assessments levied by the Miami Conservancy District. The court finds that Louis S. Reibold intended the trust under his will to operate in like manner as the trust under the will of Louis Reibold.

The court finds no reported opinion in Ohio in which this legal question has been determined, but it has been held in other jurisdictions that where the will creates a life estate, and provides that the life tenant should bear the burden of taxes, repairs and insurance, the life tenant is not required to carry the entire burden of special assessments for paving and grading streets, installing sewers, and similar permanent improvements. Chambers v Chambers, 20 R. I. 370; Chamberlain v Gleason, 163 N. Y. 214; In Re Miner’s Estate, 201 Mich. 115.

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Related

In Re Estate of Stutz
204 N.E.2d 248 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1964)
Holmes, Trustee v. Hrobon
103 N.E.2d 845 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1951)
Third National Bank & Trust Co. v. Reibold
51 Ohio Law. Abs. 513 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1948)
Reibold v. Evans
29 N.E.2d 369 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1940)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 Ohio Law. Abs. 266, 13 Ohio Op. 409, 1938 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reibold-v-evans-ohprobctmontgom-1938.