Boalt v. Hanson

• Decision Date: 16 March 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-799,81-799
• Citation: 412 So.2d 880
• Parties: Ralph G. BOALT, Jr., and Margaret L. Boalt, Appellants, v. Hilma B. HANSON, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 880

412 So.2d 880

Ralph G. BOALT, Jr., and Margaret L. Boalt, Appellants, v. Hilma B. HANSON, Appellee.

No. 81-799.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

March 16, 1982.

Rehearing Denied May 3, 1982.

R. Stuart Huff and Gregg J. Ormond, Coral Gables, Rosenberg, Rosenberg, Reisman & Glass, Miami, for appellants.

Peters, Maxey, Short & Morgan and Wirt T. Maxey, Coral Gables, for appellee.

Before NESBITT, FERGUSON and JORGENSON, JJ.

NESBITT, Judge.

The individual co-trustees have perfected this interlocutory appeal to review an order granting immediate right of possession of an automobile to the beneficiary of a trust. We have jurisdiction. Fla.R.App.Pro. 9.130(a)(3)(C) (ii).

Ralph G. Boalt, Sr. and his wife, Hilma O. Boalt, executed an inter vivos trust on March 20, 1975, under which they were the initial beneficiaries. Under the provisions of the trust, when Mr. Boalt died, it was divided into two equal parts comprising: (a) a marital trust for Mrs. Boalt; and (b) a children's trust for their natural children, Ralph, Jr. and Margaret. Under the express trust, the children were co-trustees but Ralph, Jr. was the managing trustee. When the trust was established, it was funded with $847,000 of registered securities. The dominant purpose of the trust was to establish support for the elder Boalts and, upon the death of the survivor, a distribution to the children. Under the express terms of the marital trust, which vested upon Mr. Boalt's death, Mrs. Boalt specifically retained a power of appointment over the marital trust.

During the administration of the trust, the life income beneficiary of the marital trust, Mrs. Boalt, Sr., now known as Mrs. Hanson, and the individual co-trustees became embroiled in trust proceedings instituted pursuant to Part II, Chapter 737, Florida Statutes (1979). In the course of those proceedings, the trial court appointed a bank as an additional co-trustee and ordered that all assets of the trust be titled in the bank's name as trustee. One of the assets was a Mercedes automobile. This vehicle was undeniably purchased in Ralph, Jr.'s name, individually-from the corpus of the marital trust-but use and possession was given over to Mrs. Hanson. The bank did not want to take title to the vehicle because it was considered to be an improper trust asset. Consequently, it suggested to the individual co-trustees that the vehicle be sold and the proceeds be delivered over to it. As a result, the individual co-trustees took the vehicle from Mrs. Hanson's possession without notice. She promptly filed a "Motion to Compel Return of Automobile" and requested an emergency hearing.

That motion alleged the foregoing facts and further alleged that, by reason of the purchase of the vehicle from funds from the corpus of the marital trust, it had proportionately diminished Mrs. Hanson's annual distribution of earnings from the marital trust. At the emergency hearing, the co-trustees'...