Grand Rapids Trust Co. v. Larrabee's Estate (In re Cox' Estate)

• Decision Date: 06 June 1938
• Docket Number: No. 100.,100.
• Citation: 279 N.W. 913,284 Mich. 628
• Parties: In re COX' ESTATE. GRAND RAPIDS TRUST CO. et al. v. LARRABEE'S ESTATE.
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

284 Mich. 628

279 N.W. 913

In re COX' ESTATE.

GRAND RAPIDS TRUST CO. et al.

v.LARRABEE'S ESTATE.

No. 100.

Supreme Court of Michigan.

June 6, 1938.

Proceeding in the matter of the Estate of Emma M. Cox, deceased, wherein the Grand Rapids Trust Company and John D. MacNaughton, cotrustees under the will of Emma M. Cox, deceased, raised the question of whether any further payment was due on the bequest to Addie A. Larrabee, deceased. From a judgment of the Circuit Court after an appeal by the Estate of Addie A. Larrabee, deceased, the plaintiffs appeal.

Judgment modified and remanded, with directions.Appeal from Circuit Court, Kent County; Leonard D. Verdier, judge.

Argued before the Entire Bench.

Thomas J. Whinery, of Grand Rapids, for appellant.

Norris, McPherson, Harrington & Waer, of Grand Rapids, for appellees.

BUTZEL, Justice.

Emma M. Cox, a spinster, died on September 11, 1932, leaving an estate appraised at approximately $50,000. Her will, duly admitted to probate, contained a number of specific bequests. The residue of the estate was left to trustees for the benefit of relatives, strangers and various charities. The clause in the will which gives rise to the present controversy is as follows: ‘There shall be paid out of the income from said trust fund the sum of $10.00 a week to my Aunt Addie A. Larrabee of Portland, Maine, for a period of not to exceed four years, or until such time as she can be admitted to the Home, at which time there is to be paid out of said income for her benefit such sum not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) as it will be necessary to deposit with said Home to gain her admission thereto. If there is required less than the sum of $1,000 for that purpose, the difference shall be paid direct to my said Aunt.’

An order of the probate court, determining the inheritance tax on the statement prepared by the State inheritance tax examiner, found that Addie A. Larrabee received a definite bequest of $3,080, and fixed the tax accordingly. The court must have assumed that the bequest was a fixed and definite amount of $10 a week for four years, plus an additional $1,000. The estate paid an inheritance tax based on this amount. When the co-executors filed their final account on August 30, 1933, they petitioned to be instructed as to how to charge this tax against the beneficiary. Beneficiaries other than Addie A. Larrabee filed objections to the final account. Their petition stated that the interest of Addie A. Larrabee was fixed and definite and that the inheritance tax was chargeable against the amounts to be paid to her. The probate court signed an order allowing the final account, and provided that the tax on the bequest to Addie A. Larrabee would be in the amount formerly fixed and was to be charged against and deducted from that bequest. There was no appeal taken from this order.

Addie A. Larrabee died on April 3, 1935. $146.30 had been previously charged to her on account of the inheritance tax reckoned on the basis hereinbefore stated. $1,153.70 had been paid to her so that in all, $1,300 had been paid covering a period of 130 weeks. She had survived the testatrix 133 weeks. She never went to live in any institution. In their second annual account, filed April 14, 1936, after Miss Larrabee's death, the co-trustees under the will of Emma M. Cox raised the question of whether any further payment was due on the Addie A. Larrabee bequest. The probate court determined that the sum of $10 a week had been granted to the beneficiary for 4 years and that the special administrator of her estate was entitled to collect all sums in arrears and all future payments as they should become due. Appealwas taken by the co-trustees to the circuit court and in a well reasoned opinion the court held that all rules of construction must yield to the intent of the testatrix, citing Union Trust Co. v. Fisher, 240 Mich. 68, 214 N.W. 941, and that there was no intention on the part of testatrix to pay more than would take care of the beneficiary during her lifetime. He held that upon the beneficiary's death the legacy lapsed, and her estate was only entitled to the $30 remaining unpaid...