Hamilton v. Bank of America National Trust & Savings Ass'n

WOOD, J. Appeal by trustees from a judgment directing them to pay to a beneficiary $400 per month from the corpus of a testamentary trust.

The testator, John C. Ferrall, who died October 9, 1940, left surviving him a son, George D. Ferrall, and a daughter, Faye F. Hamilton. Under the provisions of his will, which was made April 15, 1938, he gave $2,000 to each of George D. Ferrall’s three sons, and gave one-half of the remainder (after paying said $6,000, his debts and expenses of administration) to George D. Ferrall, and gave the other one-half of the remainder to the Bank of America and George D. Ferrall as joint trustees and in trust for the following uses and purposes:

“(d) After payment of any expenses of management of the trust estate and administering this trust, including the compensation for the services of the trustees, all income from the trust which is available for distribution shall be distributed monthly to and for the use and benefit of my daughter, Faye F. Hamilton during her lifetime, or unless sooner terminated in accordance herewith. That if at any time the income from the corpus of the trust herein created is insufficient to meet the needs of my daughter, Faye F. Hamilton, then and in that event, in the sole discretion of the trustees herein, the trustees may pay to my said daughter, Faye F. Hamilton, such amounts from the principal or corpus of the trust sufficient to meet her needs, care and comforts.

“(e)----_

“(f) Anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding, this trust shall cease and terminate upon the following conditions:

“(1-a) Provided my daughter, Faye F. Hamilton, be living, this trust shall terminate upon the death of Alex C. Hamilton, or his divorce from my said daughter, Faye F. Hamilton, in which event all the property held by the trustees herein shall be distributed to my daughter, Faye F. Hamilton, or

[714]“ (1-b) Upon the death of my daughter, Faye F. Hamilton, this trust shall cease and terminate and all the property held by the trustees under the terms hereof shall be distributed one-half to my son, George D. Ferrall, and one-half to my three grandchildren, George D. Ferrall, Jr., John Charters Ferrall and Frank M. Ferrall, share and share alike.”

The decree of distribution, entered February 16, 1943, distributed to said trustees one-half of said remainder in trust for the said uses and purposes stated in the will. The provisions of the decree so distributing said part of the estate to the trustees included verbatim the said above quoted provisions of the will regarding the uses and purposes for which the trust was created.