Opinion ID: 1926862
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Was there a family trust agreement?

Text: In viewing the entire record de novo, it is our opinion that the trial court achieved the right result. In the first place, we find that under the facts and circumstances presented here no family agreement or trust was ever executed. Out of a plethora of testimony vividly portraying the MacKenzie family, its likes and dislikes, its hopes and fears, its pride, passion, and cunning, some things are clear. Of the elder MacKenzie: he was tough of body and mind; he seemed always to know what he wanted, and acted decisively to bring it about. He was familiar with the language and tools of the business world. From all the facts and circumstances it seems unlikely that he intended to create a trust. It seems more likely that he had a system of values, which he revised periodically; for example, after the death of his first wife, he made a will leaving his property to his 2 sons. Later, when Grace Fritzinger came into his life, he revised his intended disposition by making a new will. The fiancee will, as plaintiff calls it, showed his intention, at that time, to divide his estate between his 2 sons and intended wife, 1/3 each. He apparently knew that a will is ambulatory, because as the years went on he made other dispositions of property. For 1 thing, he deeded a number of valuable lots to his son, Alexander F. MacKenzie, Jr., now deceased. There is also a showing that at 1 time he diffidently suggested doing the same for plaintiff in order to placate his concern over changes in property disposition. The record otherwise also supports the conclusion, herein drawn, that the elder MacKenzie created no family trust of his property.