280 Pa. 255 | Pa. | 1924
Opinion by
The court below, in separate decrees, adjudged that two several trusts had terminated; the facts in the two cases are exactly alike, except that the deeds specify different parties in interest. A quotation from one of them, a statement of the relevant facts, and an application of the law thereto, will, therefore, be sufficient for the purposes of both appeals.
On September 27, 1922, Eldridge R. Johnson, one of the plaintiffs, conveyed to defendant certain property upon an active spendthrift trust, expressly made irrevocable, and further providing that the net income should be paid to Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, the other plaintiff, “until he shall attain the age of thirty years, at which time said trustee shall pay over, transfer and assign the capital or principal of said trust unto said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, absolutely, clear of all trusts. If said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan should die before he shall have attained the age of thirty years, then, and in such case, said trustee shall pay over, transfer and assign the capital or principal of said trust unto such person or persons and in such manner, shares and proportions as said Eldridge Johnson MacEwan may by
It will be noted that the settlor does not give the trust property to Eldridge Johnson MacEwan, but to the trustee; that Mr. MacEwan is to get only the income until he reaches thirty years of age, at which time, if then living, he is to receive the principal, from and through the trustee; but if he dies before he reaches that age, the principal is to be transferred to certain other distributees.
Before he was thirty years old, but after he attained his majority, he and the settlor filed the present bill in equity, seeking to have the deed of trust cancelled, and the property transferred to him, Mr. MacEwan, absolutely. The theory upon which this alleged right was claimed, and which the court below sustained, was that because Mr. MacEwan had a vested interest in the property conveyed to the trustee, subject only to be divested in case he died before reaching the age of thirty years, he and the settlor were the only persons interested in the trust estate, within the meaning of the rule that where “all the parties who are or may be interested in trust property are in existence and sui juris,” they may procure its termination “although the trust may not have ceased by expiration of time, and although all its purposes may not have been accomplished.” As we do not agree with appellees that they are the only persons “who
The rule referred to is plain in language and easily understood. The requisite of consent by “all who are or may be interested,” can only mean that their combined interests must be equivalent to an absolute title, which cannot be defeated or divested by the happening of any future event. Thus viewed, the rule is but a restatement, in a slightly modified form, of the principle that he who has the absolute ownership of a thing, cannot be deprived of any of the legal incidents which are an integral part of that ownership; for. instance, the grant of a fee cannot be clogged with a condition preventing or restricting alienation. It is at least gravely doubtful whether any other conclusion would be constitutional (see article I, section 1, Constitution of Pennsylvania; Wolford v. Morgenthal, 91 Pa. 30; Penna. Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Phila., 242 Pa. 47); but this question was not argued before us, and we express no final judgment on it. Óur prior opinions are clear upon the point under consideration, however, when their language is applied to and limited by the facts of the particular cases, as, of course, it must be; and hence we will first review, in chronological order, those relied on by appellees, except that we will consider Harrar’s Est., 244 Pa. 542, last, since evidently it is the authority which misled the court below.
In Sharpless’s Estate, 151 Pa. 214, testator directed that a share given to one of his nieces should be held upon an active trust, she to receive the income for life, and on her death the principal to go to her daughter. The daughter assigned her remainder interest to the mother and the trust was thereupon declared ended, because its only purpose was to protect the latter’s life estate. In Woodburn’s Est., 151 Pa. 586, a trust was created to secure testator’s widow in her life estate; she elected to take against the will, and the effect of this being the same as if she had died, the trust was terminated. In Brooke’s Est., 214 Pa. 46, the gift was'of a
It will be observed that these cases lend no color to appellees’ contention, and we turn, therefore, to Harrar's Est., supra, the only remaining decision which they allege sustains the decree below. In the will con
Harrar’s Estate has been cited by us a number of times, but never as sustaining the construction contended for by plaintiffs, and on at least two occasions an antagonistic conclusion was reached. In Stewart’s Est., 253 Pa. 277, the syllabus correctly says: “The right of all the parties in interest under a will, to set aside or disregard the will, does not extend to the case of an active trust for a definite term, created by a testator for the protection of his beneficiaries, and this is particularly true where there are contingent remainders limited to the issue of legatees who may die during the pendency of a life estate.” And in King v. York Trust Co., 278 Pa. 141, where a settlor, — who believed he was incompetent to properly handle his property, — conveyed it to a trustee, who was “to use the income for the support of the settlor and his wife and children, and to pay the principal to the wife and children after the death of the settlor, or to collaterals if they do not survive”: it was held that the trust would not be determined upon the application of the settlor, — who, the chancellor found, had
Because of variant facts, there are, of course, apparent exceptions to the rule we have been considering, but none of them concerns us here. Those who are curious will find many of such recent authorities reviewed in Stafford’s Estate, supra, in an opinion written by the present Chief Justice; those of still later date yield nothing new on the subject.
The decrees of the court below are reversed, and the bills in equity are dismissed, at the cost of the respective plaintiffs.