256 Mass. 351 | Mass. | 1926
Helen Farnsworth Eldredge was the wife of Clarence F. Eldredge, who died February 26, 1925, leaving a will of which the defendant Nickerson is executor. Mr. Eldredge was appointed guardian of his wife November 8, 1922, when she was adjudged insane, and continued to hold that trust until his death; thereafter the plaintiff was appointed guardian and. was acting as such when she began this suit. Since the hearings in the Superior Court, Mrs. Eldredge has died and the plaintiff has been appointed administratrix of her estate and admitted as party plaintiff to prosecute this suit.
The defendant State Mutual Life Assurance Company issued to Mr. Eldredge four policies insuring his life, each of which at one time was made payable to his estate and later was assigned by absolute assignment to Helen Farnsworth Eldredge, one having been assigned before they were married and three afterward. On November 9, 1922, Mr. Eldredge executed certain instruments relating to the policies in which he acknowledged full satisfaction of the indebtedness secured by the assignments, relinquishing his right, title, interest and claim in and to said policies and discharging the assignments. He signed these instruments "Clarence F. Eldredge guardian for Helen Farnsworth Eldredge.” At his death his wife and one daughter survived him. After the appointment of the defendant Nickerson as executor, he collected the money on all the policies which had been
The plaintiff contends that the act of Clarence F. Eldredge in attempting to release his wife’s interest in the policies and discharging the assignments was null and void; and she now seeks to establish the right of her deceased sister to the policies or their proceeds. The trial judge found that shortly after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Eldredge in 1919, she expressed a desire that he fix the insurance policies in some way so that her sister, the present plaintiff, should get nothing; stating that she wanted the policies payable to her husband’s estate, and that he should make a will to protect her so that her sister could not get any of the proceeds of the policies, and that she wanted the Old Colony Trust Company to look after her interests. She was assured at the time by Mr. Eldredge, in substance, that this could be done and that she would personally receive the benefit from the policies. She expressed this desire at other times subsequent to 1919 but did nothing further in reference to the policies.
In January, 1923, Mr. Eldredge executed a will, and in March, 1924, a second will, revoking the first, and finally, on December 30, 1924, he executed his last will which provides, in part, that his real estate shall be held in trust, to permit his wife to occupy it free of expense if the trustees believe it is desirable for her to do so, and the trustees are to use and apply the net income from the trust estate at such times and in such amounts as they deem expedient for her support so long as she should be mentally incapacitated. They also were given authority to expend such portions of the principal of the trust fund as in their discretion might be necessary and expedient, in addition to the income, to provide her with every comfort consistent with the state of her needs. After her recovery she was to have the whole income for life, with similar authority to the trustees to make payments from the principal in their discretion. At
All the testimony is reported and “it is the duty of this court to examine the evidence with care and to decide the case according to its judgment, giving due weight to the finding of the judge.” Corkery v. Dorsey, 223 Mass. 97, 100. Goodell v. Goodell, 173 Mass. 140, 146. Sawyer v. Clark, 214 Mass. 124, 126.
There is nothing in the testimony to indicate the size of the estate left by Mr. Eldredge or the amount of his debts. There was no evidence of the probable length of life of Mrs. Eldredge at the time of her husband’s death or of any expectation that she would become sane again. The plaintiff testified that by waiving the provisions of his will her sister would not get as much as she was entitled to under the will. From the copy of the policies of life insurance attached to the record, their face value would seem to be $13,000. The finding of the judge that Mrs. Eldredge under the will would receive more from her husband’s estate than otherwise she would be entitled to, apparently means that in the opinion of the judge a life interest in the whole with the discretionary powers given the trustees would be more than the one third of the personal and real property given the widow by statute. G. L. c. 190, § 1 (2).
The act of the guardian, in relinquishing his ward’s rights as beneficiary under the policies and substituting in her place his own estate, considered by itself is not for the best interests of the ward and is voidable as a breach of duty by the guardian. He cannot justify obtaining benefits from his dealings with the ward’s property by proving that there was no fraud, Dolbeare v. Bowser, 254 Mass. 57, or that his wife wanted to give up her rights as a beneficiary before she became insane; nor by showing that he afterwards made a will in accordance with her previously expressed
The law forbidding fiduciaries from gaining any personal advantage from the use or sale of property entrusted to their care is based upon the necessity of maintaining proper standards of duty on their part. In the performance of those duties they should have no personal pecuniary interest. Hayes v. Hall, 188 Mass. 510, 511. The fact that when the suit was brought the plaintiff was a prospective heir of the ward would not prevent her from maintaining a suit as guardian to set aside a voidable transaction of her predecessor in the trust, nor from continuing to prosecute that suit in her capacity as administratrix. The objection to the manner in which she described herself as plaintiff in the bill need not be considered, because of the order allowing her to appear as administratrix. Her right to recover now depends upon her title as administratrix.
It follows that the plaintiff is entitled to recover the proceeds of the policies now held by the defendant, that the decree dismissing the bill is to be reversed, and a decree for the plaintiff in accordance with this opinion is to be entered.
Ordered accordingly.