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In re Bearns

188 A.D. 215 Court Second Department, Decision date 1919-06-06 English

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Majority

p. 215
In the Matter of the Petition of James S. Bearns and Ferdinand W. Keller, Respondents, to Render and Settle Their Account as Trustees of the Estate of Joseph H. Bearns, Deceased. Lillia M. Bearns, Appellant.
Second Department,
June 6, 1919.

Headnote

Trusts — trustees —■ commissions — right to one-half commission on real estate before termination of trust.
Trustees in the judicial settlement of their accounts before the trust is terminated, are entitled to half commissions on the value of real property received by them prior to the amendment of section 2753 of the Code of Civil Procedure by chapter 596 of the Laws of 1916.'
Appeal by Lillia M. Bearns from a decree of the Surrogate’s Court of the county of Kings, entered in the office of said Surrogate’s Court on or about the 20th day of January, 1919, settling their accounts herein and granting to the trustees certain commissions consisting, among other items, of one-half commissions upon the realty constituting part of the corpus of the trust estate and of full commissions upon the income from said realty.
Arthur W. Dennen, for the appellant.
James A. Davis [Rudolph F. Robe with him on the brief], for the respondents.

The question raised on this appeal is whether the trustees, upon the judicial settlement of their accounts before the trust is terminated, are entitled to half commissions upon the value of real property received by them prior to the amendment of section 2753 of the Code of Civil Procedure in 1916 (Laws of 1916, chap. 596). The surrogate decided that this question is governed by his opinion in Matter of Potter ( 106 Misc. Rep. 113 ). We adopt the reasoning of the surrogate in that case and affirm the decree.

The decree of the Surrogate’s Court of Kings county

p. 216
should be affirmed, with costs to the respondents payable out of the estate.

Jenks, P. J., Mills, Rich, Blackmar and Kelly, JJ., concurred.

Decree of the Surrogate’s Court of Kings county affirmed, with costs to the respondents payable out of the estate.