Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/280/280mass325.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 15:02:07+00:00

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CHARLES C. COOK, executor, vs. GRACE H. HOWE & another.
dence had been taken by a stenographer appointed under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 215, s. 12, 18, the parties filed a stipulation reciting a brief excerpt from the cross-examination of the accountant and agreeing that the only questions presented for decision upon the appeal related to the items charging the accountant with the sale price of the real estate and interest thereon, that sufficient evidence was introduced to support the findings of fact made by the trial judge, that it could not be found or ruled that such findings were plainly wrong, and that everything not material to such questions might be omitted from the record. The trial judge certified that the stipulation and findings contained an adequate summary of the proceedings material to the issue raised by the appeal. Held, that such a record was correct procedure under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 214, s. 24, 25; c. 215, s. 12.
At a hearing in a probate court upon an account of an executor of a will, an issue was, whether the executor should account for the price received by him upon sale of a certain parcel of land, which had been purchased in the lifetime of the testator and title to which had been taken in the name of the executor, who then was and for many years had been the agent and trusted adviser of the testator. All interested parties were before the court and the issue was fully tried. The judge of probate found that the parcel of land was and remained the property of the testator, that the accountant held it in his name in trust for the testator, who never gave it to him, that, the record title at the time of the sale being in the name of the accountant, the purchaser doubtless obtained a good title and that the residuary devisees were willing to accept the price obtained as the fair value of the property; and he ruled that the accountant should account as executor for the proceeds of the sale with interest. Upon appeal from a decree to that effect, it was held, that, although, strictly speaking, the liability to account was by the accountant as trustee, to avoid circuity of action it was proper in the circumstances to require him as executor to account in the proceeding then before the court.
PETITION, filed in the Probate Court for the county of Bristol on June 18, 1929, by the executor of the will of Lizzie A. Borden for the allowance of his first account.
The petition was heard by Hitch, J. Material evidence and facts and a decree entered by order of the judge are stated in the opinion. The petitioner appealed.
A. E. Seagrave, for the petitioner.
J. W. Allen, (F. C. Allen with him,) for the respondents.
years the agent and trusted adviser of Lizzie A. Borden. Considerable money was spent by Miss Borden on the estate. She died testate and the accountant was appointed executor of her will. He then claimed that the testatrix intended him to have the estate and purchased it for him. He later sold it for a substantial sum of money and for this has never accounted to her estate. The judge found that the estate was and remained the property of Miss Borden and that the accountant held it in his name in trust for her, that she never gave it to him and that, the record title at the time of the sale being in the name of the accountant, the purchaser doubtless obtained a good title and that the residuary legatees are willing to accept the price obtained as the fair value of the property. The judge ruled that the accountant should account as executor for the proceeds of the sale with interest. There is no copy of the will of the testatrix or of any part of it in the record. Decree was entered modifying the account in accordance with the findings and ruling. The accountant appealed.
194. Zaff v. Brown, 265 Mass. 598, 601. Columbian Insecticide Co. of Boston v. Driscoll, 271 Mass. 74, 77. Thayer v. Thayer, 277 Mass. 256, 258.
211 Mass. 178. Sears v. Nahant, 215 Mass. 329. Brackett, v. Fuller, 279 Mass. 62. McCarthy v. William H. Wood Lumber Co. 219 Mass. 566. Eaton v. Walker, 244 Mass. 23, 31. Having sold real estate in his capacity as trustee and having conveyed a good title to the purchaser, the accountant in his capacity as trustee holds the money received therefor in place of the land subject to all the obligations and trusts to which the land itself was subject. Such sale does not change the rights of the beneficiaries. Holland v. Cruft, 3 Gray 162, 180. Glazier v. Everett, 224 Mass. 184, 189. The accountant in his capacity as trustee would be subject to suit in equity to account to the devisees of the real estate under the will of the testatrix for the proceeds of the sale or for the value of the real estate sold.
matter adjusted in the single proceeding now before the court.
As trustee Cook not only wrongfully denied the existence of the trust but he wrongfully converted the real estate held by him as trustee into money and holds it for his own. No advantage as executor ought to accrue to him from this course of conduct. All persons in interest are before the court and all except him desire to treat the trust res as money. There is authority to the effect that if a third person were trustee, who had done that which Cook has done in his capacity as trustee, the executor, if actually representing all the cestuis que trust, could maintain suit for the recovery of the trust fund. In those circumstances, as between an executor and such faithless trustee, the trust res would be treated as money, although as between the executor and the beneficiaries of the trust the money would be regarded as real estate in the final distribution. That clearly would be so if the faithless conduct occurred before the death of the testatrix. Parker v. Simpson, 180 Mass. 334, 358-359. See Clark v. Seagraves, 186 Mass. 430, 437. It is established that an executor must treat any debt owed by him to his testator as a money asset of the estate and account for it as executor. Hobart v. Stone, 10 Pick. 215, 220. Leland v. Felton, 1 Allen, 531, 535, 536. This is an application of the principle that an executor ought not to gain any personal advantage from his trust position which he would not otherwise possess. Coffey v. Coffey, 193 Mass. 398, 399.
the record. Any judgment will be res judicata and will protect and bar all parties if attempt be made to raise the issue in other litigation. In these circumstances we think that the accountant ought to account for all moneys due from him and ought not to be allowed to separate his dual capacities from his single personality. Forbes v. Keyes, 193 Mass. 38, 41.

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