Minn. Loan & Trust Co. v. Pettit

• Citation: 144 Minn. 244,175 N.W. 540
• Decision Date: 05 December 1919
• Docket Number: No. 21475.,21475.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Parties: MINNESOTA LOAN & TRUST CO. v. PETTIT et al.

144 Minn. 244

175 N.W. 540

MINNESOTA LOAN & TRUST CO.

v.PETTIT et al.

No. 21475.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Dec. 5, 1919.

Appeal from District Court, Hennepin County; John H. Steele, Judge.

Proceeding by the Minnesota Loan & Trust Company, as executor of the will of C. H. Pettit, deceased, on a supplement to its final account with objection by Deborah M. Pettit, widow, and Bessie P. Douglas, heir to the allowance of certain items. Items disallowed in part in the probate court, and all parties appealed to the district court, and from its judgment, reversing in part and affirming in part, the executor appeals. Affirmed.

See also, 135 Minn. 413, 161 N. W. 158; 129 Minn. 442, 152 N. W. 845, L. R. A. 1915E, 815.

Dibell and Hallam, JJ., dissenting.

Syllabus by the Court

An executor nominated in a will, though acting in good faith, is not entitled to reimbursement out of funds of the estate for his services, expenses and attorney's fees, in an unsuccessful effort to sustain the will upon appeal against a contest by the widow and sole heir on the ground that the will is void under the statute. Cobb, Wheelwright & Dille and J. M. Martin, and of Minneapolis, for appellant.

James E. O'Brien, of Minneapolis, for respondents.

QUINN, J.

Curtis H. Pettit died intestate May 11, 1914, at his home in Hennepin county, leaving him surviving, his widow, Deborah M. Pettit, and their only child, Bessie P. Douglas, who had three minor children. He left a large estate, consisting of valuable stocks, bonds, real estate, and mineral interests in Northern Minnesota, from which large royalties were derived. His will was dated January 22, 1908, in which appellant was nominated executor and trustee. By the terms of the will the entire estate, aside from household furniture, wearing apparel, and personal effects, $2,000 for the upkeep of the lots in the cemetery, and $1,000 to a servant, was bequeathed and devised to appellant in trust, to hold, manage, and control during the life of his wife, their daughter, her husband, and their three children, and for 20 years after the death of the survivor of them, when the trustee was to turn over the property and net accumulations thereto to the children of the three children of Mrs. Douglas.

At the time of the execution of the will, Mrs. Pettit indorsed thereon her consent to the provisions thereof. On May 15, 1914, Mrs. Douglas presented the will to the probate court of Hennepin county, and asked that it be admitted to probate. The will was admitted to probate, appellant was appointed and duly qualified as executor, and thereafter entered upon the discharge of its duties. At the hearing to admit the will to probate Mrs. Douglas filed notice that she reserved the right to object and contest any provisions of the will.

On June 20, 1914, Mrs. Pettit filed with the probate court a rescission and withdrawal of her consent to the provisions of the will, and gave notice of her intention to take, in lieu of the provisions of the will, the share of her husband's estate to which she would have been entitled had there been no will. Appellant opposed this action on the part of Mrs. Pettit. A hearing was had thereon, which resulted in a decree of the probate court in favor of the widow, which was affirmed by this court upon certiorari. State ex rel. Minnesota Loan & Trust Co. v. Probate Court of Hennepin County, 129 Minn. 442, 152 N. W. 845, L. R. A. 1915E, 815.

The executor then proceeded to administer the estate in the usual manner, and on August 6, 1915, filed its final account, and asked that the estate be distributed. From such account it appeared that all of the debts, the legacy of $1,000, and the expenses of administration, including $5,993.72 for attorney's and executor's fees, had been paid in full, and that there remained in the hands of the executor for distribution personal property of the value of $148,038.68 and the real estate, including the mineral holdings.

On January 28, 1916, the probate court made a decree of distribution, adjudging and decreeing that the provisions of the will, except as to the legacy of $1,000, were invalid, inoperative, and void as a disposition of real and personal property under the laws of this state; that Deborah M. Pettit, widow of deceased, was entitled to an undivided one-third of the real and personal property then in the hands of the executor, and that Bessie P. Douglas, daughter of deceased, was entitled to two-thirds thereof. The widow and heirs were satisfied with the decree of distribution. The debts and expenses of administration had all been paid. The estate had been fully administered, and the property was intact with the executor. The executor then appealed, from that part of the decree of distribution which gave the daughter two-thirds of the estate, to the district court where an affirmance was had. Thereafter it appealed from the judgment of the district court to this court, and the judgment was affirmed. Minnesota Loan & Trust Co. v. Douglas, 135 Minn. 413, 161 N. W. 158.

In February, 1917, the executor filed a supplement to its final account, setting forth the receipts and disbursements subsequent to the rendering of the final account, in which it asked credit for $5,000 as executor's fees, $4,900 for legal services, and $437.84 for transcripts and printing, all in connection with the two appeals following the decree of distribution.

The widow and daughter objected to the allowance of these items, upon the ground that they were charges for disbursements made by the executor and trustee under an invalid trust, in connection with unsuccessful...