RIVERSIDE HEALTHCARE ASS'N, INC. v. Forbes

709 S.E.2d 156, 281 Va. 522
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedApril 21, 2011
Docket100108
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 709 S.E.2d 156 (RIVERSIDE HEALTHCARE ASS'N, INC. v. Forbes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
RIVERSIDE HEALTHCARE ASS'N, INC. v. Forbes, 709 S.E.2d 156, 281 Va. 522 (Va. 2011).

Opinion

709 S.E.2d 156 (2011)

RIVERSIDE HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATION, INC., et al.
v.
Sarah E. FORBES, Former Trustee of the Sarah E. Forbes Riverside Trust, et al.

Record No. 100108.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

April 21, 2011.

*157 John R. Walk (M. Farrah G. de Leon; Hirschler Fleischer, on briefs), Richmond, for appellants.

Daniel J. Meador, Jr. (Morin & Barkley, on brief), Charlottesville, for appellees.

Present: KINSER, C.J., LEMONS, GOODWYN, MILLETTE, and MIMS, JJ., and KOONTZ, S.J.

OPINION BY Chief Justice CYNTHIA D. KINSER.

The General Assembly enacted the Uniform Principal and Income Act, Code §§ 55-277.1 through -277.33 (the UPIA), in 1999. 1999 Acts ch. 975. Its purpose generally is "to provide uniformity in the law relating to allocation of receipts and expenses among income beneficiaries and remaindermen." Venables v. Seattle-First Nat'l Bank, 60 Wash.App. 941, 808 P.2d 769, 771 (1991); accord Briel v. Moody, 77 N.J.Super. 306, 186 A.2d 314, 315 (N.J.Super.Ch.1962); see Kumberg v. Kumberg, 232 Kan. 692, 659 P.2d 823, 827-28 (1983). With regard to the allocation *158 of receipts and disbursement to or between principal and income, the drafters of the 2008 Amendments to the Revised Uniform Principal and Income Act acknowledged, however, that the act provides only "default rules and that provisions in the terms of the trust are paramount." U.P.I.A. § 103 cmt. (2008).

In this appeal, the questions are whether the UPIA provision regarding the allocation of compensation from an eminent domain proceeding governs or whether the grantor of a trust directed the allocation of such compensation. We also address whether the remainder beneficiary stated a cause of action for an equitable accounting pursuant to Code § 8.01-31. Because we conclude that the grantor did allocate such compensation to income, we will affirm the portion of the circuit court's judgment granting partial summary judgment in favor of the trustee. However, because we conclude that the circuit court erred in sustaining the trustee's demurrer to the claim for an equitable accounting, we will reverse that portion of the circuit court's judgment.

I. RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

Sarah E. Forbes, as Grantor and Trustee, executed a document titled the "DECLARATION OF INTER VIVOS TRUST AGREEMENT KNOWN AS 'THE SARAH E. FORBES RIVERSIDE TRUST'" (the Trust). The Grantor conveyed to the Trustee a certain parcel of real estate in the City of Newport News consisting of approximately seven acres. The Trust provisions prohibit the Trustee from selling "the real property of this [T]rust ... except to a condemnor pursuant to a notice of condemnation." The Trust provisions further direct the Trustee to "distribute all net income generated by the [T]rust and the [T]rust property unto the Grantor ... during the lifetime of the Grantor." Unless sooner terminated, the Trust will end upon the Grantor's death, and, subject to certain conditions not relevant to this appeal, the principal of the Trust will be distributed to Riverside Healthcare Association, Inc. (Riverside). The Trust provisions define the term "net income" as "all funds received from the rental of the [T]rust property and/or generated from or by the [T]rust property and/or any proceeds from the [T]rust property ... LESS all funds paid by the Trustee" for certain enumerated expenses such as real estate taxes, insurance premiums, and repairs to the Trust property.

In 2008, the Commonwealth of Virginia acquired a portion of the Trust property pursuant to a certificate of take. See Code §§ 25.1-307, -308, -313, and -314. Because the Trustee and Riverside disagreed as to whether the compensation received in the eminent domain action should be allocated to principal or income, they entered into an escrow agreement directing escrow agents, Forbes and Molly E. Trant, to hold the condemnation compensation and to disburse such funds only in accordance with future directions from the Trustee and Riverside.

Subsequently, in an amended complaint, the Trustee sought declaratory relief against Riverside, asking, among other things, that the condemnation compensation be paid to the Trustee for distribution to the Grantor as income in accordance with the terms of the Trust.[1] Responding, Riverside asserted that the condemnation compensation should be allocated as a receipt of principal in accordance with the Trust provisions. In a third amended counterclaim, Riverside also sought declaratory relief against the Trustee on the same basis, in addition to removal of Forbes as the Trustee and an equitable accounting pursuant to Code § 8.01-31.[2]

The parties filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment on the issue regarding the allocation of the condemnation compensation as between principal or income. The Trustee argued that the plain meaning of the Trust term "net income" dictates that such compensation be treated as "proceeds from the [T]rust property." Recognizing that the UPIA directs a fiduciary to allocate to principal *159 "[p]roceeds of property taken by eminent domain," Code § 55-277.13(4), the Trustee stressed that the UPIA, nevertheless, provides that a fiduciary, when allocating receipts between principal and income, "[s]hall administer a trust ... in accordance with the terms of the trust ... even if there is a different provision in [the UPIA]." Code § 55-277.3(A)(1). Riverside, however, contended that the UPIA controls because the Trust provisions do not define the terms "income" and "principal" or direct how the compensation from an eminent domain action is to be allocated.

The circuit court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the Trustee. In a letter opinion incorporated in its order, the circuit court reasoned that because funds received from the rental of the Trust property are specifically included in the definition of the term "net income," "there simply is no question that money received from the condemnation proceeds[] fall in the category of 'and/or generated from or by the [T]rust property and/or any proceeds from the [T]rust property.'" Further, because the condemnation compensation is included in "net income," as defined by the Trust, the court concluded that the UPIA rule on the allocation of the condemnation compensation between principal and income does not apply.

With regard to Riverside's request in its third amended counterclaim for an equitable accounting pursuant to Code § 8.01-31, the circuit court, in a separate letter opinion, concluded that Riverside is an entity that may request such an accounting under that statute. However, the court found it "unnecessary to grant the motion for an 'equitable accounting' under ... Code § 8.01-31" on the ground that the court, during this litigation, previously had ordered compliance with the Trust provisions requiring the Trustee to provide "a statement showing the condition of the Trust and the receipts and disbursements during the period covered thereby from the date of the creation of the Trust or from the date of the last previous statement furnished by the Trustee." Thus, in its final order, the court sustained the Trustee's demurrer with regard to Riverside's claim for an equitable accounting as asserted in its third amended counterclaim.[3] We awarded Riverside this appeal.

II.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
709 S.E.2d 156, 281 Va. 522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riverside-healthcare-assn-inc-v-forbes-va-2011.