Whitney v. Nealley

CRAIG, J.

This action is one for damages for the alleged conversion of property claimed to have belonged to the estate of Julia Stebbins. The record contains a stipulation as to facts from which it appears that on August 4, 1915, the deceased executed a conveyance to M. M. Crookshank and E. M. Nealley, as -trustees, and to Harry 0. Stebbins and Charles S. Stebbins and the First Congregational Church of Santa Ana. She died on the 8th of March, 1918; that Helen F. Whitney was duly appointed and qualified as administratrix of the estate of Julia Stebbins and maintains this action in that capacity. It is further stipulated that the trustees received the instrument and the property conveyed immediately upon the execution of the conveyance; that Crookshank died in 1916, and Nealley thereafter continued as trustee alone; that upon the death of Julia Stebbins, at the request of Harry 0. Stebbins, Charles S. Stebbins, and the First Congregational Church of Santa Ana, Nealley sold the trust property then in his hands and paid the proceeds of the sale to the parties last named.

The instrument which we are called upon to consider clearly created a trust in Nealley and Crookshank and constituted a grant over to Harry 0. Stebbins, Charles Stebbins, and the First Congregational Church of Santa Ana. The writing to be construed begins, “I, Julia Stebbins, a single woman, of Orange County, California,

assign, grant and transfer

to M. M. Crookshank and E. M. Nealley of the same place, the following described property now belonging to me, to-wit”: then follows a description of the property

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conveyed. It continues: “To Have and to Hold the same in trust during the remainder of my life, . . .

[1]

“All the remainder and residue of said property and funds and of the proceeds thereof in the hands of my said trustees at the time of my death, I

give

and

grant

to my nephews, Harry 0. Stebbins and Charles Stebbins-, of Baltimore, Maryland, and the First Congregational Church of Santa Ana, California, in the following proportions, to-wit: One-half (y2) of said residue to Harry 0. Stebbins; one-quarter (%,) to Charles Stebbins and one-quarter (]4) to the First Congregational Church of Santa Ana, California. ’ ’ (Italics ours.) The title which the trustees received was expressly limited to the life of the grantor. Under the terms of the instrument the title vested immediately and absolutely in the grantees by the act of the grantor. It is not void as a trust to convey, for the trustees are not directed to make a conveyance. If they did so, or if they sold the property, they may have exceeded their authority, but this fact gives the plaintiff no cause for complaint for she has. no rights. No deed or other conveyance was necessary to he executed by the trustees. The writing contains this statement, “I give and grant to my nephews,” etc., “all of the remainder and residue of said property.” It would he difficult to conceive of words which could be less ambiguous or more potent to convey title immediately and absolutely from the present owner to another than those here employed. It is noteworthy also that the grantor added no qualification to the title conveyed and retained no control over the estate given to the trustees and remaindermen. In this respect the case at bar is distinguishable from