355 Mass. 776 | Mass. | 1969
This petition for instructions is brought by the executor under the will of Charlotte E. Sills, late of Newton, against Old Colony Trust Company, as trustee under the said will; Board of Governors of The Belleville General Hospital, Belleville, Ontario, Canada, a corporation organized under the laws of the Province of Ontario; City of Belleville, a municipal corporation of the said Province; County of Hastings, a governmental body of the said Province; the Attorney General of this Commonwealth; and all other persons interested in the residue of the said will. G. L. c. 231A.
The petition states that the will, after making provisions for annuities, directs that upon the death of the last annuitant, the fund is to be paid in specified fractions to designated charities, including “Two-fifteenths thereof each to the Belleville General Hospital, Belleville, Ontario, and Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Massachusetts, and one-fifteenth thereof each to . . . Belleville General Hospital, Belleville, Ontario, the same to be used towards construction and maintenance of a convalescent home.” The petition further alleges that the United States Internal Revenue Service has refused to allow a deduction under
The petition prays for instructions as to the appropriate distributee of the proportionate share in the remainder of the residuary trust bequeathed to the hospital; whether that share is to be deemed to be impressed with a trust limiting the purposes to which it can be applied; as to the trustee’s duties with respect to a presently pending action to recover an assessed deficiency in the Federal estate tax heretofore paid by the petitioner; and as to the persons to whom notice should be given with respect to the interest bequeathed to the hospital in proceedings for allowance of the accounts of the petitioner.
The case is reported without decision upon the pleadings and the statement of agreed facts. G. L. c. 215, § 13.
The testatrix was born in Belleville, and became an American citizen by naturalization in 1914. At the time of the execution of the will she was aware of an entity known as The Belleville General Hospital, which had served the residents of the city for many years. Prior to 1948 it was operated by The Women’s Christian Association of Belleville which presently appoints two of the Gov
This petition is appropriate to raise the questions of Federal estate taxation. Watson v. Goldthwaite, 345 Mass. 29, 31, 35. Old Colony Trust Co. v. Silliman, 352 Mass. 6, 8.
The will manifests an express intent to make a charitable bequest in trust for general hospital purposes in Belleville. The named beneficiary when the will was executed was The
This is eminently a case to apply the cy pres doctrine. American Academy of Arts & Sciences v. Harvard College, 12 Gray, 582, 596. Hubbard v. Worcester Art Museum, 194 Mass. 280, 290. Rogers v. Attorney Gen. 347 Mass. 126, 131. In so doing we shall act in our firm belief that the testatrix is entitled to have the carrying out of her charitable purpose a certainty and not a probability. Accordingly, we hold that the bequest must be impressed with a trust obligating that the funds can be expended for charitable hospital purposes only. We are of opinion that control should be retained in this Commonwealth. It is obvious that Canadian law is subject to still further legislative changes whose effect on the bequests should always be open to evaluation here so as to guarantee their devotion to the intended charitable purposes.
The petitioner is instructed that the gift is for general charitable hospital purposes in the Belleville area, and that it is in no sense a gift to the City of Belleville or the County of Hastings; that the bequest is impressed with a trust as hereinbefore decided; that notices of proceedings for the allowance of accounts are to be given to the Attorney General of the Commonwealth and to the persons or corporation to whom by decree of the Probate Court it shall be ordered that any part of the amounts on account of the said gift be paid; and that the petitioner is under the duty to prosecute to the utmost the proceeding for a refund of the deficiency collected for the Federal estate tax.
So ordered.
A deduction was permitted of the value of the one-fifteenth share to be used toward the construction and maintenance of a convalescent home.
Other Governors were appointed: one by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, one in accordance with the regulations under The Public Hospitals Act, one by the council of the County of Hastings, and eight by the council of the city from ratepayers of the city. The Warden of the County and the Mayor of the city were Governors ex officiis.
These are appointed: one by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, five by the council of the city, three by the council of the county, two by The Women’s Christian Association, one by the Women’s Hospital Auxiliary of the city. Two are members of the medical staff of the hospital, one is the head of the council of the city, and one is the Warden of the county.