Title: In Re Mills'will
Citation: 260 P.2d 1111, 57 N.M. 577
Docket Number: 5588
State: new-mexico
Issuer: new-mexico Supreme Court
Date: September 11, 1953

260 P.2d 1111 (1953) 57 N.M. 577 IN RE MILLS' WILL. BAASCH et al. v. WEBB. No. 5588. Supreme Court of New Mexico. September 11, 1953. W. Morris Shillinglaw, Jr., and John S. Catron, Las Vegas, for appellants. H.E. Blattman, Las Vegas, for appellee. McGHEE, Justice. The sole question presented by this appeal is whether a valid charitable trust was *1112 created by the will of Byron T. Mills, deceased, which provided, in part: Appellants are the executors of the will of the said Byron T. Mills. They brought a petition below for a declaratory judgment against Ruth W. Webb, appellee for construction of the above provision. Appellee was the niece and sole heir at law of the testator. The lower court made the following finding of fact, together with others, to wit: and ruled the provision was therefore void. Appellants assert the testator intended to and did create a valid charitable trust; that its purpose is designated with sufficient definiteness and certainty; and that the failure of the testator to set out a plan for the application of the property to the charitable purpose specified does not invalidate the trust. That the testator intended to create a charitable trust is not seriously controverted by appellee, but her argument is, that while indefiniteness of beneficiaries of a public charitable trust is permitted, indefiniteness of purpose is not; and, further, that the executors may devote the property of the trust to objects not charitable, specifically, "deformed or crippled children who are not in need or who in no way can be classed as the subjects of charity." We are, therefore, concerned with whether or not the charitable purpose or object is sufficiently designated, and whether the executors are given power to apply the residue of the estate to non-charitable purposes. Both questions must be ruled in favor of appellants. Counsel for both appellants and appellee have made extensive reference to cases from other jurisdictions on the nature of charitable trusts and the requisites for their creation and administration, as well as to annotations and treatises on the subject, but we deem it unnecessary to review the field, as in this state the general matter is so well settled by two earlier opinions of this Court: Santa Fe Lodge No. 460 v. Employment Security Comm., 1945, 49 N.M. 149, 159 P.2d 312; and Rhodes v. Yater, 1921, 27 N.M. 489, 202 P. 698, 699, 22 A.L.R. 692. In the first of the cases cited, after discussing the English Statute of Charitable Uses which is in force in this state, and reviewing considerable authority, the opinion quotes with approval the following from 14 C.J.S., Charities § 1: That a bequest to "deformed and crippled children" is charitable cannot be questioned under either modern definition or the English Statute of Charitable Uses. But, the appellee argues, as above stated, though the purpose be charitable, it is not sufficiently designated. The same argument was before this Court in Rhodes *1113 v. Yater, supra. There the testator provided half of his residuary estate should be used "`for the purpose of evangelization and the publication of manuscripts,' theretofore prepared by him," and appointed trustees to "direct the use of the money in the preaching of the gospel as may to them seem best." Pertinent portions of that opinion read: The governing liberal rules concerning charitable trusts are contained in the foregoing quotation. Their further restatement is unnecessary, and under them a trust for deformed and crippled children cannot be defeated on the ground the charitable purpose stated is too indefinite and uncertain. Appellee relies upon the case of Hadley v. Forsee, 1907, 203 Mo. 418, 101 S.W. 59, 60, 14 L.R.A.,N.S., 49. In that case, after the testator had given all of his property to his wife, he directed her as follows: While the opinion in this case contains much discussion of the nature of charitable trusts and the requirements for their validity, the controlling portion of the decision seems to be: In the instant case the purpose of the trust has not been confided to a selected person it is specified for all to see in the provision made by the testator in his will, and the case of Hadley v. Forsee, supra, is, therefore, clearly distinguishable from the present case. Appellee also asserts the trust fails because the class to be benefited is not described with certainty in that crippled and deformed children do not constitute a class because the same might or might not include various degrees of crippling or deformity and such states might arise from various causes and conditions. Would appellee contend that a trust for the relief of poverty fails when it does not provide how "poor" those to be benefited must be, or that their poverty must be the result of some particular cause? In the rejection of such contention we deem it unnecessary to cite authority. Addressing ourselves now to the second consideration before us, that under the terms of the will the executors may apply the trust property to non-charitable purposes, we note at the outset that appellee is apparently under the belief a charitable trust to be valid must be confined solely to the aiding of the indigent. All the authorities are in agreement that a charity which incidentally benefits the wealthy as well as the poor is none the less charitable. See the definition of "charity" in 14 C.J.S. Charities, § 1, quoted supra from the Santa Fe Lodge case. We find the following in Bogert on Trusts and Trustees, Vol. 2A, sec. 373, p. 108: See also 3 Scott on Trusts, sec. 372, p. 1996. Appellee relies on the case of In re Kline's Estate, 1934, 138 Cal. App. 514, 32 P.2d 677, 678. That case held where a will directed the residue of an estate to be paid "to such persons, charitable organizations and/or corporations * * * organized for the purpose of aiding and for the betterment of crippled children, the persons, charities or organizations that shall receive the benefit of this charitable trust to be selected by my said trustee in its absolute and uncontrolled discretion", that a valid charitable trust was not created thereby. The court ruled the adjective, "charitable," did not modify either "persons" or "corporations," *1115 and that the trustee was authorized to apply the trust property to uses that were or might be non-charitable. The court there was obviously disturbed by the fact a hospital operating under corporate organization for profit could have been given the fund. The California case in no way parallels the present one. The discretion given the executors here is, as in Rhodes v. Yater, supra, solely that of selecting the agency through which the charitable intent of the testator to benefit deformed and crippled children is to be carried out. The following language from the leading case of Grant v. Saunders, 1903, 121 Iowa, 80, 95 N.W. 411, 100 Am.St.Rep. 310, is expressive of the true construction to be given the particular language in testator's will: "in such manner as my executors may arrange for." The clause from the present will quoted above can only be read in conjunction with the remainder of the provision in which it appears, and the direction is then clear that the executors are empowered only to apply the property for the benefit of deformed and crippled children. As we said in Rhodes v. Yater, supra: The judgment of the lower court will be reversed with direction to enter judgment for appellants in accordance herewith. Appellants will recover costs of this appeal. It is so ordered. SADLER, C.J., and COMPTON, LUJAN and SEYMOUR, JJ., concur.