8 Fla. 307 | Fla. | 1859
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Joseph Alston, administrator de bonis non of the estate of Augustus Alston, deceased, seets by his bill to recover the possession of certain slaves, with an account for their hire, conveyed in a deed of marriage settlement by Mary Helen Alston, the widow and first administratrix of Augustus Alston, deceased, to James E. Broome, as trustee, for the uses therein declared, in consideration of an anticipated marriage on her part with Sampson Butler. These slaves consisted of those allotted to the widow Alston as her dower or statutory portion of her husband’s slaves, in
To the slaves mentioned in this deed of marriage settlement Mrs. Alston had two separate and distinct titles : to the slaves allotted her for dower an independent life estate in her own right, and, in addition thereto, in her character as administratrix, she held the legal title to the reversion and the equity of redemption of those mortgaged to the Bank. All the interest, then, attempted to be conveyed by this deed of marriage settlement belonged to the estate of Augustus Alston, except only her life estate in the slaves allotted to her under the statute in the nature of dower; and yet she contracts in her private right and character and without reference to her power or authority as administratrix to dispose of all these interests, and that too upon a consideration, however good and valuable in law, moving to her solely and in no wise to the estate of her intestate. Merely to state this point is sufficient to settle it. The numerous cases we find in the books of the mal-administration of assets and misapplication of funds seem to arise where the administrator acted or contracted in virtue of his character of administrator. Such cases have nothing to do with the question involving the validity of this deed. Here was an evident attempt to dispose of the assets of the estate in her private right and for her private use and benefit without the slightest reference or resort to her official character and authority. To allow such a procedure to stand would be to annul all distinc
It is alleged in the answer, amongst other objections to the complainant’s claims, that Mrs. Alston was in advance to the estate of her intestate to the full amount of the value of all the interests of the estate disposed of by her in the deed of marriage settlement. The proof of this, it is alleged, was of record .in the Probaté Court, and would have been presented to the Court but for the fact that the case was not set down for argument after Fisher and wife and Sampson Butler had, upon their petition, been made parties to the bill. Mrs. Fisher was a daughter - of Mrs. Butler by her first marriage with Alston, and Sampson Butler a son by her last marriage with Butler. Upon the hearing of their petition to be made parties counsel was heard, it was admitted, at bar, in explanation of their rights and interests. Their application being allowed, they were made parties, and within eight days thereafter
If the fact should turn out, as stated in the answer, that Mrs. Alston was in advance of the estate of her husband as administrator to the full amount of the assets of the estate disposed of by her in the deed of settlement, we wTill not decide in advance what effect it might have upon the validity and effect of that deed; but, in any event, whatever amount, if any, may be found due her from the estate, that will enure to the beneficiaries under the deed.-
There is another and very sufficient ground upon which the decree in this case should not be permitted to preclude the distributees of Mrs. Alston from a full hearing upon the merits. By a rule of this Court, adopted in 1851 and published in an appendix to the fifth volume of Florida Beports, it is provided “ that decrees, whether final or interlocutory, not embracing orders of course, shall be upon notice to the parties or their attorneys before making or pronouncing the same, and a statement by the Judge to the effect that notice has been given, shall be sufficient evidence thereof.” It does not appear in any wise that this rule has been complied with, and the parties complaining,
It is further objected, that the compdainant should not be permitted to proceed with this cause, because he does not allege in his bill that he was prompted by persons interested in the estate of Alston, or moved by a personal interest or a sense of official duty, and the authority of Lord Eldon, in 17 Vesey, 171, and that of Chancellor Harper, in Riley’s Chan. Rep., 35 and 36, are quoted with much force upon this point. We think, however, that this case does not fall fully within the rule laid down by these eminent Chancellors. The rule seems to be founded upon two elements: the lapse of time, rendering the demand stale, coupled with the absence of any apparent necessity on the part of the administrator to prosecute the suit. Ordinarily, there is no legal necessity for an executor or administrator to show in whose behalf he seeks to obtain a recovery in behalf of the estate he represents. He is charged with the collection of the assets of the estate, and, to the extent that he may realize them, the law imposes the duty of responding to the claim of creditors and distributees; and it is only in cases where, from lapse of time and other circumstances, there is reason to believe that the estate has been settled to the satisfaction of all parties interested, as evinced by their long acquiescence, and, the suit appearing unnecessary, that the Court would apply the rule. In this case, it does not appear that the creditors, if there be such, have ’acquiesced in the settlement of the estate for any considerable- length of time, it appearing from a statement filed in the Probate office and made an exhibit here in the answer of defendant Broome that many of the creditors of the estate sued and obtained judgments at law during the administration of Mrs. Alston, and it can well be conceived that they were pre
The statute of limitations has also been set up as a bar to the complainant’s recovery. We think, however, that the defendant Broome does not stand in a position to avail himself of this defence. If the deed of settlement had been valid, he might, perhaps, have set up an adverse posses-session as trustee against all others save the beneficiaries under that deed; but that conveyance being void and the title to the property therein conveyed remaining in the estate of Alston, the law raises a trust in him in behalf of those interested in the estate, upon the broad general principle that equity will follow trust property into whatsoever hands it may be found and subject it to the trusts originally existing concerning it. Broome, then, becomes a trustee in so far as the property in his hands is concerned. For those interested in the estate of Alston, his possession was in effect their possession, and he may not claim as against them the lapse of time to give him title.
In the view which the Court has taken of the deed of settlement, Broome is clothed with the character of a trustee in regard to the property of the estate of Alston found in his hands, and is required to account for the same, with its income. Matters of account are one of the ordinary sources of equity jurisdiction, because of the greater facility and more improved methods of taking the account. But this question is so fully settled by a majority of this Court, in the case of Linton vs. Walker, that it is useless to enlarge upon it here. In that case, a suit at law was dismissed, because, in the opinion of the Court, chancery afforded a more, appropriate method of adjusting the accounts, and the fact that this property was encumbered by mortgages to the Bank affords another ground for invoking the chancery jurisdiction.
It appears from the bill and answer, that Broome, while acting under the deed of trust, purchased, avowedly for the benefit of the beneficiaries under the deed of marriage settlement, certain mortgages and judgments from the Union Bank of Florida, with the intention, as he declares, of disencumbering the trust property in his hands from those liens. These purchases, it is stated in the bill and affirmed in the answer of Broome, were made with his own means, he having substituted mortgages upon his own property in lieu of those which had been given by Alston in his life time to the Bank. It is probable that the skill and credit of Broome, together with the orphan condition of the children he represented, may have had much influence in effecting favorable arrangements with the Bank in their behalf j yet the benefit of these par-
Broome must account strictly to the estate of Alston for the negroes received by him as trustee under the deed of settlement, but, in so doing, he is to be allowed, upon the principles recognized and established in the late case of Linton vs. Walker, 8 Florida Beports, all reasonable disbursements and charges incurred in and about the care and management of the property.
The decree of the Chancellor herein is therefore reversed, set aside and reformed so far as to conform to the principles laid down in this opinion, and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent therewith.
Dissenting Opinion
dissents from so much of the opinion of the majority as asserts the deed of Mrs. Alston void. He regards it but as a transfer of the dower right and interest in the life estate, as conveying nothing else and as good for this pux’pose.
The purchase of Broome from the Union Bank he regards as made for the estate — so much as x*elates to the personalty for the administrator and as to the realty for the heirs. Broome is a tx*ustee as to this and the other property, not by any declaration he may have made of his purpose or design, but through his interference with the property of the estate.