Caldwell v. Taylor

THE COURT. This is a suit in equity by Oscar P. Caldwell, only son of the deceased, Perry Moore Caldwell, seeking to have the defendant, a beneficiary named in the will as Leonore Fisher Caldwell, declared an involuntary trustee of the property devised to her upon the ground that the will was procured by her fraud and undue influence. The Bank of America Trust and Savings Association (successor in interest to the Bank of Italy National Trust and Savings Association) is likewise sought to be charged as constructive trustee in its capacity as executor under the will of Perry Moore Caldwell.

The plaintiff seeks the aid of equity in this independent suit upon the ground that the probate of the will was procured by the fraud of the defendant Taylor in that, by concealment of the facts, she prevented the plaintiff from making a timely contest of the will. The legal questions relevant to the claim of fraud which prevented the contest of the will were passed upon by this court upon appeal from an order sustaining demurrers to the complaint and it was held that a case had been alleged sufficient for the interposition of equity. (Caldwell v. Taylor, 218 Cal. 471 [23 Pac. (2d) 758, 88 A. L. R. 1194].) Upon the trial of the case the court found for the plaintiff upon the issue of fraud which prevented him from seeking a timely remedy in the probate court but also found that the will was not procured by the fraud or undue influence of Leonore Taylor. A reversal of the judgment for the defendant is sought upon the ground that the findings against undue influence and fraud in the procurement of the will are unsupported by the evidence.

The probated will bears the date July 9, 1929. By it Perry Moore Caldwell left to his “wife,” Leonore Fisher Caldwell, $4,500 in cash and one-half the income of a $25,000 trust fund for life, which upon her death was to be paid to the plaintiff quarterly until he reached the age of 45, also upon her death the trust as to one-half of the trust fund was to cease and half the principal to be paid to the plaintiff. Upon plaintiff’s reaching the age of 45 the entire trust was to terminate and the entire principal was to go to him. One-half the residue ■was devised to the plaintiff absolutely and the remaining half of the residue was left in trust for him until he reached the age of 45. The estate was valued at $60,000 at the time of. death, but the court found that its present value, or value at the time of trial, had diminished to $29,500, the practical ef[688]feet being to leave plaintiff nothing but the expectancy upon the death of the defendant, whose life expectancy was about the same as his own.