Court Opinion

ID: 9587935
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:28:10.672486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:38.147996
License: Public Domain

Bobbitt, J.,
concurring in result:
Disposition of this appeal does not require that we decide whether the provision that “the party of the second part (the Trustee) shall have no power to sell or convey the same (trust property) either with or without the consent of the Alexander Home,” is valid or void. Hence, I would treat the holding by Judge Hasty, and the affirmance thereof by the Court of Appeals, as unnecessary to decision and leave this question open for consideration and decision in a case where the answer thereto will be determinative.
Since the rule against perpetuities does not apply to charitable trusts, no question is presented as to the duration of the trust. The question here relates to the validity of the judgment authorizing a sale of the subject property free from the trust. The evidence fully supports Judge Hasty’s findings to the effect that retention of the property by the trustee will defeat rather than effectuate the purposes of the trust. Under these circumstances, a court of equity may order a sale even where the trustor expressly provides that the trust property is to be used only for a specified purpose. Brooks v. Duckworth, 234 N.C. 549, 67 S.E. 2d 752. Hence, Judge Hasty’s judgment should be affirmed.
As to whether the purported absolute restraint on alienation should be considered valid or void, I find no authoritative decision in this *410jurisdiction. In my opinion, neither Hass v. Hass, 195 N.C. 734, 143 S.E. 541, nor Brooks v. Duckworth, supra, is controlling.
In Hass, the remainder in fee in 125 acres of land in Catawba County was devised to the State School for the Blind and Deaf at Raleigh, N. C. The opinion of Connor, J., contains the statement that this provision, “if construed as an attempt to restrain the alienation of the real estate, devised in fee to the defendant, the State School for the Blind and Deaf, is of no legal effect and is void in law.” However, the action did not relate in any way to a sale of any part of the trust property by the State School for the Blind and Deaf. The judgment simply adjudged that the State School for the Blind and Deaf held title to the land as trustee for the indigent children of the State, born blind, of the Caucasian race, and that the plaintiffs, who were heirs of Mary E. Hass, had no right, interest or title in and to any of the property of which the testatrix died seized and possessed.
In Brooks, described real estate was devised to the Board of Trustees of Haywood Street Baptist Mission “to be used as a Baptist Mission, for the purpose of holding religious meetings on week-days and Sundays as the trustees may determine, and is to be established in memory of O. D. Revell and his wife, Caroline E. Revell.” The will provided that “said Board of Trustees cannot mortgage or dispose of said property.” Manifestly, this purported absolute restraint on alienation was made to effectuate testator’s intention that this specific property be used solely for the stated purposes and not otherwise. Under these circumstances, it was held that the trust could be modified by a court of equity in a factual situation where such modification is necessary to prevent the failure of the trust and to effectuate the primary purpose of the trustor.
Decisions in other jurisdictions contain statements to the effect that the rule that a restraint on alienation is against public policy and void applies to private trusts but not to charitable trusts. Ordinarily, the statement is made without analysis of the sufficiency of underlying reasons. If and when the question is necessary to decision, my present view is that the following distinction should be drawn.
Unless the testator specifically restricts the use of the devised property as in Brooks, such devised property is simply a general asset of the trust estate and is available to provide income or gains to accomplish elsewhere the objects of the charity. In such case, it seems to me that all reasons for holding restraints on alienation void as against public policy in respect of private trusts apply with equal *411force. No sale can be made unless authorized by the court in a duly constituted proceeding. However, the court’s inquiry would be to determine simply whether the proposed sale is advantageous to the trust estate. On the other hand, if the testator specifically restricts; the use of the devised property to a precise and limited purpose as in Brooks, the court, prerequisite to ordering a sale of the property, would have to determine that such sale was necessary to prevent the failure of the trust and to effectuate the general purpose of the testator.
In the present case, the Garsed deed was made in 1930. It contains no provisions whatever that the conveyed land was to be used as a site for the Alexander Home. Rather, the provisions indicate clearly that the trustee was to manage the property so as to produce an income for the Alexander Home. As investment property, it seems to me that a purported absolute restraint on alienation should be adjudged void as against public policy. In such a situation, there is no reason why the trustor should be permitted to impose an obstacle upon the sale and conveyance of the property if such sale and conveyance should be deemed appropriate and to the best interest of the trust estate.
Shaup, J., joins in this opinion.