Piuma v. Minetti

GIBSON, C. J. This appeal is brought from an order of the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo County in a probate proceeding. The order directed appellants, as trustees under a testamentary trust, to make further payments to the respondent beneficiary, Stephen M. Piuma, covering the period between decedent’s death and the entry of the decree of final distribution. The decedent bequeathed and devised the residue of her estate to appellants in trust. The will provided in part: “(d) Said trustees shall during the existence of said trust, either monthly, quarterly or semiannually, as the circumstances and conditions of said trust estate will the most conveniently permit, but in any event annually, distribute [186]and pay out of the net income of said trust estate such part thereof as said trustees shall in their sole judgment deem advisable to or for the proper care, maintenance, support and education of my said grandson Stephen Milton Piuma so long as, in their sole judgment, his education is incomplete, and the balance, if any, of said net income to my daughter Rosa J. Marre Piuma. ...” Decedent died June 14, 1933, and the decree of distribution was rendered on December 21, 1937. At the time of decedent’s death the respondent, Stephen M. Piuma, was not yet eighteen years of age and was still a student in high school. In September, 1934, he entered the University of Southern California, where he remained for one scholastic year, and in August, 1935, he entered the University of Santa Clara where he was a student on March 6, 1939, when the petition here involved was filed. The petitioner asked that the court instruct the trustees to make certain payments to reimburse him for expenses incurred for support, maintenance and education during the period prior to the entry of the decree of final distribution. The superior court granted the petition in part, and ordered the appellants to make payments totaling $650.00 for expenses incurred by the beneficiary during the years 1935, 1936, and 1937. It is from this order that the present appeal was taken.

Appellants urge that the order made in favor of the beneficiary is void because the superior court, sitting in probate, has no jurisdiction over such a petition. It is pointed out that the probate jurisdiction of the superior court is statutory in nature, and is strictly limited by the terms of the statute conferring such jurisdiction. (Estate of Davis, 136 Cal. 590, 597 [69 Pac. 412]; Parkman v. Superior Court, 77 Cal. App. 321, 323 [246 Pac. 334]; Estate of Hubbell, 121 Cal. App. 38, 41, 42 [8 Pac. (2d) 530].) Probate Code, sec. 1120, provides: “When a trust created by a will continues after distribution, the superior court shall not lose jurisdiction of the estate by final distribution, but shall retain jurisdiction for the purpose of determining to whom the property shall pass ... or settling the accounts and passing upon the acts of the trustee and for the other purposes hereinafter set forth. . . . Any trustee . . . may . . , render for settlement his accounts and report his acts as such trustee. . . . The trustee may also petition such court, from time to time, for instructions as to the administration of the trust. . . . ” Appellants contend that this section confers probate 'jurisdic