Morrison v. Jackman

• Decision Date: 31 March 1937
• Citation: 297 Mass. 161,8 N.E.2d 18
• Parties: MORRISON v. JACKMAN.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

297 Mass. 161

8 N.E.2d 18

MORRISON

v.JACKMAN.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Hampden.

March 31, 1937.

Proceeding in the matter of the petition of Frank W. Morrison for appointment of guardian for Annie B. Jackman, an alleged insane person. From a decree appointing Robert W. King temporary guardian of Annie B. Jackman, Frank W. Morrison and May Pettengill appeal.

Affirmed.Appeal from Probate Court, Hampden County; Denison, Judge.

F. W. Morrison, of Worcester, for petitioner.

Robert W. King, of Springfield, pro se.

PIERCE, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree of the probate court of Hampden county, appointing on June 10, 1936, Robert W. King temporary guardian of Annie B. Jackman, who was committed as insane to the Northampton State Hospital on September 24, 1925.

In February, 1925, Annie B. Jackman established a voluntary trust, naming the First National Bank of Boston as trustee. The amount of the trust is approximately $16,000. Thereafter she entered the Boston Psychopathic Hospital and remained there until she was committed to the Northampton State Hospital.

The original guardian of Annie B. Jackman was her brother, John H. Blodgett, who was a physician of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and a remainderman under the trust of February, 1925. Blodgett participated in the establishment of the trust. By the terms of his will, which was allowed by the probate court for the district of Westminster, Vermont, on September 9, 1935, he bequeathed his interest in the trust to his wife, Mary A. Blodgett. John H. Blodgett died on August 2, 1935. His account, as guardian, was rendered by his executrix (his widow) Mary A. Blodgett. This account began December 4, 1925, and ended August 2, 1935. On October 23, 1935, Mary A. Blodgett, with Frank W. Morrison, the attorney who drew the trust paper, petitioned the probate court to appoint her as guardian of Annie B. Jackman.

Mary A. Blodgett died prior to May 11, 1936, and her will was duly proved and allowed by the probate court of the district of Westminster, Vermont, on June 1, 1936. By her will, executed April 13, 1936, she bequeathed her interest in the Annie B. Jackman trust to the Trustees of the University of Vermont, and created a trust of $10,000 in certain named trustees, ‘to pay all of the income from said trust fund to my sister-in-law, Annie B. Jackman, or to expend said income for her benefit, during the term of her natural life and such income I hereby give and bequeath to said Annie B. Jackman; out-right and absolutely.’ The remainder, after the deduction of ‘a fair compensation for the services of said Trustees and all expenses of administration,’ she bequeathed to the Trustees of the University of Vermont ‘to be administered with the revolving ‘Blodgett Loan Fund,’ established in paragraph 10' of her last will and testament. To May Pettengill, cousin to Annie B. Jackman, she gave certain specific legacies.

Citation was duly made on the petition of Mary A. Blodgett and Frank W. Morrison. On ...