Case ID: va_47/html/0424-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Richmond.
    Brown v. George.
    1849. October Term.
    
    (Absent Cabell, P.)
    Testatrix bequeaths property to her married daughter for life, for her separate use, the said property, or so much thereof as may be in existence at her death, to go to her children or their descendants, if any there be. And more fully to preserve said property to the separate use of the daughter for her life, and to her children after her death, testatrix appoints a trustee, to whom the property is to be delivered by her executor. And she further directs that all receipts given to the trustee by the daughter, for payments made to her either of principal or interest of the property, shall be to him a full discharge. Held : That the daughter is entitled to use both principal and interest of the property at her discretion.
    
      Robert Burton by his will dated in September 1825, devised and bequeathed to his mother Anna P. Brown, then the wife of James Brown, all his estate real and personal for her life, with power to dispose of the same by will or otherwise. This will was duly admitted to probat.
    In March 1840, Mrs. Anna P. Brown by her will duly executed, and with reference to the power given her by the will of Robert Burton, directed and appointed that all the estate and effects to which she was entitled, or over which she had a power of appointment under the will of Robert Burton, should at her death, be divided into eight equal parts, one of which should go to each of her eight children. One of these children was Anna B. George, the wife of John George. Her eighth is given as follows: “One” (eighth) “to my daughter Anna B. George, for her sole and separate use ; the said interests or parts of the said estate to pass and go on the terms and in the manner following, viz: The portion of the said estate hereby appointed to my daughter, .to go to her for life, to her sole and separate use, free from all claims or demands of her husband; and the said estate, or so much thereof as may be in existence at her death, to go to her children, or their descendants, if any there be.”
    “And more fully to preserve the said estate to the separate use of the said Anna B. George for her life, and to her children after her death, I appoint my son Patrick W. Brown her trustee, and direct that my executors hereinafter named, shall pay and deliver over to him all the said estate, and his receipt shall be to them a discharge. And I further direct, that all receipts given to him by the said Anna B. George, for payments made to her, either of the principal or interest of the said estate, shall be to him a full discharge.”
    
      Mrs. Brown survived her husband, and died in 1843, and her will was duly admitted to probat. Of the property disposed of by her, there came to the hands of Patrick W. Brown, as trustee of Mrs. George, the sum of 511 dollars 25 cents, being the proceeds of personal estate, of which he invested 500 dollars in state stock, in his name, as trustee for Mrs. George, and the sum of 11 dollars 25 cents being too small to be invested he paid it over to Mrs. George.
    
    In March 1849, Mrs. George by her next friend, filed her bill in the Superior Court of chancery for the Richmond circuit against her trustee Patrick W. Brown, and her infant children, claiming that she was entitled under her mother’s will to have a full and unlimited power to use the money given to her, at her discretion; and asking that her right to receive and use the estate given to her by the will aforesaid might be established ; and for general relief.
    The trustee answered the bill, and expressed the belief that the will of Mrs. Brown gave the plaintiff but a life estate in the property, with remainder at her death to her children: but he submitted the construction of the will to the Court, and was willing to abide by its decree. The infants answered by a guardian ad litem.
    
    The cause was docketed and heard by consent, when the Court expressed the opinion that the leading intention of the testatrix, Anna P. Brown, in the bequest to Patrick W. Brown, as trustee for Anna B. George, was to create a separate estate in the money bequeathed, to be used by the said Anna B. George at her discretion, free from the control of her husband; and that so much only of the said fund as might not be used by the said Anna B. George, was to go in remainder to her children; and that the said Anna B. George was, by the will, authorized to draw at her discretion either principal or interest from her trustee, and to discharge him by her receipt from all responsibility therefor. It was therefore decreed that the- trustee should pay or transfer to Mrs. George, when required by her, all or such part of the trust money or stock which was then in his hands, or which should thereafter come to his hands as trustee, whether of principal or interest; and that her receipts therefor should be' to the trustee a valid discharge from all claim for the money so paid or stock transferred, either on the part of Mrs. George or her children. And the costs of the suit were decreed to be paid out of the trust fund.
    And liberty was reserved to the infant defendants to shew cause against the decree at any time within six months after attaining respectively the age of twenty-one years. From this decree the trustee applied to this Court for an appeal, which was allowed.
    
      Cooke, for the appellant.
    The Attorney General and Cabell, for the appellee.
   By the Court.

The decree is affirmed, with costs.