Kentfield v. Kentfield

SEAWELL, J. The action which gives rise to this appeal was brought by the trustees of a trust agreement in which Edward E. Kentfield was trustor, praying for the settlement of certain accounts, fixing the compensation of said trustees and for instructions as to whether or not an accumulating fund created for the purpose of securing the payment of a [77]certain indebtedness owing by Edward E. Kentfield to his son John Kentfield, since deceased, as evidenced by six promissory notes executed by the father to the son, should be distributed to the father, the sole heir of said son, or whether, as contended by appellants, it should be held by the trustees for the future support and maintenance of said Edward E. Kentfield during the remainder of his life, and upon his death the unexpended remainder should go to the four children of said Edward E. Kentfield, as provided in said trust agreement. The notes were distributed to the father by the probate court, and the trial court herein held that said promissory notes were not extinguished by merger or otherwise and gave judgment that the trustees pay and deliver all of the balance of the funds remaining in their hands, to wit, the sum of $10,221.26, to the father, as all the other children for whose mutual benefit the fund was created had been satisfied. It is from that part of the judgment decreeing that the indebtedness represented by the promissory notes, is entitled to payment thereof from the trust fund, that the defendant Edward E. Kentfield, as the holder of said notes, is entitled to payment thereof from the trust fund, that the two daughters have appealed.

Edward E. Kentfield, the father of Florence E. Kentfield, Ethel C. Kentfield, John Kentfield and Howard E. Kent-field, was the party of the first part, and said four children were parties of the second part, to a trust agreement executed April 18, 1928. Said trust instrument, by consent of the parties thereto, was intended to and finally did terminate and abrogate a prior trust agreement between said parties executed October 27, 1921. By said 1928 trust agreement its trustees succeeded to all the property, real and personal, then in the possession of the former trustees, including certain warrants of Reclamation District No. 1500, which were at said time on deposit for exchange into warrants of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Drainage District. The exchanges of these warrants afterward made by the trustees for bonds are not material herein, other than that the proceeds of said warrants and bonds and other property, both real and personal, of said Edward E. Kentfield furnished the original corpus of the present trust fund. The two agreements were drawn to accomplish the same purpose and were alike in all substantial features. For some time prior to the execution of the first