Case ID: pa-d-c_7/html/0405-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Van Dusen, J.,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Jagode’s Estate.
    
      Trusts and trustees — Commissions on principal.
    
    
      A commission of 5 per cent, on a principal of $50,000 was allowed a trustee, in addition to the usual commissions on income, where he had not acted as executor, had served for twenty-five years and had performed his duties with fidelity and ordinary ability.
    Exceptions to adjudication. O. C. Phila. Co., July T., 1901, No. 181.
    The facts appear from the following extract from the adjudication of Gbst, Auditing Judge:
    “Mr. Wilkinson, representing the estate of Pauline C. Jagode, objected to the trustee’s commissions, stated as 5 per cent, on the principal.
    “The present accountant was not executor, and has served as trustee for nearly twenty-six years, the numerous investments and reinvestments being shown in the account. There does not seem to be any fixed rule regarding the question of trustee’s commissions. The court will determine the amount in view of all the circumstances of the case. In this estate the trustee appears to have acted with fidelity, and no complaint was made. A loss of $1300, it is true, has been sustained in connection with the foreclosure of a mortgage, but it was not claimed that the investment was improper, and such losses may be incurred by the most careful and prudent trustee. I am of opinion that the commission charged in this case, amounting to barely $100 per annum, on the principal, should be allowed.”
    
      John J. Wilkinson, for exceptions.
    Jan. 22, 1926.
   Van Dusen, J.,

The trustee (who was not executor) was allowed commissions at 5 per cent, on $50,000 of principal for services in administering a trust for twenty-five years, in addition to commissions on income. This is a matter on which the conclusion of the Auditing Judge is decisive in the absence of clear error. Par from perceiving such error, the allowance seems to us eminently proper.

The exceptions are dismissed.

Lamoeelle, P. J., did not sit.