Presbyterian Hospital Ass'n v. Jackson

[667]

McCOMB, J.

This appeal transferred from the Supreme Court to this court for decision pursuant to the provisions of article VI, section 4c of the Constitution of the state of California is from an order of the superior court sitting in probate, settling the final account of a trustee under a testamentary trust and ordering that the petition of the trustee for distribution and the adverse claims of appellant and respondent herein to the trust estate be heard and determined by the superior court sitting in equity.

The essential facts are:

Decedent died testate August 27, 1929. She by the terms of her will, after making certain specific bequests, left the remainder of her estate to the California Trust Company as trustee to be held in trust by it during the life of her sister-in-law, Xenia Lambie, upon certain trusts. Upon the death of Xenia Lambie the trust was to terminate and the property was to be conveyed to “The Presbyterian Hospital of Denver, Colorado”. January 21, 1931, the probate court made an order settling the final and supplemental accounts of the executor and decreeing distribution as provided in the will.

March 24, 1937, Xenia Lambie died. June 30, 1937, the California Trust Company as trustee filed its final account and petition for distribution of the trust estate, alleging that a question had arisen as to the correct identity of the institution referred to by the testatrix as “The Presbyterian Hospital of Denver, Colorado”, and that after an investigation it believed the correct name of the institution so referred to was “The Presbyterian Hospital Association of Colorado”, appellant here, and requested the court to make distribution accordingly. July 23, 1937, respondents filed objections against the determination requested by the trustee, alleging that the beneficiary named in the will, to wit, “The Presbyterian Hospital of Denver, Colorado”, was nonoperative and therefore not able to take the trust estate; and further, that appellant was likewise unable to take the trust estate.

January 5, 1938, respondents filed in the superior court an action to quiet title to the property which is the subject of the trust against the California Trust Company, the Presbyterian Hospital Association of Colorado, a corporation, and The Presbyterian Hospital of Denver, Colorado, a corporation.