Chapin v. Chapin

• Decision Date: 31 December 1924
• Docket Number: No. 155.,155.
• Citation: Chapin v. Chapin, 229 Mich. 515, 201 N.W. 530 (Mich. 1924)
• Parties: CHAPIN et al. v. CHAPIN et al.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

229 Mich. 515

201 N.W. 530

CHAPIN et al.

v.CHAPIN et al.

No. 155.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Dec. 31, 1924.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Berrien County; Chas. E. White, Judge.

Action by Homer Coolidge Chapin and others against Emily C. Chapin and others.Decree for plaintiffs, and defendants appeal.Reversed, and decree entered.

Argued before CLARK, C. J., and McDONALD, BIRD, SHARPE, MOORE, STEERE, FELLOWS, and WIEST, JJ.Humphrey S. Gray, of Benton Harbor, and Wilson McIlvaine, Hale & Templeton, of Chicago, Ill., for appellantsEmily C. Chapin, Sarah Lucile Chapin Smith, Helen Evelyn Chapin Bishop, Henry Kent Chapin, Lowell Mead Chapin, Charlotte Gardiner Robertson, Helen Emily Bishop, Florence Claudine Coolidge, and Orvill Pettingill Coolidge.

A. A. Worthington, of Buchanan, guardian ad litem, in pro. per.

Campbell, Bulkley & Ledyard, of Detroit (Henry Ledyard, of Detroit, and Stuart B. White, of Niles, of counsel), for appellees.

SHARPE, J.

Charles A. Chapin, a resident of Cook county, Ill., died in Chicago on October 22, 1913, leaving a last will and testament.In the second paragraph thereof he devised and bequeathed the residue of his estate to his wife, Emily C. Chapin, and his seven children, naming them, as trustees.The trustees are given--

‘the same power of investment, management and sale of the said trust estate, and of every part thereof, which they would possess if they were the absolute owners thereof; subject only to the condition that the said property or the proceeds thereof shall be held upon the trusts and for the beneficiaries herein specified and provided.'

The purpose of the trust is thus stated:

‘The foregoing trust is created by me for the purpose of providing for the comfortable maintenance of the beneficiaries under the said trust, and it is my will, and I direct, that the said beneficiaries during the continuance of said trust shall have no power to anticipate, assign, alien or otherwise dispose of any interest which they may have, either in the income or principal of said trust estate while the same remains in the hands of the trustees under this will, and that the same shall not be subject to be taken from said beneficiaries by their creditors or by process of law.'

Is is also provided:

‘The said trust shall terminate upon the death of the last survivor of my said wife and children, and upon the termination of said trust the trust estate then in the hands of said trustees shall go to and vest in the then surviving lawful issue of my said children per stirpes.'

The testator died seized of real estate in the state of Illinois, and also in the counties of Berrien, Osceola, and Dickinson in this state.The will was probated in Cook county, and by ancillary proceedings in the probate court for Berrien county on December 8, 1913.His wife and two of his sons were named as executors, and they duly qualified and acted as such.An inventory was filed which included the real estate and some personalty in Michigan.Subsequent proceedings were had in conformity with the statute and the final account allowed.Homer C. Chapin, one of the executors, then filed a petition, reciting the proceedings had and taken, and asked that the court grant unto the wife and children, all of whom were then living--

‘letters of trusteeship, authorizing and empowering them to manage and control the property of said estate situate in said state of Michigan in trust under the conditions and trusts imposed in said last will and testament of said Charles A. Chapin, deceased, upon the execution of a proper bond to the judge of said probate court, and his successors, in such form and amount as shall be ordered and approved by said court.'

On January 15, 1917, an order was entered by the probate court pursuant to said petition, and on the same day letters of trusteeship were issued to the persons named as trustees in the will.In these letters, after reciting their appointment under the will, they were given--

‘full power and authority to manage and faithfully dispose of according to law and the will of said Charles A. Chapin, deceased, all the real and personal estate belonging to you as trustees,’ etc.

Acting under these letters and the power conferred by the will, the trustees took possession and control of the real and personal property of the testator.No question has ever been raised as to the validity of the clause creating the trust until just prior to the filing of the bill of complaint herein on February 2, 1924.In it the court is asked to construe the will and determine whether its provisions creating the trust violate sections 11532and11533 of the Compiled Laws of 1915, because the trust period extends beyond the continuance of two lives in being at the creation of the trust estate.

We are met at the outset by the claim of the defendants, stated as follows:

‘The decree of the trial court should be reversed, because the whole case is collateral attack upon the judgment of the probate court directing the issuance of letters of trusteeship to the trustees of the Chapin trust.'

The Constitution provides for probate courts.Their jurisdiction, powers, and duties are to be prescribed by law.By section 13764 et seq.,3 Comp. Laws 1915(c. 51), jurisdiction is conferred on judges of probate:

‘1.Of all matters relating to the settlement of the estates of all deceased persons, whether testate or intestate,’ leaving any estate within such county to be administered.

‘2.Of trusts and trustees in the execution of wills and administration of estates of deceased persons.'

Other provisions not here material follow.A proviso to this section reads:

‘Provided, however, that the jurisdiction conferred by this section shall not be construed to deprive the circuit court in chancery in the proper county of concurrent jurisdiction as originally exercised over the same matter.'

This proviso does not assume to give the chancery court the power to set aside judgments of the probate court.Provision is made in the sections which follow for appeals by which such judgments may be reviewed in the circuit court.Section 13773 et seq., provides, for the probate of wills.Section 13787 provides that, after due administration by the executor or administrator, the estate--

‘shall be disposed of according to such will, so far as such will may operate upon it; and the residue shall be disposed of as is provided by law,’ etc.

Subsequent sections(chapter 52) contain provisions announcing rules of law to be followed by the judge of probate in the administration of the estate.These include provisions for unborn children, children unintentionally omitted from the will, the issues of deceased legatees, etc.There is also provision defining the rights of the widow in the event that she elects to take otherwise than under the will.

The succeeding chapter (53) contains provisions for the administration of estates of intestates.The chapters which follow prescribe particularly the duties of the executor or administrator in collecting the assets of the estate, payment of debts, etc.

Chapter 57 is entitled: ‘Of the Partition and Distribution of Estates.’It contains specific provision for the distribution of personalty not disposed of by will.The third and fourth sections(sections 13915,13916 of the compilation) read as follows:

Sec. 3.After the payment of the debts, funeral charges and expenses of administration, and after the allowances made for the expense of the maintenance of the family of the deceased and for the support of the children under ten years of age, and after the assignment to the widow of her share in the personal estate, or when sufficient effects shall be reserved in the hands of the executor or administrator for the above purposes, the probate court shall, by a decree for that purpose, assign the residue of the estate, if any, to such persons as are by law entitled to the same, subject, however, to the widow's right of dower, if there be a widow of the deceased entitled to dower, and her dower shall not have been assigned and set off to her.

‘Sec. 4.In such decree the court shall name the persons and the proportions or parts to which each shall be entitled; and such persons shall have the right to demand and recover their respective shares from the executor or administrator, or any other person having the same or any part thereof, after the expiration of sixty days from the date of such decree, unless an appeal shall have been taken therefrom, in which case they shall have the same right immediately upon the final termination of such appeal.'

The sections following provide for partition of the real estate.The terms of the partition decree are made conclusive on all the heirs and devisees.Section 18(13930) provides:

‘Any person aggrieved by any order, decree or denial, of a probate court, in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter, may appeal therefrom as provided in other cases.'

We have referred to these provisions at length to show the extent of the power conferred on the probate court in the administration of estates, whether of testates or intestates.Aside from those contained in sections 13787and13915, providing for the assignment of the residue, there can...