Baker v. Thompson

Headnote

Baker v. Thompson, 181 App. Div. 469 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered February 7, 1918, affirming a judgment entered upon the report of a referee in .an action for a. judicial settlement of the accounts' of trustees under the will of Ferris S. Thompson, deceased, and to obtain instructions of the court as to administration of their trusts. The estate consisted largely of shares of bank stock. The bank, desiring to increase, its capital, issued to. its

stockholders the right to subscribe to one share of new stock at par for each share of old stock held. The trustees sold said rights and credited the proceeds to account of principal. The appellant claims that the trustees should have apportioned the proceeds, crediting to principal sufficient to keep whole value thereof which existed at the time of their creation, and that the remainder should be paid to the life beneficiaries as income. It was held that “ The right to subscribe is an incident to the ownership of the stock. Any value that attaches thereto properly goes to the enhancement of value of the stock, which not being the product of income, nor taken from income, is not to be distributed to those entitled to income. The capital of the trust is enhanced in value and the income is increased by the result of the larger sum' invested. The "trustees have, therefore, properly credited the cash received from the sale of these rights to the principal of the trust estates.”