Case Name: In re ESTATE of Emma JONES, Deceased
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1975-07-25
Citations: 318 So. 2d 231
Docket Number: No. 74-55
Parties: In re ESTATE of Emma JONES, Deceased.
Judges: SCHWARTZ, ALAN R., Associate Judge, concurs specially with opinion.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 318
Pages: 231–240

Head Matter:
In re ESTATE of Emma JONES, Deceased.
No. 74-55.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
July 25, 1975.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 11, 1975.
W. Langston Holland of Holland & Holland, St. Petersburg, for appellant.
Richard T. Earle, Jr. of Earle, Earle & Bryson, St. Petersburg, for appellees.

Opinion:
BOARDMAN, Acting Chief Judge.
The primary issue in this case is the construction of certain provisions of the last will and testament of Emma Jones, hereinafter referred to as decedent.
The decedent devised the residue of her estate to co-trustees John A. Rhoades, Jr. and The First Gulf Beach Bank and Trust Company.
The pertinent part of the will provides:
SEVENTH
All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, whether real property, personal property or mixed and wheresoever situated, of which I may die seized or possessed, or which I may own or have any interest in at the time of my death, I give, devise and bequeath to the FIRST GULF BEACH BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, a Florida banking corporation, and JOHN A. RHOADES, JR., as Co-Trustees, IN TRUST, for the uses and purposes as hereinafter set forth. I direct that my Co-Trustees shall collect the income received from the assets comprising the Trust Estate, and shall invest and re-invest the assets comprising the Trust Estate from time to time as may be required or allowed hereunder or by law. My Co-Trustees shall distribute the income from this Trust and certain amounts of the assets in the Trust Estate as hereinafter set out on at least an annual basis.
My Co-Trustee, THE FIRST GULF BEACH BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, shall physically hold and collect >the monies comprising my Trust Estate. My Co-Trustee, JOHN A. RHOADES, JR., shall select the beneficiaries to receive the monies or properties from my Trust Estate in his sole and absolute discretion according to the standards or guidelines set out hereafter.
It is my desire that my Co-Trustee, JOHN A. RHOADES, JR., shall consider my wishes as I have verbally expressed them to him during my lifetime. It is my further wish that my Co-Trustee, (sic) JOHN A. RHOADES, JR., shall consider the needs of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, F. & A.M. of the State of Florida, for the use and benefit of their building fund in providing additional facilities for, first, crippled children, and second, a home for the aged. My wishes in this regard are further within the knowledge of my co-Trustee and Attorney, JOHN A. RHOADES, JR.
It is my intention and direction that my co-Trustee, JOHN A. RHOADES, JR., in selecting the beneficiaries hereunder shall in all events require that at least three-fourths (fátiis) of the monies distributed hereunder, but can be more, shall be received by beneficiaries who qualify for charitable deduction purposes pursuant, to the Internal Revenue Code.
It is my further intention that the beneficiaries have Masonic purposes, medical purposes, educational purposes, civic purposes, public purposes or any other non-profit type of activities.
I direct that my Co-Trustees shall disburse at least annually all the net income received from my Trust Estate, and, in addition, shall disburse at least annually four percent (4%) of the original assets of the Trust Estate together with corpus additions thereto as may be received from time to time, in order that this Trust shall terminate as a result of all assets having been disbursed not later than twenty-five (25) years from the date this Trust shall be duly qualified before a court of competent jurisdiction.
My Co-Trustees shall have all powers conferred upon trustees under the Uniform Trust Administration Law of the State of Florida as now enacted or as may be amended from time to time. I give and grant unto my Co-Trustees, full power of sale without the necessity of Court order and request that no bond be required of my Co-Trustees for the faithful performance of their duties.
In the event that my co-Trustee, JOHN A. RHOADES, JR., shall at any time be unable to act as called for under this Trust, then and in that event, THE FIRST GULF BEACH BANK AND TRUST COMPANY shall become the. sole Trustee and exercise all powers and responsibilities as may be required in administering the Trust Estate under the Trust created by me in this Will.
EIGHTH
I hereby acknowledge that in my Last Will and Testament, dated September 29, 1965, which was substantially the same as this Will, that my residuary estate was left to thre^ (3) charitable organizations in equal shares, to-wit:
SALVATION ARMY OF ST. PE-TERSBURG, St. Petersburg, Florida; AMERICAN LEGION HOSPITAL FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN, St. Pe-tersburg, Florida; and MOUND PARK HOSPITAL FOUNDATION, INC., St. Petersburg, Florida, for cancer research.
I acknowledge and recognize the Florida law relative to charitable beneficiaries and the six (6) months' provision of said law relative to gifts or devises to charitable beneficiaries, and state that my overall testamentary plan has not changed from my previous Will, but only the selection of the beneficiaries.
The decedent died on March 8, 1973. An order was entered admitting the will to probate on March 9, 1973.
Mrs. Charles R. Pinkston, a/k/a Peggy Ann Pinkston, appellant, the legally adopted daughter and sole heir at law of the decedent, filed her petition for partial 'revocation of probate of will and construction of will. The petition alleged, inter alia, that the dispositive provision of the will to the co-trustee John A. Rhoades, Jr. was invalid in that such devise was violative of the rule against perpetuity and that the designation of the class of beneficiaries to receive distribution from the proposed testamentary trust was so uncertain as to be unenforceable. Appellees, the co-trustees, filed their answer thereto denying the essential allegations of said petition.
The trial court concluded that paragraph "EIGHTH," supra, read in pari materia with paragraph "SEVENTH" revealed an overall charitable intent coupled with the proviso that three-fourths (%) of the beneficiaries must qualify for charitable deduction purposes pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code. Accordingly, the trial court entered an order finding that article "SEVENTH" creates a good and valid trust for charitable distributions only. The appellant's petition was denied. From this order the appellant filed this timely appeal.
The main contention of the appellant is that the trust created by the will of decedent is not a charitable trust and that it violates the rule against perpetuities.
On the other hand, the contention of the appellees is that the trust under the .will is a charitable trust and that being such the rule against perpetuities is not applicable.
As a general rule, and the parties are in accord, gifts to charities are not subject to the rule against perpetuities. Gray, The Rule Against Perpetuities, (4th Ed. 1942), § 589. The trust under consideration does not come within any of the exceptions to the rule, supra, and it follows it is valid if in fact it is a charitable trust. If, however, the trust is not a charitable one, it must fail as a gift in gross or in excess of twenty-one (21) years of duration. Gray, supra, § 629. As was held In Re Estate of Gold, Fla.App.3rd, 1966, 189 So. 2d 905, charitable gifts are liberally construed and upheld if reasonably susceptible of a construction which gives them validity. It is too well settled to cite authorities that the primary and cardinal rule of will construction is that the intent of the testator governs and is to be given full force and effect whenever possible. Consequently, a charitable intent on the part of the testator must be evident. 'Our supreme court in the case of Porter v. Baynard, 158 Fla. 294, 303, 28 So.2d 890 (1946), cert. den. Union Trust Co. v. Genau, 330 U.S. 844, 67 S.Ct. 1085, 91 L.Ed. 1289, said:
. [I]n order that a gift shall possess such certainty as will give it validity, the language must require that the fund shall be expended for charity and for nothing else. . . . (citations omitted; 28 So.2d 890, 895).
Counsel for the respective parties urge that the trust is either completely valid or totally void. We agree with this conclusion under the circumstances of this case.
Appellant argues that by placing distribution of the trust's assets in the hands of the trustee and limiting his discretion only to the extent that three-fourths (%) of the proceeds must go to I. R.S. qualified charities, the trust violates the common law rule against perpetuities and must fail. The appellee argues that the provisions of article "EIGHTH" breathes life into article "SEVENTH" and demonstrates an overall charitable intention.
Our conclusion is that under the language used article "EIGHTH" cannot serve to resuscitate article "SEVENTH." The decedent's statement in article "EIGHTH"
. that [her] overall testamentary plan has not changed . . . but only the selection of the beneficiaries
is not supported by a reading of article "SEVENTH."
The conclusion being reached that the creation of the trust in perpetuity violates the common law rule against perpetuities, and our former adjudication, then a very cogent question arises on the record, viz., what is the legal effect of the invalid provision.
The law of this state is clear and whether the intended trust fails altogether depends upon whether the provision which failed can be separated from the other provisions without defeating the purpose of the settlor in creating the trust. Porter v. Baynard, supra; Restatement of the Law, Second, Trusts, § 65 (1959).
In light of the record, briefs and argument, and upon our review of the applicable principles of law, we are of the view that notwithstanding the fact that three-fourths (%) of the trust is dedicated to benefit charity and can be distributed according to the expressed intention of the decedent, the provision that this percent of the bequest is to be distributed to " . beneficiaries who qualify for charitable deduction purposes pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code" is not sufficient to designate recipients who qualify under the charity exception to the rule against perpetuities. The stated beneficiaries might well include any number of organizations which are undoubtedly worthy, but are not "charities" within the meaning of the exception. Since no part of the bequest may therefore be saved, we are compelled to conclude that it must all fall to the rule, supra, and pass instead by intestacy.
Reversed.
SCHWARTZ, ALAN R., Associate Judge, concurs specially with opinion.
GRIMES, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with opinion.