Harper v. Lockhart

DORAN, J. This is an appeal from a portion of a decree and judgment rendered after a decision by the District Court of Appeal, ordering final distribution of a testamentary trust estate. (See Estate of Lockhart, 21 Cal. App. (2d) 574 [69 Pac. (2d) 1001].) [297]The original decree of distribution of the estate of Thomas G. Lockhart, deceased, dated September 29, 1915, distributed “in pursuance of and according to the provisions of the last will of said decedent” to Security Trust & Savings Bank the residue of the estate upon the following trusts: “The net annual income received or derived from said trust estate shall go and be paid as follows, to wit: (a) The sum of one thousand ($1000) dollars per annum, in equal semiannual installments, shall go and be paid by said trustee to George J. Lockhart, a son of the testator, to and until he shall attain the age of fifty (50) years, . . . (and thereafter) a full one-sixth of the principal of the trust estate . . . shall go, vest in and be transferred absolutely, to said George J. Lockhart.” (Italics added.) Identical provisions were repeated as to another son, Harry C. Lockhart, and as to a daughter, Myra B. Rockwell, except that as to the latter the age at which the one-sixth interest would vest was fixed at 40 years. The decree further provided that “all of the remainder of said net income shall go and be paid by said trustee in equal semi-annual installments to Minnie A. Lockhart, widow of said testator”, and that upon the widow’s death the trust should cease and the entire property then in trust should go in fee, equally, to the three children. No appeal was taken from this decree.

The trust terminated on January 14, 1936, upon the death of the testator’s widow, and the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, trustee, thereafter filed its seventeenth and final account and petition for instructions as to the distribution of the property remaining in its hands. In answer thereto various interested parties set forth their respective claims; among them, the administrator of the widow’s estate claimed certain income which had accrued, but had not been paid to the decedent during her lifetime. Evidence, both oral and documentary, was introduced and the cause was submitted for decision.

The trial court thereafter filed its findings of fact, the material portion of which, affecting the within appeal, is in part as follows: ‘ ‘ That at the time of the demise of said Minnie A. Lockhart the income that had been earned on the principal of the trust estate but which had not been collected, through no fault of the trustee, amounted to $16,-875.71. That on June 11, 1936, there had been collected