8 P.2d 530 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1932
This is an appeal by the California Trust Company, the contestant below, from a judgment and decree terminating the trusts created by the will of Laura E. Hubbell, deceased, and ordering distribution of the trust estate to Chauncey E. Hubbell, petitioner below and respondent here.
The facts, in so far as they are pertinent to this appeal, are as follows: Laura E. Hubbell died on November 15, 1925, leaving a will. This will was in due course admitted to probate and, thereafter, on December 27, 1927, the court ordered the distribution of her estate according to the terms of said will. This order reads in part as follows: ". . . and all rest, residue and remainder to California Trust Company as trustee; said trustee to collect the rents, issues and profits therefrom, and after payment of taxes, repairs and assessments, if any, to pay the sum of $40.00 per month to Chauncey E. Hubbell, son of said deceased, for and during the term of his natural life. . . . Upon the death of said Chauncey E. Hubbell said estate shall go to the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club to be used to establish and maintain a home for poor and indigent old women, preference being given to those residing in the City of Santa Monica." Upon the entry of this order appellant, California Trust Company, received said described property and has ever since administered the same pursuant to the trust by said will and order created. The validity of this order is not in question here.
On October 29, 1930, Chauncey E. Hubbell, the respondent here, filed a petition in the probate proceeding in which he alleged among other things that on October 15, 1930, the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club had by resolution renounced any right given it, or acquired by it, under the terms of the will of Laura E. Hubbell. That by reason of said renunciation by said club, that as to property held in trust by appellant, "the will is inoperative to pass title, and the estate thereby, and by reason of the failure of said *40 gift and by reason of its renunciation, by the corporation entitled to receive it, descends to the next of kin, as of an estate of an intestate." The petitioner then alleges that he is the next of kin and prays that the property held in trust by appellant, after the payment of charges, be distributed to him as such. To this petition appellant interposed a demurrer on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject matter; that the order of distribution was final; that the petition was ambiguous and uncertain; that the petition failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The appellant also filed an answer denying the principal allegations of the petition. Respondent then filed a motion to strike appellant's demurrer and answer. The petition, demurrer and motion to strike came on for hearing together before the probate court. The court, after overruling appellant's objection as to its jurisdiction, received in evidence certain documents and ordered the matters submitted. Thereafter the court granted the motion to strike appellant's demurrer and answer and ordered distribution in accordance with the prayer of the petition. Findings of fact, conclusions of law and decree were thereafter signed and filed. From this judgment and decree, this appeal was taken.
[1] The questions presented on this appeal are three in number. The first involves the right of appellant trustee to appear in the proceeding and to maintain this appeal. Respondent contends that appellant is not an "aggrieved party" within the meaning of section
[3] The second question presented involves the jurisdiction of the court in probate proceedings to terminate and end the trust created by the will and decree of distribution. The petitioner and respondent, who, under the decree receives, from the trust as established, during the term of his natural life, a fixed income per month and other benefits, seeks not only to have the trust, created to begin after his death, terminated, but also the trust under which he is now receiving benefits. Respondent contends that the probate court has jurisdiction to order the termination of the trust as a whole, under the circumstances stated in his petition, by virtue of the power granted it by section
The jurisdiction of probate courts and their proceedings has always been strictly limited. In the English system, from which ours was patterned, this jurisdiction was vested in a separate ecclesiastical court, drawing its jurisdiction from the "cure of the soul of the deceased". In the state of New York, when it adopted the code system, the prototype of our own, this distinction was recognized, and a separate surrogates court, with limited jurisdiction, was *42
established. Our own codes contain a separate title creating such a probate court and limiting its jurisdiction. Trusts under the English system were within the jealously guarded jurisdiction of the courts of equity. This distinction has also been followed under the codes except where by statutory enactment additional powers have been granted to probate courts, such as those contained in section
This limitation upon the jurisdiction of courts in probate proceedings is clearly stated in the case of Parkman v.Superior Court,
No authority, either statutory or case, has been cited by respondent, sustaining his contention that in a probate proceeding, the probate court may by decree, entered after an estate has been distributed to a trustee to hold in trust, and during the continuance of the trust and before the time limited for its termination by the decree of distribution, terminate and end the trust. The court in this probate proceeding has only the jurisdiction conferred upon it by the statute, in this case section
The court having clearly acted beyond its jurisdiction in making the judgment and decree here appealed from, it is unnecessary to pass upon the other point raised upon this appeal.
The judgment and decree appealed from are reversed for the reason herein stated.
Houser, Acting P.J., and York, J., concurred. *44