Wood v. Wood

5 Paige Ch. 596, 1836 N.Y. LEXIS 201, 1836 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 66
CourtNew York Court of Chancery
DecidedMarch 15, 1836
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 5 Paige Ch. 596 (Wood v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wood v. Wood, 5 Paige Ch. 596, 1836 N.Y. LEXIS 201, 1836 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 66 (N.Y. 1836).

Opinion

The Chancellor.

Although the father of these complainants has made a most singular, and probably a very in- ■ discreet disposition of his property, considering the situation of his family and the tender ages of his children at the time of his death, I cannot perceive that the defendant, J. B. Wood, has done any thing, or has attempted, or even claimed the right to do any thing which he had not reason to believe it was his duty to do, as the executor of his brother and the testamentary guardian of the complainants, and as a faith[600]*600fui trustee of the decedent's property, under the will. So fair as the trusts of a will are valid and consistent with the rules of law, the executor and trustee is bound to carry them into effect, whatever he may think of the wisdom of the testamentary disposition which the testator had thought proper to make of his property; unless he is excused from a literal performance of the trust, by the consent of all parties, either directly or indirectly interested in the execution thereof, and with the sanction of the court of chancery, where the rights and interests of infants or of married women are concerned. And where the right or interest of the cestui que trust in the trust property is rendered inalienable, by the provision contained in the sixty-third section of the article of the revised statutes relative to uses and trusts, the trustee cannot, even at the request of the persons beneficially interested, and with the assent of this court, do any act, or consent to any different disposition of the estate, which would be a virtual alienation of the property devised to him in trust. But where the testator has directed the trust fund to be invested in the purchase of land in a partiular place, and required the trustee to apply the rents and profits of such land for the use of the cestui que trust during his life, or for any shorter period, this court may, with the assent of all persons who have either vested or contingent interests in the fund or in the lands to be purchased therewith, authorize the trustee to invest the fund in lands or other real estate in another place, upon the same trusts. And if any of the persons who are thus interested are infants, and within the jurisdiction of this court, the chancellor may assent to such change of investment in their behalf. Also, where a testamentary guardian holds a fund for the benefit of infants, in his character of guardian merely, the court may change the investment from that which the testator has directed, even without the consent of such guardian, where it is manifestly for the benefit of the ward that such change should be made. It is necessary, therefore, to examine this will, for the purpose of ascertaining the validity of the several provisions thereof, and determining the nature and extent of the several interests of the parties to this suit, and of other per[601]*601sons, in the estate .of the decedent, under the will or otherwise.

Although the testator directs all his estate to be sold, and one third of the proceeds to be invested for the rase of his xvife during her widowhood, it does not appear, by any necessary implication from the xvill itself, that he intended this provision to be in lieu of dower in the real estate of xvhich he died seized. The xvidow is not therefore obliged to elect betxveen that provision and her dower. The question has frequently been discussed in the English court of chancery, how far and when a legacy or annuity to the wife, charged upon the real estate of the testator, is to be considered as a provision in lieu of doxver, and there have been many conflicting decisions on the subject. (See Arnold v. Kempstead, 2 Eden’s Rep. 237, note; and French v. Davies, 2 Ves.jun. 572.) Z am satisfied, however, from an examination of the American, as xvell as the English cases, that a devise of all the testator’s real and personal estate to trustees, to be converted into money, without any particular designation of the real property to be sold, and giving to the widow an annuity or other-provision out of such mixed fund, is not, of itself, sufficient to show that the testator intended that her interest in the land, as tenant in dower, should be sold as a part of the estate; so as to make it necessary ¿for the widow to elect between such dower and the provision contained in the will. The widow in the present case is therefore entitled to both.

Neither is it necessary that the widow should go to the state of Ohio with, her children, to entitle her to the six per cent, per annum on the amount of one-third of the property. The annuity is made payable at the house of the trustee in the state of Ohio; and if he resides in that state and has a dwelling house there, and has actually invested the third of the property, out of which her annuity is payable, in that state, as directed by the will, she must go there to receive the semiannual payments, or must employ an agent or attorney to receive the payments at the place designated by the testator. This investment was not intended by the testator to be made In the purchase of real estate; but, on the contrary, he intend[602]*602ed that this portion of his estate should be invested in loans upon bond and mortgage, or in the purchase of stocks, which would yield a semi-annual income ; so as to enable the trustee to pay the six per cent, per annum to the widow, without any diminution of the capital of the fund. So far as relates to the investment of this part of the fund, during the life, or widowhood, of the wife of the testator, I can see no legal objection to the disposition which the testator has thought proper to make of this third of bis property. He had a right to direct how and where the investment should be made for the benefit of the annuitant, and the time and manner of the payments. And as the infant complainants are entitled to the reversion of the two thirds thereof after the death or re-marriage of their mother, the place of the investment cannot be changed, except by the sanction of this court, even if the widow and trustee both consent to have the fund invested elsewhere. If the direction to invest the two-thirds in land, upon the re-marriage of the widow, and the limitations over of the ultimate remainder in case of the death of all the complainants without issue before they come into the enjoyment of the estate, are valid,it follows that the mode of investment cannot be changed, even with the consent of all persons who are now in existence, as it is impossible to say who will be the heirs of the children, of the blood of their father, at the death of the last survivor.

I have arrived at the conclusion, however, that the limitation over to the heirs of the blood of the testator is void, as being too remote. The absolute power of alienation cannot be suspended beyond two lives in being at the death of the testator. And this case does not come within the exception contained in the sixteenth section of the article of the revised statutes relative to the creation and division of estates; (1 R. S. 723 ;) for the limitation over does not depend upon the death of all the children without issue under the age of twenty-one, as they may, by the terms of the will, be kept out of the enjoyment of the property until they are twenty-two, if the trustee thinks proper. And upon the death of two of the children without issue, the third would take the ultimate remainder in fee, ag the only heir of the blood of the testator, under the [603]*603provision contained in the 17th section of that article of the ■ revised statutes.

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Bluebook (online)
5 Paige Ch. 596, 1836 N.Y. LEXIS 201, 1836 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wood-v-wood-nychanct-1836.