Smith v. Guaranty Trust Co.

269 A.D. 537, 56 N.Y.S.2d 330

This text of 269 A.D. 537 (Smith v. Guaranty Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Guaranty Trust Co., 269 A.D. 537, 56 N.Y.S.2d 330 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1945).

Opinion

Glennon, J.

Elizabeth Winship Bates died on February 17, 1928, a resident of the State of Georgia, leaving a last will and testament which was duly admitted to probate in that State. She was' survived by her daughter, the defendant Anne Bates Leach, who was her sole heir at law and next of kin, and by two granddaughters, children of Mrs. Leach, namely, Elizabeth Winship Smith, the plaintiff herein, and Emily Frances Rees, who is one of the defendants.

“ Item 5 ” of the will directs that the entire residuary estate be held by the'Guarahty Trust Company of New York, as trustee, until the daughter reaches the age of forty. During that time one half of the income was to be paid to the daughter “ for the support of herself and the maintenance and education of her children,” Elizabeth and Emily. If in the opinion of any two of five persons named in the will, the income assigned to. the daughter was insufficient for the purposes specified, the trustee was authorized and empowered to invade the corpus to the, extent certified by the said two persons.

Out of the other one half of the income the trustee was to pay $100 per month to each of the granddaughters until their mother’s fortieth birthday and the balance was to accumulate.

When the daughter reached the age of forty the fund was to be divided in four equal parts, one of which was to be paid over to her outright and the trust terminated as to that part. Another of such equal parts was to be continued in trust until the daughter’s forty-fifth birthday with the entire income payable to her for the support and education of her two aforementioned children, and the maintenance of herself.” The provisions hereinbefore referred to permitting the invasion of principal were also to apply to this trust. The daughter reached her forty-fifth birthday on December 31, 1941, and the remainder of this trust has been paid over to her pursuant to the provisions of the will.

The remaining two equal parts were to be held by the trustee as two separate trusts, one for each of the granddaughters. [539]*539These trusts are now being administered by the trustee. The one here involved is that for the plaintiff.

Under the terms of the trust for her benefit, the plaintiff is to receive graduated monthly payments out of the income until she becomes thirty years of age. The monthly amounts provided are $100 until eighteen years of age; $150 until twenty-one ; $200 between twenty-one and twenty-five; and $300 thereafter until her thirtieth birthday. The excess income is to be added to and become part of the principal of the trust. At thirty, the plaintiff is to receive one half of the fund and the balance continued in trust, with the entire. income payable to her until she reaches thirty-five, at which time the trust is to terminate and the remainder is to be delivered over to her.

In the event that she dies before distribution of the principal, it is provided that the fund “ * * * shall be delivered to the children of such granddaughter so dying; if she dies without leaving children then to my other granddaughter, [Emily Frances Eees], or if she be already dead then to her children her surviving, if any; or if no children her surviving then to my daughter, Anne Bates Walsh; or if she be already dead then to the Decatur Orphans Home and Young Harris College, equally.”

The principal of the trust amounts to approximately $950,000, and the annual net income, before taxes, has varied between $30,000 and $37,000 during the years 1941 to 1943.

' Plaintiff was born on August 6, 1920. When eighteen years of age, she married one Francis L. Smith. As a result of that marriage two children were born, Elizabeth Winship Smith, Jr., on November 7, 1939, and Francis Leighton Smith, Jr., on May 21, 1941, both of whom are defendants herein.

On January 25, 1944, she testified at the trial of this action that she was twenty-three years of age and unmarried, having obtained a divorce from Francis L. Smith in Columbus, Ohio, on December 15,1942. She received no money from him at the time of the divorce and no provision was made in the decree for the payment of alimony. The children are in her custody and since the divorce her former husband has made no contribution toward their support. Her only income at the time was the monthly payments of $200 she received from the trust and an annuity of $144 a month from the Guardian Life Insurance Company which terminates on her twenty-fifth birthday, when the monthly payments from the trust are to be increased to $300. Prior to her marriage shé had always lived with her mother, [540]*540who maintained a home in Atlanta, Georgia, a summer home in the mountains of “ North Georgia, and a winter place of seventy acres in Florida equipped with swimming pool and tennis court. She lived and was brought up as a child of wealth.

On June 29, 1944, plaintiff’s father, called as a witness in her behalf, testified that in April, 1944, plaintiff married one George M. Abbott, a master technical sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, in Yuma, Arizona, and that they were then living in El Centro, California. The children, he said, had been left by plaintiff at her mother’s home.in Florida, but he did not know whether they were still there or who was paying their expenses. As far as he knew, the only income of Sergeant Abbott was $173 per month which, he received as a master technical sergeant. On the argument of the appeal it was stated that plaintiff had divorced Sergeant Abbott and subsequently* in January of this year, had married Harold L. Stetson, a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces.

In her complaint plaintiff sets forth that her only sources of income are the trust and the annuity policy, and that her total income of $344 per month from these sources is insufficient to provide for her proper support and .the proper support, maintenance and education of her children, and that “ special circumstances exist which render it necessary that this court order and adjudge that a greater sum be paid to plaintiff out of the accumulation of income and the current income ” of the trust. The application was based upon the Georgia law. The appellant trustee by its pleading and proof contends that the relief sought and obtained is not authorized by the laws of the State of Georgia. The infant defendants appeared by guardians ad litem. The Grace National Bank of New York was made a defendant on the theory that it had advanced certain money to the plaintiff.

The court, at Special Term in the judgment entered directed that Plaintiff is entitled to receive $10,000 per annum, payable out of income of this trust, which sum together with the other income available to plaintiff constitutes a sum reasonably adequate for the maintenance and support of plaintiff and for the maintenance, support and education of plaintiff’s children, the infant deféndants, Elizabeth Winship Smith, Jr. and Francis Leighton Smith, Jr.”

As we have seen, the trust for the plaintiff was not established for the purpose of providing for her support and maintenance [541]*541nor for the support of her children. The testatrix saw fit- to provide for plaintiff’s “ support and education ” only out of the income payable to the mother, and then only to the mother’s forty-fifth birthday. It was the principal of the mother’s trust that could be invaded for that purpose even though the trusts for both granddaughters had been set up and they were receiving a portion of the income from their respective trusts.

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Bluebook (online)
269 A.D. 537, 56 N.Y.S.2d 330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-guaranty-trust-co-nyappdiv-1945.