Opinion ID: 1551069
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Intent of the Testator.

Text: While the legal rule as to stock dividends is as above, an owner of stock may make such disposition thereof, in his will, as he may see fit.    The intention of the testator, so far as manifested by him must of course control; but when he has given no special direction upon the question as to what shall be considered principal and what income, he must be presumed to have had in view the lawful power of the corporation over the use and apportionment of its earnings, and to have intended that the determination of that question should depend upon the regular action of the corporation with regard to all its shares. Gibbons v. Mahon, 136 U. S. 549, 559, 10 S. Ct. 1057, 1058, 34 L. Ed. 525. The will of Ehrhardt D. Franz must be measured by the above quoted rule. In so far as pertinent to this question, that will is as follows: The rest, residue and remainder of my estate, whether real, personal or mixed property, I give, bequeath and devise unto my beloved wife Sophie Franz, for and during the period of her natural life. After the termination of the life estate of my wife, I give, bequeath and devise the remainder in equal shares, share and share alike, unto my children Minna, Johanna, Ehrhardt, Ernest, Amanda, Gustav, Walter, Otto, Henrietta and Adelheide, and unto their heirs and assigns forever. These provisions create a plain life estate in Sophie D. Franz  no more and no less. A life tenant is, in a sense, a trustee for the remaindermen (Bush Constr. Co. v. Withnell, 190 Mo. App. 33, 175 S. W. 260; 17 R. C. L. 626, and citations in note 10), with the right to possess and enjoy the use and income from the estate during life (17 R. C. L. 625, § 15) and a liability for waste to the corpus of the estate (Hill v. Ground, 114 Mo. App. 80, 89 S. W. 343; Tiffany, Real Property [2d Ed.] pp. 83, 949, et seq.; 17 R. C. L. 626). Applying the rule above quoted from Gibbons v. Mahon, we must determine that this testator has manifested no intention and has given no special direction upon the question as to what shall be considered principal and what income and that, because he has not done so, he must be presumed to have had in view the lawful power of the corporation over the use and apportionment of its earnings, and to have intended that the determination of that question should depend upon the regular action of the corporation with regard to all its shares. In short, all of this Burroughs stock here involved is corpus in which Sophie Franz has only a life estate. No issue is presented here as to the right of Sophie Franz to create a trust to manage, during her lifetime, the estate coming from her husband under the will as well as any property belonging to her absolutely. With the termination of the trust by her death, her absolute property will pass to administration (testate or intestate). As her death will likewise terminate the life estate, the remaindermen will, thereupon, be entitled to receive direct from the trustees the property not belonging to Sophie Franz absolutely  such property has no relation to her absolute property and no administration can be had upon it. Anderson v. Messinger (C. C. A. Sixth Circuit) 146 F. 929, 948, 949, 7 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1094.