Brinton v. Washington County Hosp.

• Decision Date: 27 October 1942
• Docket Number: 46110.
• Citation: 5 N.W.2d 905,232 Iowa 617
• Parties: BRINTON v. WASHINGTON COUNTY HOSPITAL et al.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

5 N.W.2d 905

232 Iowa 617

BRINTON v. WASHINGTON COUNTY HOSPITAL et al.

No. 46110.

Supreme Court of Iowa

October 27, 1942

Crissman & Bleakley, of Cedar Rapids, for appellant.

Edmund D. Morrison and John C. Owen, both of Washington, for appellees.

BLISS Justice.

The plaintiff is the widow of W. F. Brinton, and a beneficiary under his last will. The individual defendants are trustees of their co-defendant, Washington County Hospital, an institution organized under the provisions of what is now Chapter 269, Code 1939. The testator died about the latter part of 1919 or early in 1920, possessed of a substantial estate. By his will he appointed his wife and two others as executors, with directions to them to convert his property into money for investment in interest bearing securities. One-third of his property was given absolutely to his wife, the plaintiff herein. The net income of the remainder of his estate was directed to be paid to his wife until her death or remarriage. In the event that the income was not sufficient to care for her "suitably and abundantly," he directed that additional funds be furnished her from the principal of the trust estate. The will further provided that:

"At the death or remarriage of my wife, the whole of the Trust estate then remaining shall pass to the Washington County (Iowa) Hospital Association and be named the 'Frank and Ina Brinton Relief Fund' and be a perpetual monument to her and to me.

"Thereafter the Trust estate as then constituted shall be managed by the Trustees of the Hospital and they shall use and appropriate the net income thereof to furnish in said Hospital to poor women in times of childbirth, help and relief which they otherwise would not receive, but $25.00 shall be the maximum sum expended for any one confinement."

Except for some specific bequests, there were no other beneficiaries under the will. Commencing shortly after the testator's death, the widow began to draw heavily from the trust estate and continued to do so for a number of years, thereby materially reducing the principal assets of the estate.

Some time prior to April 14, 1926, the widow proposed to the then trustees of the hospital that she purchase any and all rights and interest of the hospital in and to the trust estate, and that the hospital make full transfer and conveyance of all said property to her. She proposed to pay $1,500 therefor to the hospital. A contract evidencing the transaction was entered into on said date, according to the plaintiff, but the original contract was not offered in evidence. A purported copy of the contract was embodied in a resolution of the Board of Hospital Trustees, adopted on April 14, 1926 which resolution was introduced in evidence. Among the provisions of the contract were the following:

"Whereas the allowances heretofore made and paid to said Ina Brinton out of the principal of said trust estate have so reduced the same in amount and value, and the limitations upon the use of said trust estate, if and when available to said Hospital, are of such a character as to make same of so little practical value to said Hospital or its beneficiaries, that in the judgment of the Board of Trustees of said hospital it would be for the best interests of the said hospital and the interests represented by them, to realize from said estate some immediate cash benefits in lieu of the contingent and doubtful benefits otherwise accruing, in consideration of the relinquishment by said Hospital of any and all other claims under said will, or to said estate, and to the management or control of the property remaining in said estate, and

"Whereas, it is the mutual desire of all parties concerned as beneficiaries of said trust estate to provide for said Hospital some immediate cash benefits to be used in compliance with the spirit of the provisions of the will of said deceased, and to obtain release and surrender of the full title and control of all property of the estate of W. F. Brinton remaining, to Ina Brinton, his surviving widow and other beneficiary. (Italics ours.)

"Now, therefore, * * *."

The appellant places much reliance on the italicized words. As provided in the contract, the attorney began proceedings to procure an order of court authorizing the performance of the contract. An application to the court, in behalf of, and, signed by, Ina Brinton and the Hospital, was filed in the estate proceedings, setting out the terms of the will, the property remaining, the disbursements to the widow, the resolution and contract. After referring to the sums of money paid to the widow, the application states:

"* * * and such payments have materially reduced the principal assets of said estate; that in the opinion of the Board of Trustees * * * the value remaining in the property of said estate reckoned as part of the trust estate under the provisions of said will, is uncertain and doubtful, and that in any event at the present rate of disbursement for annual allowances to the surviving widow from the principal of said estate, together with other costs and expenses, the interest and value therein accruing to the residuary legatee in the event of the death or remarriage of the surviving widow, will without doubt in the course of not to exceed several years, be entirely exhausted."

On May 15 1926, the...