Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/85915/colton-vs
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 12:54:07+00:00

Document:
The intention of a testator, as expressed in his will, is to prevail when not inconsistent with rules of law.
No technical language is necessary for the creation of a trust in a will, and no general rule can be formulated for determining whether a devise or bequest carries with it the whole beneficial interest, or whether it is to be construed as creating a trust.
If a trust be sufficiently expressed and capable of enforcement, it is not invalidated by being called "precatory."
to the benefit of the supposed cestui que trust warrants the inference that it is peremptory, then it may be held that an obligatory trust is created which may be enforced in a court of equity.
"I give and bequeath to my said wife E. M. C. all of the estate, real and personal, of which I shall die seized, possessed, or entitled to. I recommend to her the care and protection of my mother and sister, and request her to make such gift and provision for them as in her judgment will be best. . . . I hereby appoint my said wife to be the executrix of thin my last will and testament, and desire that no bonds be required of her for the performance of any of her duties as ouch executrix. This will was duly proved in the Probate Court of San Francisco. The widow having failed to make suitable provision for the mother and sister, each filed a bill in equity against her setting up that"
the provision in their favor in the will was a trust. The bills alleged that the property received by the widow under the will amounted to $1,000,000; that the sister was dependent upon the mother for support; that the mother was in feeble health and required constant care, and was without means of support except the sum of $15,000 loaned at interest, which loan was well known to the testator when he made his will and at the time of his death; that no suitable provision had been made for either mother or sister by the widow, but that they had been left in "very straightened circumstances." The remedy sought in each bill was that the widow should be required to make a suitable provision for the complainant; in each bill, a demurrer was filed on the ground that the will created a trust; that the court had no jurisdiction; that the claim was stale, having accrued more than four years before the commencement of the suit, and that the matter had been adjudicated by the Probate Court of San Francisco in the probate of the will.
(1) That the claim being against the defendant as devisee and legatee, and not as executrix, and there being no allegation in the pleadings that any jurisdiction was exercised by the probate court in the construction of the will in this respect, the adjudications in that court were no bar to the prosecution of this suit.
(2) That the complainants took under the will a beneficial interest in the estate given to the wife to the extent of a permanent provision for them during their respective lives suitable and sufficient for their care and protection, having regard to their condition and necessities and the amount and value of the fund from which it must come.
(3) That it was the duty of the court to ascertain, determine, and declare what provision would be suitable and best under the circumstances and all particulars and details for securing and paying it.
of the State of New York, against Ellen M. Colton, a citizen of California.
"I, David D. Colton, of San Francisco, make this my last will and testament. I declare that all of the estate of which I shall die possessed is community property, and was acquired since my marriage with my wife. I give and bequeath to my said wife, Ellen M. Colton, all of the estate, real and personal, of which I shall die seized or possessed or entitled to. I recommend to her the care and protection of my mother and sister, and request her to make such gift and provision for them as in her judgment will be best. I also request my dear wife to make such provision for my daughter Helen, wife of Crittenden Thornton, and Carrie, as she may in her love for them choose to exercise. I hereby appoint my said wife to be the executrix of this my last will and testament, and desire that no bonds be required of her for the performance of any of her duties as such executrix. I authorize and empower her to sell, dispose of, and convey any and all of the estate of which I shall die seized and possessed without obtaining the order of the probate court or of any court, and upon such terms and in such manner, with or without notice, as to her shall seem best. If my said wife shall desire the assistance of anyone in the settlement of my estate, I hereby appoint my friend, S. M. Wilson, of San Francisco, and my secretary, Charles E. Green, to be joined with her in the said executorship, and authorize her to call in either or both of the said gentlemen to be her co-executors, and in case she shall so unite either or both of them with her, the same provisions are hereby made applicable to them as I have before made for her in reference to bonds, and duties and powers."
"the defendant duly filed the said last will and testament of the said David D. Colton in the then Probate Court in and for the City and County of San Francisco, State of California, and thereafter such proceedings were duly had in said probate court that on or about the 11th day of November, A.D. 1878, an order of said probate court was duly made and entered appointing the defendant executrix of the said will and testament, and thereupon the defendant duly qualified as such executrix, and letters testamentary upon the said last will and testament were duly granted and issued to her, the said defendant, and the said defendant thereupon entered upon and thereafter continued to discharge the duties as such executrix until about the 18th day of December, A.D. 1879, when, by an order or decree of said probate court, then and there duly made and entered, the whole estate, real and personal, of the said David D. Colton then remaining was distributed to the said defendant, and she was discharged from any further duties as such executrix."
The bill then alleges that the estate of David D. Colton thus distributed to the defendant was of the value of about $1,000,000, and that the defendant, though often demanded, has failed, neglected, and refused to make to the plaintiff any gift or provision whatever from the estate of said David D. Colton.
1869, your oratrix's said father, Isaac W. Colton, then residing in the City of New York at the request of your oratrix's brother, the said David D. Colton, then residing in San Francisco aforesaid, converted all of his property, consisting of what was then known as 'five-twenty bonds of the government of the United States,' as was well known to the said David D., in gold, amounting to the sum or fifteen thousand dollars, and loaned the same to the said David D., and thereupon your oratrix's father received therefor the promissory note of the said David D. Colton, dated at San Francisco aforesaid, on or about December 7, 1869, for the said sum of $15,000, payable in gold, with interest; that afterwards, on or about March 1, 1873, the said David D. Colton renewed his said note by giving his new note to his father, the said Isaac W. Colton, for the same amount, and payable in the same manner, and which said new note was owned and held by your oratrix's said father at the time of his death. And your oratrix further shows that her said father died intestate, and that after his death, and on or about March 1, A.D. 1877, the said David D. Colton, with the consent of your oratrix, took up said last-mentioned note by giving his new note therefor, payable to his and your oratrix's mother, the said Abigail R. Colton, for the said sum of fifteen thousand dollars, with interest, and thereby your oratrix surrendered and relinquished all her legal share and interest in the said note so held by her father at the time of his death, as aforesaid, as your oratrix's brother, the said David D. Colton, well knew."
"defendant may be compelled to execute the terms and directions of the said last will and testament of the said David D. Colton, and to make your oratrix a suitable provision from the said estate of the said David D. Colton in such amount and in such manner as to your honors shall seem most meet and proper in the premises."
"And your oratrix further shows that the said defendant has, although often demanded, utterly failed, neglected, and refused to make to or your oratrix any gift or provision whatever from the estate of your oratrix's son, the said David D. Colton, except as hereinafter mentioned, that is to say: on or about March 1, 1880, the defendant sent to your oratrix the sum of fifty dollars, and thereafter at divers times, and at various intervals between the day last named and about the 1st day of January, 1881, the defendant sent to your oratrix about five other sums of fifty dollars each, amounting in the whole, as above given to your oratrix, to the sum of about three hundred dollars, and in or about the month of February, 1881, the defendant sent to your oratrix the further sum of six hundred dollars, and in or about November, 1882, she gave to your oratrix the further sum of six hundred dollars; the whole given as aforesaid, since the death of the said David D. Colton, amounting altogether to the sum of about fifteen hundred dollars only. Your oratrix further shows that she is now in the seventy-fifth year of her age, and that for many years prior to the death of her husband, the said Isaac W. Colton, she was in feeble health, and ever since that event she has been an invalid and endured much sickness and suffering, and has required much medical attendance, and the almost constant nursing and care of her said daughter, Martha Colton, who has always resided with her, until the present time. That your oratrix is not the owner of and has no interest in any real estate or chattels real, except a one-half lot in Greenwood cemetery, near the City of New York, where her said husband is buried, and that besides her wearing apparel your oratrix has no personal property whatever except the sum of $15,000, which she has had loaned out upon interest ever since on or about March 1, 1877, from which time the possession and loaning out of the said sum of $15,000 by your oratrix were well known to the said David D. Colton, down to and at the time of his making his last will and testament."
ever since the death of her son, the said David D. Colton, has consisted solely of the interest moneys arising from the loan of the aforesaid fifteen thousand dollars, and the aforesaid several sums of money given by the defendant to your oratrix as aforesaid, and ever since in November, 1882, her income has consisted and does still consist solely of said interest moneys alone."
"And your oratrix further shows that at the time of the death of the said David D. Colton, his sister, the said Martha Colton, was not and is not now the owner of any real estate or property, nor has she any income whatever, and your oratrix has therefore ever since the death of the said Martha's father, provided, and still provides, her, the said Martha, support and maintenance."
"That by reason of your oratrix's very limited income aforesaid, and notwithstanding great economy in her living and expenses and the denying herself much that would conduce to her health and comfort, your oratrix is in very straitened circumstances."
"First. That the said complainant hath not by her said bill made such a case as entitles the said complainant to any relief in this Court, avouching any of the matters therein complained of, in this, that no estate, trust, or interest exists in favor of said complainant, or arises in her favor out of the said last will and testament in her bill set forth, or any matter, legacy, or devise therein contained"
"Second. That this court hath no jurisdiction of the matters and things set forth in said complainant's bill, nor hath it jurisdiction to consider the same or to grant the relief prayed for, or any relief whatever."
"Third. That neither this court nor any other court whatever hath jurisdiction to hear and determine the matters and things set forth in complainant's said bill or to grant the relief therein prayed or any other relief whatever."
the matters and things in said bill set forth, that such cause of action is founded upon a stale equity and claim."
"Fifth. That it appears on the face of complaint's said bill that the said cause of action therein set forth, if any such exists, accrued more than four years before the commencement of this action, and that the same is barred upon the principle which courts of equity follow in analogy to the statute of limitations at law."
"Sixth. That it appears upon the face of said complainant's bill that the said pretended cause of action therein set forth accrued more than four years before the filing of her said bill."
"Seventh. That it appears on the face of complainant's said bill that the matters and things therein sought to be inquired of and determined have long since been inquired into and determined against the said complainant by the Probate Court of the City and County of San Francisco, State of California."
The demurrer to each of the bills was sustained, and they were severally dismissed. Colton v. Colton, 21 F. 594. From these decrees the present appeals are prosecuted.
or entitled to. I recommend to her the care and protection of my mother and sister, and request her to make such gift and provision for them as in her judgment will be best."
Before proceeding, however, to a consideration of the will itself, we are met with the objection, interposed by the counsel for the appellee, that the matter of the present controversy has already been finally adjudicated. The proposition is that the decree of the Probate Court of the City and County of San Francisco distributing the whole of the estate of the testator to the appellee was a complete and final adjudication as to all parties claiming as heirs, legatees, or devisees, any interest, legal or equitable, in or to the estate, and is therefore a bar to the present suit. It is contended that by the law of California, the probate court, having jurisdiction over matters relating to the settlement of estates of deceased persons, and, among other matters, to distribute the residue of the estate among the persons who by law are entitled thereto, if a trust is attempted to be created by will, that court must determine how far the attempt is successful, what is the trust, who is the trustee, and who are the beneficiaries, and distribute accordingly.
"continued to discharge the duties as such executrix until about the 18th day of December, A.D. 1879, when, by an order or decree of said probate court then and there duly made and entered, the whole estate, real and personal, of the said David D. Colton then remaining was distributed to the said defendant, and she was discharged from any further duties as such executrix."
insisted on by the complainants are not against her as executrix, but as devisee and legatee, and the trusts alleged to be created by the will do not arise until the widow of the testator comes into possession of the estate as devisee and legatee. Whatever jurisdiction, by the laws of California, its probate court may have been entitled to exercise for the purpose of construing the will as between the widow and the present complainants, there is no averment in the pleadings that it was ever exercised. There is therefore no adjudication on the subject by the probate court which has decided the question raised in these suits so as to operate as a bar to their prosecution.
attempts to effect that which the law forbids, his will must yield to the rules of law. But courts have sometimes gone further. The construction put upon words in one will has been supposed to furnish a rule for construing the same words in other wills, and thereby to furnish some and fixed this principle ought to be which ought to be respected. We cannot say that this principle ought to be totally disregarded; it should never be carried so far as to defeat the plain intent, if that intent may be carried into execution without violating the rules of law. It has been said truly, 3 Wils. 141, that cases on wills may guide us to general rules of construction, but unless a case cited be in every respect directly in point and agree in every circumstance, it will have little or no weight with the court, who always look upon the intention of the testator as the polar star to direct them in the construction of wills."
See Clarke v. Boorman's Executors, 18 Wall. 493, 85 U. S. 502 .
trust, but the intention is to be gathered in each case from the general purpose and scope of the instrument. 1 Perry on Trusts §§ 82, 151, 158; Cresswell's Administrator v. Jones, 68 Ala. 420.
The question upon the language of the present will which constitutes the point in dispute is whether the testator intended to charge his estate in the hands of his widow with a trust in favor of his mother and sister, or whether he intended his widow to take the estate free from any obligation of that character at liberty to disregard the recommendation and request, and to make provision for his mother and sister or not, out of property absolutely her own, as she might choose.
"A will is to be construed according to the intention of the testator. Where his intention cannot have effect to its full extent, it must have effect as far as possible."
"In case of uncertainty arising upon the face of a will as to the application of any of its provisions, the testator's intention is to be ascertained from the words of the will, taking into view the circumstances under which it was made, exclusive of his oral declarations."
"All the parts of a will are to be construed in relation to each other, and so as, if possible, to form one consistent whole; but where several parts are absolutely irreconcilable, the latter must prevail."
"The words of a will are to be taken in their ordinary and grammatical sense, unless a clear intention to use them in another sense can be collected and that other can be ascertained."
"The words of a will are to receive an interpretation which will give to every expression some effect, rather than one which will render any of the expressions inoperative."
"Technical words are not necessary to give effect to any species of disposition by a will."
"A voluntary trust is created as to the trustor and beneficiary by any words or acts of the trustor indicating with reasonable certainty 1, an intention on the part of the trustor to create a trust, and 2 the subject, purpose, and beneficiary of the trust."
Section 2221. It will be observed, however, that these statutory provisions of the State of California are merely declaratory of preexisting law, and are perfectly consistent, if not identical, with the rules of construction already noticed as of controlling and universal application.
though not in form, conveying the intention of the testator in terms equivalent to a command, and leaving to the legatee no discretion to defeat his wishes, although there may be a discretion to accomplish them by a choice of methods or even to define and limit the extent of the interest conferred upon his beneficiary.
"The point really to be decided in all these cases is whether, looking at the whole context of the will, the testator has meant to impose an obligation on his legatee to carry his express wishes into effect, or whether, having expressed his wishes, he has meant to leave it to the legatee to act on them or not at his discretion."
"I doubt if there can exist any formula for bringing to a direct test the question whether words of request, or hope, or recommendation are or are not to be construed as obligatory."
"I conceive the rule of construction to be that words accompanying a gift or bequest expressive of confidence, or belief, or desire, or hope that a particular application will be made of such bequest will be deemed to import a trust upon these conditions: first that they are so used as to exclude all option or discretion in the party who is to act as to his acting according to them or not; secondly, the subject must be certain; and, thirdly, the objects expressed must not be too vague or indefinite to be enforced."
The most recent declarations of the English courts of equity do not modify this statement of the law. Lambe v. Eames, L.R. 6 Ch. 597; In re Hutchinson, 8 Ch.Div. 540; In re Adams, 27 Ch.Div. 394, 406.
"It is a settled doctrine of courts of chancery that a devise or bequest to one person, accompanied by words expressing a wish, entreaty, or recommendation that he will apply it to the benefit of others, may be held to create a trust, if the subject and the objects are sufficiently certain. Some of the earlier English decisions had a tendency to give to this doctrine the weight of an arbitrary rule of construction. But by the latter cases in this and in all other questions of the interpretation of wills, the intention of the testator, as gathered from the whole will, controls the court. In order to create a trust, it must appear that the words were intended by the testator to be imperative, and when property is given absolutely and without restriction, a trust is not to be lightly imposed upon mere words of recommendation and confidence."
testator intended to govern and control the conduct of the party to whom the language of the will is addressed, and did not design it as an expression or indication of that which the testator thought would be a reasonable exercise of a discretion which he intended to repose in the legatee or devisee. If the objects of the supposed trust are certain and definite; if the property to which it is to attach is clearly pointed out; if the relations and situation of the testator and the supposed cestuis que trust are such as to indicate a strong interest and motive on the part of the testator in making them partakers of his bounty; and, above all, if the recommendatory or precatory clause is so expressed as to warrant the inference that it was designed to be peremptory on the donee, the just and reasonable interpretation is that a trust is created which is obligatory, and can be enforced in equity against the trustee by those in whose behalf the beneficial use of the gift was intended."
mother and sister, and request her to make such gift and provision for them as in her judgment will be best."
to be determined by the widow in the exercise of her judgment. It is her judgment that is to be called into exercise, and this excludes caprice, whim, and every merely arbitrary award; but whatever the judgment may be and whatever discretion is involved in its exercise, it operates only upon the nature, from, character, and amount of the gift and provision intended for them. The fact of a gift and provision is presupposed, and stands on its own ground. Her judgment is not invoked as to that. The only ambiguity in respect to whether there shall be a gift and provision or not resides in the single word "request." Does that mean a wish of the testator which he intended to be fulfilled out of the means which he had furnished to make it effectual, or does it mean a posthumous petition which the testator understood himself as addressing to the favor and goodwill of his sole legatee.
what would be best for his beneficiaries so as to insure them that care and protection for which he was providing.
The substance of the bequest was his own; the form of it, shaped only by the declared purpose of his bounty, he was willing to leave to the judgment of his wife. The alternative that such discretion should assume the power to disappoints his dispositions evidently was not present in his thoughts, as it is not implied in his words.
"I also request my dear wife to make such provision for my daughter Helen, wife of Crittenden Thornton, and Carrie as she may in her love for them choose to exercise."
straitened circumstances. A recollection of their necessities as well as natural love and affection must have inspired that sentence of his will by which the testator recommended to his widow the care and protection of his mother and sister, giving commanding weight and solemnity to the accompanying request "to make such gift and provision for them as in her judgment will be best," for he also well knew that such a provision, sufficient for their comfort and independence, would not sensibly diminish the abundance of the legacy to his wife out of which it must issue.
It is an error to suppose that the word "request" necessarily imports an option to refuse, and excludes the idea of obedience as corresponding duty. If a testator requests his executor to pay a given sum to a particular person, the legacy would be complete and recoverable. According to its context and manifest use, an expression of desire or wish will often be equivalent to a positive direction, where that is the evident purpose and meaning of the testator, as where a testator desired that all of his just debts and those of a firm for which he was not liable should be paid as soon as convenient after his decease, it was construed to operate as a legacy in favor of the creditors of the latter. Burt v. Herron, 66 Penn.St. 400. And in such a case as the present, it would be but natural for the testator to suppose that a request which, in its terms, implied no alternative, addressed to his widow and principal legatee, would be understood and obeyed as strictly as though it were couched in the language of direction and command. In such a case, according to the phrase of Lord Loughborough in Malim v. Keighley, 2 Ves.Jr. 333,529, "the mode is only civility."
But it is also argued that the trust sought to be established under this will in favor of the complainants is incapable of execution by reason of the uncertainty as to the form and extent of the provision intended, and because it involves the exercise of discretionary power on the part of the trustee which a court of equity has no rightful authority to control. We have seen that whatever discretion is given by the will to the testator's widow does not affect the existence of the trust.
"Whatever difficulties might originally have been supposed to exist in the way of a court of equity enforcing a trust the extent of which was ascertained, the cases appear clearly to decide that a court of equity can measure the extent of interest which an adult, as well as an infant, takes under a trust for his support, maintenance, and advancement, provision, or other like indefinite expression, applicable to a fund larger confessedly than the party entitled to the support, maintenance, or advancement can claim, and some interest in which is given to another person."
their discretion as to the way in which they exercise the power, so that if a fund be applicable to the maintenance of children at the discretion of trustees, the court will not take upon itself, in the first instance, to regulate the maintenance, but will leave it to the trustees. But the court will interfere wherever the exercise of the discretion by the trustees is infected with fraud or misbehavior, or they decline to undertake the duty of exercising the discretion, or generally where the discretion is mischievously and erroneously exercised, as if a trustee be authorized to lay out money upon government, or real, or personal security, and the trust fund is outstanding upon any hazardous security. Lewin on Trusts c. 20, § 2, 402, 403, 4th Eng. ed.
"If the gift be subject to the discretion of another person, so long as that person exercises a sound and honest discretion, I am not aware of any principle or any authority upon which the court should deprive the party of that discretionary power. Where a proper and honest discretion is exercised, the legatee takes all that the testator gave or intended that he should have -- that is, so much as in the honest and reasonable exercise of that discretion he is entitled to. That is the measure of the legacy."
which it must come. It will be the duty of the court to ascertain after property inquiry, and thereupon to determine and declare, what provision will be suitable and best under the circumstances and all particulars and details for securing and paying it.
The decrees of the circuit court are accordingly reversed, and the causes remanded with directions to overrule the demurrers to the several bills and to take with this opinion, and it is so ordered.

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