Keyston v. Keyston

MOORE, P. J.

By his last will and testament Alfred J. Keyston created a trust estate with appellants as its beneficiaries and respondent D. W. Keyston as its trustee. The terms of the trust were approved by the probate court in the orders settling the final account and directing distribution. The corpus of the estate consists primarily of 1,250 shares of corporate stock valued at $81,250. D. W. Keyston is a stockholder of the corporation and has complete control of its affairs.

The amended complaint alleges that for the past two years the corporation had been operating at a loss; plaintiffs had received nothing from the trust; the corpus was deteriorating in value; unless the corpus of the trust is sold the trust will become depleted and be rendered worthless. A general demurrer to the pleading was “sustained without leave to amend but without prejudice to filing a petition in the probate court for instructions or to construe said trust. ' ’ Judgment denying relief was entered; hence this appeal.

Appellants insist that they have stated a cause of action in that the beneficiaries have the right to alter the terms in a trust as fixed by the declaration thereof, citing

Adams

v.

Cook,

15 Cal.2d 352 [101 P.2d 484]. It is true that the cited case declares that a court of equity has the power to change the method of administering a trust estate when it is shown that such a change is necessary to prevent loss or destruction of the corpus. But the trust in the cited case was created by contract and for that reason the decision is not authority in an action involving a testamentary trust. The probate jurisdiction of the superior court is statutory and is strictly limited by the terms conferring such jurisdiction. Section 1120 of the Probate Code is so broad in its scope as to give the probate court jurisdiction of all controversies

[552]

which might arise between the trustees and those claiming to be beneficiaries under the trust.

(Estate of Marré,

18 Cal.2d 184, 187 [114 P.2d 586] ;