Croker v. New York Trust Co.

Headnote

Trusts and trustees —■ accounting —■ when one party to trust agreement may not revoke it after death of othei--■ when income properly added to principal.

Croker v. N. Y. Trust Co., 206 App. Div. 739 , affirmed.

Appeal, by permission, from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial department, entered November 24, 1923, unanimously affirming a judgment entered upon a decision of the court on trial at Special Term. The action was brought by the plaintiff for the judicial settlement of his accounts as trustee under a trust created by Richard Croker and Elizabeth Croker, his wife, for the determination of all questions arising on the accounting, and for instructions as to plaintiff’s duties as trustee.

The trust agreement contained the following provision: “And it is expressly agreed and made a part of this instrument that the terms and conditions hereof and of the trusts or estates herein created, or any of them, may from time to time be revoked, modified or changed in any particular by instrument in writing duly signed and acknowledged by the parties of the first part and delivered to the party of the second part, or his successors in the trust.” The question was whether one of the parties to the trust agreement could revoke it after the death of the other. Also whether certain income was properly added to the principal.