Emery v. Batchelder
| Citation | 132 Mass. 452 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Decision Date | 03 March 1882 |
| Parties | Mary Emery v. Samuel Batchelder, Jr. & another, executors |
Suffolk.
Bill dismissed.
N. C Berry & J. K. Berry, for the plaintiff.
E. D Sohier & C. A. Welch, for the defendants.
This is a bill to require the defendants, as executors of the will of Daniel Austin, to reserve and set apart out of the estate of said Austin a fund sufficient to pay the plaintiff an annuity of four hundred dollars a year, given to her by the will.
It appeared at the hearing that the testator was a citizen of the State of Maine; that he died in December 1877, in Kittery in that State; that his will was duly proved there in March 1878, and the defendants were duly appointed and qualified as executors; that the defendants, who are residents of this Commonwealth, proved, in June 1878, the will in the Probate Court for the county of Suffolk, and ancillary letters testamentary were issued to them; that, in October 1880, the said executors filed their final account in the Probate Court for Suffolk County, showing that the balance in their hands was paid to said executors as executors under the appointment of the Probate Court in Maine, which account was allowed.
It also appeared that the estate now in their hands as such executors is not sufficient to pay all the legacies in full; and the question which the plaintiff desires to raise by this bill is whether the annuity given to her is to abate in common with the other legacies, or is to be paid in full in preference to them.
It is too well settled, as a general rule, to admit of any doubt, that an executor or trustee appointed by judicial decree of a court of another State is accountable only in the courts of that State for the due execution of the trust, and the trust cannot be enforced in this Commonwealth, although the executor or trustee resides here. Jenkins v. Lester, 131 Mass. 355, and cases cited.
The plaintiff contends that this case is taken out of the general rule by the fact that the will was proved here, and ancillary letters testamentary issued to the defendants. Whether, if the defendants had now in their hands as such ancillary executors any balance for which they are liable to account to the Probate Court of Suffolk County, this court could and would entertain jurisdiction of a bill like this, which affects the rights of all the other legatees and the marshalling and distribution of the whole estate, is a serious question which we are not required to consider. The defendants have not in their hands any funds as executors appointed...
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Hutchins v. Comm'r of Corps. & Taxation
...Jenkins v. Lester, 131 Mass. 355. Interpretation of the terms of the will ordinarily is not within the province of our courts. Emery v. Batchelder, 132 Mass. 452. There is nothing in these records to indicate that the trustees were obliged to resort to the courts of this Commonwealth for ai......
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Hebblewhite v. Scott (In re Hebblewhite's Will)
...Van Steenwyck v. Washburn, 59 Wis. 483, 17 N.W. 289, 48 Am.Rep. 532;Ford v. Ford, 70 Wis. 19, 33 N.W. 188, 5 Am.St.Rep. 117;Emery v. Batchelder, 132 Mass. 452;Welch v. Adams, 152 Mass. 74, 25 N.E. 34, 9 L.R.A. 244. The duties of the trustees are to be defined by the court of domiciliary adm......
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Knowles v. Perkins
...where there had been no order of distribution. Such practice seems on the one hand to have been recognized as permissible in Emery v. Batchelder, 132 Mass. 452;Newell v. Peaslee, 151 Mass. 601, 604, 605,25 N. E. 261. On the other hand it would seem from what was said in Browne v. Doolittle,......
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Harrison v. Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation
...Jenkins v. Lester, 131 Mass. 355 . Interpretation of the terms of the will ordinarily is not within the province of our courts. Emery v. Batchelder, 132 Mass. 452. There is in these records to indicate that the trustees were obliged to resort to the courts of this Commonwealth for aid in th......