Geiger v. Geer

• Decision Date: 20 November 1946
• Docket Number: No. 29781.,29781.
• Citation: 69 N.E.2d 848,395 Ill. 367
• Parties: GEIGER v. GEER et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

395 Ill. 367

69 N.E.2d 848

GEIGER

v.GEER et al.

No. 29781.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 20, 1946.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lee County; George C. Dixon, Judge.

Suit by Thomas L. Geiger against Glenn Geer, John Oren Geer and others for directions to successor trustee under the will of John L. Geiger, deceased, for construction of the will and for other relief. From the decree the plaintiff appeals, and the named defendants cross-appeal.

Decree reversed and cause remanded with directions to modify decree in accordance with opinion.Robert W. Besse, of Sterling, and Fremont M. Kaufman, of La Salle, for appellant.

John P. Devine, John M. Buckley, John Dixon, guardian ad litem, and George Nichols, trustee of unborn appellees, all of Dixon, for appellees.

WILSON, Justice.

A decree of the circuit court of Lee county construed the second section of the last will and testament of John L. Geiger, deceased. From that decree, his son, Thomas L. Geiger, prosecutes this appeal, a freehold being necessarily involved.

John L. Geiger, a resident of the town of Nelson, in Lee county, died testate on August 31, 1908, leaving surviving as his only heirs at law his widow, Anna L. Geiger, and their three children, Nellie Geer, Thomas L. and Walter W. Geiger. The testator's estate consisted of considerable real estate as well as a substantial amount of personal property. Thomas Geiger contested the will on the ground of mental incapacity. Upon appeal from a decree rendered upon a verdict adverse to him, the decree was reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial. Geiger v. Geiger, 247 Ill. 629, 93 N.E. 314. Upon the remandment, the widow and the other two children joined with Thomas Geiger as contestants. The second trial resulted in a verdict finding that the decedent was of unsound mind at the time of the execution of the supposed will and a decree was entered setting aside its probate. Upon an appeal prosecuted by the executor, this court reversed the decree as being manifestly against the weight of the evidence and remanded the cause. Geiger v. Bardwell, 255 Ill. 320, 99 N.E. 582. The estate has been fully administered, and the property described in the second section of Geiger's will turned over to a trustee and, in turn, to successor trustees. By section 2 of the will, Geiger devised 325 acres of farm lands in the own of Nelson to A. C. Bardwell, as trustee, for the uses and purposes described, namely, to lease the property under such terms as the trustee may deem for the best interests of the beneficiaries, to keep the land so leased during the entire period of the trust, and to pay over the net proceeds, as often as practicable, in the manner and on the following conditions: ‘Unto my son Walter W. Geiger the net income of the south-east quarter of the north-west quarter, the east half of the south-west quarter and the north-west quarter of the south-east quarter of section 14; unto my son Thomas L. Geiger, and unto my daughter, Nellie Geer, each one-half of the net income of the remainder of my real estate (165 acres) situated in said town of Nelson. To continue so to lease said real estate during the lifetime of my said children, respectively, deducting from the gross income all proper charges and expenses relating to the respective tracts for maintaining the respective premises and keeping them in a good state of preservation, and paying the taxes and keeping buildings insured, and re-building in case of destruction, together with reasonable compensation for his services, and any and all other proper charges in carrying out the trust, and to distribute the balance or net income as aforesaid: Provided, no part or share of said income shall be liable, while in the hands of the trustee, to the creditors of either beneficiary, nor shall either have the power, in any manner whatever, directly or indirectly, to mortgage, pledge, sell, convey or in any way encumber or transfer his or her interests in said lands or in the proceeds or income thereof, but the share of each shall be paid directly by the trustee to the respective beneficiaries entitled thereto, and shall not be paid to any other person upon any written order or verbal order nor upon any pretended assignment or transfer thereof. On the death of my said son Walter such trust shall terminate as to the tracts from which he is to receive the net income as above, and the title thereto shall descend in remainder in accordance with the laws of descent then in force in this State. On the death of the first to die of the two remaining beneficiaries, said trust, as to an undivided one-half of the lands from which he or she is to derive net income, as aforesaid, shall terminate and the title to such undivided one-half shall descend in remainder in accordance with such laws of descent, and on the death of the last survivor the trust shall come to an end and the title to the remaining one-half shall descend in like manner.’ Reference to other provisions of the will is unnecessary.

Robert L. Bracken was appointed successor trustee on April 10, 1942. Walter Geiger died on January 30, 1921, leaving as his heirs at law his mother, Anna L. Geiger, his sister, Nellie Geer, and his brother, Thomas L. Geiger. No question is presented with respect to the disposition of the tract devised in trust for the use of Walter Geiger. Anna L. Geiger, widow of John L. Geiger, died in 1932. Nellie Geer, a widow, died September 11, 1945, leaving as her sole heirs at law her two sons, Glenn and John Oren Geer. Glenn Geer has five daughters, two of whom are minors, and John Oren Geer has three children, all of whom are minors. Thomas L. Geiger now about sixty-seven years of age, is separated, but not divorced, from his wife, Nettie F. Geiger. He has no children or descendants.

November 20, 1945, after his sister's death, the circuit court of Lee county granted the plaintiff, Thomas L. Geiger, leave to file a supplemental complaint for directions to the successor trustee, for construction of his father's will, and for other relief. Of the several defendants to the complaint only the following need be mentioned: Glenn and John Oren Geer, John Dixon, guardian ad litem for the five minor grandchildren of Nellie Geer, and George Nichols, the trustee of the interests of unborn defendants, namely, the future unborn child or children of Glenn Geer, John Oren Geer and Thomas L. Geiger. Separate answers were filed by Glenn and John Oren Geer, Nettie Geiger, the guardian ad litem, the trustee of the interests of unborn defendants, and the successor trustee under the will of John L. Geiger, deceased. Upon the issues made by the pleadings, a decree was entered on June 26, 1946. The chancellor found that doubt and uncertainty existed with respect to the proper interpretation of the second section of John L. Geiger's will concerning the powers, duties, rights and liabilities of the successor trustee; that, upon the death of Nellie Geer, the trust created for her benefit terminated and an undivided one-half interest in the farm land constituting the corpus of the trust became vested in Glenn and John Oren Geer, and that they are presently seized in fee simple each of an undivided one-fourth interest in the property; that Thomas L. Geiger is seized of a life estate of the remaining one-half interest, subject to the provisions in the second section of his father's will, and that the ultimate takers of this remaining one-half of the trust will be the heirs at law of Thomas L. Geiger, determined as of the date of his death. The court found, further, that the best interest of the trust estate requires that the property be publicly sold and that, after the payment of all costs, liens and charges, an undivided one-half portion be retained by the trustee for the use and benefit of Thomas L. Geiger during the term of his natural life and, at his death, to descend to the persons designated by John L. Geiger's will, as construed in the decree, and the other one-half of the remaining proceeds to be divided equally between John Oren Geer and Glenn Geer. This appeal by Thomas L. Geiger followed. Glenn and John Oren Geer prosecuted a cross appeal from the part of the decree determining those ultimately taking title to the one-half interest directed to be held by the trustee for the benefit of Thomas L. Geiger.

Plaintiff contends that the legal title to all the real estate involved in this litigation vested, as of the date of his father's death, in Nellie Geer and himself, subject to their respective equitable life estates, and that the class of persons taking title to the property, subject to the life estates of his sister and himself, should be determined to be the heirs at law of John L. Geiger, deceased as of the date of his death. According to the construction urged by plaintiff, the chancellor should have adjudged the interests in the real estate in controversy to be as follows: (a) Thomas L. Geiger, an undivided one-fourth interest in fee; (b) John Oren Geer and Glenn Geer, each an undivided one-eighth interest in fee, these three, Thomas L. Geiger, Glenn and John Oren Geer, being now the only living heirs at law of John L. Geiger as of the date of his death and, therefore, entitled to distribution of the share of the trust estate set aside for Nellie Geer; (c) Bracken, the successor trustee under John L. Geiger's will, an undivided one-half interest for the life of Thomas L. Geiger upon the spendthrift trusts limited in the will and with the legal remainder to this undivided one-half part retained by the successor trustee in the following proportions: Thomas L. Geiger, an equitable life estate therein, as described; Thomas L. Geiger, an undivided one-half interest in fee, and John Oren and Glenn Geer, each an undivided one-eighth interest in fee, the fee interests of the two nephews being subject to his own equitable life estate.

Glenn Geer and John Oren Geer, the cross appellants, agree with the...