In re Hoyt

• Decision Date: 21 November 1899
• Citation: 55 N.E. 282,160 N.Y. 607
• Parties: In re HOYT et al.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

160 N.Y. 607

55 N.E. 282

In re HOYT et al.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Nov. 21, 1899.

Appeal from supreme court, appellate division, First department.

Judicial settlement of the accounts of Samuel N. Hoyt and others, as trustees for Mary Irene Hoyt, under the last will of Jesse Hoyt, deceased. From an order of the appellate division reversing a decree settling and allowing such accounts (50 N. Y. Supp. 623), Mary Irene Hoyt appeals. Reversed.

Appeal from an order of the appellate division, First department, reversing a decree of the surrogate's court of the county of New York, finally judicially setting and allowing the annual accounts of the trustees for Mary Irene Hoyt, under the last will and testament of her father, Jesse Hoyt, deceased. The accounts involved cover the period from the 14th day of August, 1894, to 14th day of August, 1895.

On the 14th day of August, 1882, Jesse Hoyt, a resident of the city of New York, died possessed of a large estate. He left a last will and testament, dated the 26th day of June, 1882, the fourth and eleventh subdivisions of which are particularly involved in this controversy. ‘Fourth. It is my will, and I hereby direct, that the sum of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall be appropriated and received from my estate, real and personal, wheresoever situated, or from the proceeds thereof, by such of my executors hereinafter named as reside or do business in the state of New York, or to whom letters testamentary on this, my will, shall be granted by any surrogate in said state of New York, and as soon as it can or shall be realized or received by such executors and held in trust by them, and the survivors and survivor of them, and their successor or successors to the trust, to and for the use and benefit of my daughter, Mary Irene Hoyt, for and during her natural life; and in the meantime, during such her life, to invest and reinvest, and keep the same invested, and to collect and receive the interest, dividends, and income therefrom, and from each and every part thereof, and to apply to her use, for and during her natural life, in the most bounteous and liberal manner, as to expenditure, and so as to promote her convenience and comfort, and gratify her reasonable desires, the said interest, dividends, and income so to be collected and received, as the same shall be required for her use and benefit. And it is further my will that the said sum of money hereinabove in this article directed to be appropriated and held in trust for and during the natural life of my daughter, Mary Irene, and for her use, as above herein provided, as to the interest, dividends, and income therefrom, or the securities in which the same shall be invested, and any surplus of income therefrom, if any, which shall not have been applied to her use during her natural life, shall, on the death of my said daughter, go and be distributed to and among my nephews and nieces, children of my brothers Alfred M. Hoyt, Reuben Hoyt, and James H. Hoyt, who shall be living at the time of the decease of my said daughter, in equal portions, if all of them shall be living, or if any of them shall have died without leaving issue living at the time of the decease of my said daughter. If any of my said nephews or nieces shall have died, at or before the decease of my said daughter, leaving a child or children living at the time of the decease of my said daughter, then the division is to be made in equal portions between those who shall be living and the child or children of any such deceased nephew or niece, such child or children taking the portion of its or their deceased parent, and in equal portions thereof, if more than one.’‘Eleventh. I hereby order or direct my said executors hereinabove appointed, and the survivors and survivor of them, to distribute or retain, without a sale, all such stocks or securities as I may have at the time of my decease, which my said executors shall think it expedient to hold, with a view to and in expectation of appreciation, and to distribute or retain any stocks or securities which I may hold at the time of my decease as an investment, which my executors may think it best to retain as a permanent investment, the choicest, and those having longest to run, to be set apart for my wife's use, as hereinabove directed. But my said executors are not to make any new or other investments, excepting only in the first mortgage bonds and mortgages on unincumbered real estate held in fee simple, or in the public stocks or bonds of the United States, or state stocks or bonds first mortgage railroad bonds, and city bonds, in either of which they may make investments in their discretion, having regard to the best interest of my estate. And I hereby vest all the rights and title, power, authority, control, or direction and discretion conferred upon any of my said executors and trustees in the survivors and survivor of them, and in any administrators and administrator with the will annexed, to whom letters may be granted, or to any trustee or trustees who may be appointed by the competent court on the death of my said executors hereinabove named, and the survivors and survivor of them, or on any other contingency by which my said executors, and the survivors and survivor of them, shall become incapable of acting or cease to act.’ The other facts in the case appear in the opinion.

Parker, C. J., and Gray and Haight, JJ., dissenting.

WILLS-CONSTRUCTION-TRUSTS-RIGHTS OF LIFE TENANT AND REMAINDER-MEN-RES JUDICATA.

1. Where a testamentary trustee invests in government bonds, the question whether a depreciation, due to their approaching maturity, of the premium thereon, should be borne by the life tenant or the remainder-men, is to be determined, not by any arbitrary rule, but by ascertaining the testator's intention as derived from the language employed in the creating of the trust and from all the surrounding circumstances of the case.

WILLS-CONSTRUCTION-TRUSTS-RIGHTS OF LIFE TENANT AND REMAINDER-MEN-RES JUDICATA.

2. A testator leaving a vast estate, gave $1,250,000 in trust to his daughter for life, restricting its investment to high-class securities, the purchase of which would involve the payment of a premium. He expressed an intention that she should have the interest, dividends, and income ‘from the trust funds, and from each and every part thereof,’ and that she should be provided for in the ‘most bounteous and liberal manner as to expenditure, and so as to promote her convenience and comfort and gratify her reasonable desires.’ He directed that on her death any surplus income, and all moneys set apart for her use, ‘or the securities in which the same shall be invested,’ should go to nephews and nieces, who were also bounteously provided for by the will. Held, that it was testator's intention to devote the entire income of the fund to his daughter's use, if necessary, and the disposition of the fund after her death was secondary; and hence she was entitled to the entire income on securities in which it was invested, notwithstanding the premium at which they were bought continually declined, owing to their approaching maturity.

WILLS-CONSTRUCTION-TRUSTS-RIGHTS OF LIFE TENANT AND REMAINDER-MEN-RES JUDICATA.

3. On annual accountings of trustees, the life beneficiary made no objection to their reservation of interest to which she was entitled, to make good premium paid from the principal trust fund on the purchase of the securities in which it was invested. Held, that the decrees...