Palmer v. Palmer, 149/516.

• Decision Date: 23 October 1944
• Docket Number: 149/516.
• Citation: 39 A.2d 438
• Parties: PALMER et al. v. PALMER et al.
• Court: New Jersey Court of Chancery

39 A.2d 438

PALMER et al.

v.PALMER et al.

149/516.

Court of Chancery of New Jersey.

Oct. 23, 1944.

Bill by Zilph Hayes Palmer and others, executors of the will of Edgar Palmer, deceased, against Zilph Hayes Palmer and others for instructions as to certain matters which may be involved in the administration of decedent's estate.

Instructions given in accordance with opinion.

1. It is the duty of the court to construe a will as written. It is not within its province to hazard a conclusion through the mental processes of a guess. If the language is not ambiguous and the intention is signified by apt words and phraseology, then there is no room for judicial construction.

2. Courts are bound to regard words in their usual and most known signification, according to their natural and reasonable meaning.

3. Decedent's will provides: ‘Eighth: I direct that all estate, legacy, transfer, inheritance, and succession taxes which may be imposed chargeable or payable upon my estate, or any legacy, bequest or devise herein, whether of capital or income and whether in trust or otherwise, shall be a charge against and shall be paid from my residuary estate.’ Held, this provision of the will does not charge the residuary estate with the payment of estate and inheritance taxes that would or might be imposed for inter vivos trust dispositions; and further held, the testator's expression ‘my estate * * * herein’ is a definite and explicit phrase, with a fixed and limited meaning. It conveys an inference of existing title or ownership in the maker of the phrase and leads to the single conclusion that he had in mind the payment only of such taxes which might be levied upon his testamentary gifts or devises.

Wall, Haight, Carey & Hartpence, of Jersey City, and Hoge & Bardusch, of New York City, for complainants.

Lindabury, Depue & Faulks, of Newark, for defendants James E. Hayes, Helen Hayes Watson, Zilph Palmer Devereux and Walter B. Devereux, III.

Auguste Roche, Jr., of Newark, for defendant Lindley Read Devereux, an infant.

Sydney G. Soons, of New York City, for defendant Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co.

Pitney, Hardin & Ward, of Newark, for defendants St. John's Guild, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Children's Aid Society.

Lum, Fairlie & Wachenfeld, of Newark, for defendant Trustees of Princeton University.

William Byrd, of New York City, for defendants Henry Street Settlement, Seamen's Church Institute of New York, the Children's Village, and Presbyterian Hospital of New York.

Stuart A. Young, of Newark, for defendant University Cottage Club of Princeton.

Arthur T. Vanderbilt, of Newark, for defendant Zilph Hayes Palmer, individually.

J. Seymour Montgomery, Jr., of Princeton, for defendant P. Mackay Sturges, guardian ad litem for Cary Sutherland Sturges, an infant.

Emil W. A. Schmann, of Jersey City, for defendant John Morris Le Gendre and Sidney J. Le Gendre.

EGAN, Vice Chancellor.

On January 20, 1943, the will of Edgar Palmer, who died on January 8th of the same year, was probated in the Prerogative Court. Zilph Hayes Palmer, the testator's wife, Eugene H. B. Watson, and Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company, qualified as executors. The executors now ask for instructions as to certain matters which may be involved in the administration of the estate.

In brief, the will provides for a devise of decedent's real estate and specific bequests of tangible effects (article second), and specific bequests of stocks and bonds of Princeton Municipal Improvement (article sixth), and these general legacies:

1. Zilph Hayes Palmer, decedent's wife, $1,000,000 (article third).

2. Trustees in trust for decedent's daughter, Zilph Palmer Devereux (named in the will as Zilph Palmer), $2,000,000 (article fourth). This article provides that one-half of the corpus shall be distributed to Mrs. Devereux on attaining the age of 30 years, and the remaining one-half continued in trust in her lifetime, remainder to her descendants, and, in default of descendants, to Mrs. Palmer, or if she be then dead, to the Trustees of Princeton University.

3. James E. Hayes, brother-in-law, $1,000,000 (article fifth(a).

4. Helen Hayes Watson, sister-in-law, $1,000,000 (article fifth(b).

5. Eugene H. B. Watson, brother-in-law, $1,000,000 (article fifth(c).

Decedent left his entire residuary estate to his wife, Zilph Hayes Palmer, outright (article tenth).

Article eighth provides that estate and inheritance taxes chargeable or payable upon decedent's estate shall be paid from his residuary estate. This article reads: ‘Eighth: I direct that all estate, legacy, transfer, inheritance and succession taxes which may be imposed, chargeable or payable upon my estate or any legacy, bequest or devise herein, whether of capital or income and whether in trust or otherwise, shall be a charge against and shall be paid from my residuary estate.’

Article thirteenth authorizes the executors to borrow money to provide, among other things, ‘* * * for the payment of, in whole or in part, any estate, legacy, transfer, inheritance or succession taxes that may be levied upon my estate or upon the devises, legacies or bequests under my will, * * *.’

In a trust agreement dated December 8, 1931, decedent testator transferred to the Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company, as trustee, stocks and bonds in trust. The agreement required the trustee to hold, invest and reinvest the trust estate, and collect and receive the income thereof and pay the net income in equal monthly payments to Mrs. Zilph Hayes Palmer, aforesaid, during her lifetime. Upon her death the principal of the trust estate then remaining is to be divided into one hundred equal shares and disposed of as follows:

(a) 30 shares are to be set up in three separate trusts of 10 shares each, one trust to be held for the benefit of each of the following for his or her life: Helen Hayes Watson (grantor's sister-in-law); Eugene H. B. Watson (sister-in-law's husband); James E. Hayes (grantor's brother-in-law). As each of these beneficiaries die, the shares held for his or her benefit are to be paid over to the Trustees of Princeton University absolutely (article 1, paragraph third; Exhibit C-2).

(b) Absolute gifts of: 7 1/2 shares to John Morris Legendre; 1/2 share to Sidney J. Legendre; 1/2 share to Carey S. Sturges; 1 1/2 shares to Kathryn C. Campbell (article 1, paragraph fourth; Exhibit C-2.)

(c) If any of those named in (a) and (b) predecease the grantor's wife (the primary life beneficiary), their shares are to be paid over to the Trustees of Princeton University on the death of the grantor's wife (article 1, paragraph fifth; Exhibit C-2).

(d) 40 shares are to be held in trust for the benefit of the grantor's daughter, Zilph Devereux, during her lifetime. Upon her death, these shares are to be paid over to her issue then living in equal shares per stirpes, and if no issue survives, to those appointed in the last will and testament of Zilph Devereux. If this power is not exercised, these shares are to pass as intestate property of Zilph Devereux. If Zilph Devereux does not survive her mother (the first life beneficiary), these shares are to be distributed to the issue of Zilph Devereux surviving at the time of the death of her mother, and if no issue so survives, to those appointed in the will of Zilph Devereux. And if this power is not exercised, these shares are to be distributed as intestate property of Zilph Devereux (article I, paragraph sixth; Exhibit C-2).

(e) 20 shares are to be set up in trust and the net income paid over in the following manner:

(1) 50% of the income to be divided equally among the following charities: The Children's Village; New York Women's League for Animals; Seamen's Church Institute; Babies Hospital of the City of N.Y.; Henry Street Settlement (article I, paragraph seventh, clause (1); Exhibit C-2).

(2) 33% of the income to the Trustees of Princeton University for the salary of an incumbent of a chair in its School of Public and International Affairs (article I, paragraph seventh, clause (2); Exhibit C-2).

(3) 17% of the income to the Trustees of Princeton University to be used to continue the Zilph H. Palmer Travel Scholarships. (article I, paragraph seventh, clause (3); Exhibit C-2).

(f) The income bequests made in (e) are subject to the provision that, out of the income accruing in the first year after the death of the grantor's wife, the following bequests are made:

John Connor $1,000.00

Harvey E. Thomas 1,000.00

Mary D. Shay 1,000.00

Mrs. Louise Morgan 1,000.00

Patrick Mahan 500.00

And to each person in the employ of the grantor's wife at the time of her death, as a domestic servant, and has been in such employment for at least two years, $200 plus $25 for each additional year or major fraction thereof, but in no case more than $500 (article I, paragraph seventh, clause (1); Exhibit C-2).

The agreement provides that, subject to the restrictions set forth in article IV, the trustee may continue to hold the property conveyed to it; may from time to time sell or dispose of all or any part of the same; and may invest and reinvest the proceeds of sale of any of the trust property. The trustee is given authority to invest in legal investments and is not required to furnish any bond or security. The agreement confers on the trustee various other powers to facilitate management of the trust estate, and provides that the trustee, unless otherwise provided in the trust indenture, may pay out of the income received by it as trustee of any trust therein all expenses of such trust and all taxes which may be properly assessed against such trust estate or any beneficiary thereof (article III, Exhibit C-2).

By article IV, Mrs. Palmer is given the power during her lifetime to direct the sale or other disposition by the trustee of the whole or any part of the trust property, and the investment or reinvestment of any cash in the hands of the trustee, and to direct...