Majority
This action involves the construction of the ninth article of the will of David Wolfe Bishop, the elder, who died in 1900, a resident of Massachusetts, leaving a wife, Florence V. C. Bishop, afterwards Mrs. Parsons, and two sons, Cortlandt F. Bishop and David Wolfe Bishop, Jr.
By the article in controversy the residuary estate was divided into three shares upon trusts and limitations substantially as follows: One share to be held in trust for Mrs. Bishop during her Ufe with power to appoint the remainder to her sons and their issue in such proportions as she chose, and in default of such appointment to the sons equally or their issue; a second to be held in trust for David dining his life, remainder to his issue, and in default of issue to the brother Cortlandt if then surviving, and, if not, to the issue of such brother; and a third to be held in trust for Cortlandt during his life, remainder to his issue, and in default of issue to the brother David, if then surviving, and, if not, to the issue of such brother.
The limitations thus summarized would have been too clear, if they had stood alone, to raise a problem of construction. They were succeeded, however, by a proviso which limits their generality "and obscures their meaning.
The proviso is the following:
“ Provided, however, as to all the foregoing provisions of this article of my will in favor of my sons, both direct and those to take effect upon the decease or remarriage of their mother, that they are upon the proviso and condition following, that is to say:
“ It is my wish that my estate shall go to my descendants, and if there shall not be issue of my sons to whom it can go, that in considerable part it shall go for charitable uses and purposes. This will, I know, be in accordance with the wishes of my dear wife. I feel confident that my sons will second my desire in this regard. I do
therefore provide if and to the extent that the law will permit, in the event that both my sons shall die without surviving issue, that there shall be paid upon the death of the survivor, from my residuary real and personal estate, to my cousin, Mrs. Mary Augusta Alexander, of Augusta, Georgia, the sum of Five hundred thousand dollars (1500,000), the same in the case of her death to go to those persons who by the laws of the State of New York would take, and in the shares in which they would take, the same as personal property if she had died possessed thereof intestate; that in such case, that is to say, in and to meet the case that my two sons shall both die without surviving issue, each one shall have the right by Will to dispose, absolutely, of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) from my residuary estate; and that the residue shall go, and if and to the extent that the law will permit, I give; devise and bequeath the residue as follows: One-third thereof to St. Luke’s Hospital in the City of New York; one-sixth thereof to the New York Home for Incurables; one-sixth thereof to the Children’s Aid Society; one-sixth thereof to the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and one-sixth thereof to the Catharine Mission, founded by my dear wife. If the said Catharine Mission shall not be or become incorporated so as to be able to take such one-sixth, or if either of the other institutions shall be unable to take the share left to it, I direct that the share or shares which shall thus fail shall go to and be divided among the other of the said institutions in the proportion of two parts thereof to St. Luke’s Hospital and one part to each of the others. And in order that this provision, as far as possible, may have effect, I do further will and provide that during the lives of my sons respectively, all part of my residuary estate which under the foregoing provisions hereof would go to them, shall remain with the Trustees herein appointed, and their successors, upon the special trust and confidence, to have and to hold the same
for and during the term of his natural life, to receive the income, rents, issues and profits thereof, and to apply the same to his use, maintenance and support. If it shall so happen that this provision of my Will can take effect in part, and only in part, and that by law a part of my residuary estate, if my sons shall both die without issue, must eventually go to the surviving son, then it is my will and I do provide that there shall not be given to him the power to appoint any portion of my residuary estate by will, but that the amount which will certainly come to him shall be treated as the equivalent of such power of appointment.
“ If in any respect any provision of my Will in whole or in part shall prove to be invalid, such invalidity shall only affect the part of such provision which shall be invalid. In all other respects my Will shall stand as if such invalid provision had not been made, and it shall fail to the extent, and only to the extent, that such provision shall be invalid.”
David Wolfe Bishop, Jr., died in 1911, without issue, leaving a will by which his entire estate, both real and personal, was given to his mother.
Florence V. C. Bishop, the mother (then Mrs. Parsons), died in 1922, leaving a will by which she appointed to her son Cortlandt the share of her husband’s estate that had been held in trust during her life. She also made him her residuary legatee and devisee.
The sole issue of Cortlandt is a daughter, Beatrice Bend Bishop, now Beatrice Bend Berle.
The question of construction arises with reference to the respective interests of Cortlandt and his issue in the first and second shares.
As to the second of the three shares, we agree with the Appellate Division in its holding that the gift over to Cortlandt upon the death of David without issue was cut down and qualified by force of the proviso. The effect of that proviso is to substitute for the gift of the
As to the first of the three shares, the one held in trust for the wife with a power of appointment, there is a question as to the suspension of the absolute ownership. The determination of this question does not affect the disposition of the real estate in the State of Massachusetts, where the rule as to perpetuities differs from our own. It does not affect the disposition of the personalty, for as to this also the validity of the will is governed by the law of Massachusetts, the State of the testator’s domicile (Dammert v. Osborn, 140 N. Y. 30 ; Cross v. United States Trust Co., 131 N. Y. 330 ; Decedent Estate Law; Cons. Laws, ch. 13, § 47). What follows is to be understood as limited to that part of the subject-matter of the trust for the benefit of the wife which is made up of real estate in the State of New York.
As to real estate so situated the gift to issue or descendants surviving the two sons suspends the vesting of the remainders for more than two lives in being at the death of the testator. The power of alienation is suspended during the life of the testator’s wife, and then, by force
The invalidity of the gift to issue following the trust for Cortlandt carries with it as a consequence the invalidity to a like extent of the trust engrafted by the proviso upon the subject-matter of the power. By the express declaration of the testator, the only purpose to be served by cutting down the gift in fee and impressing it with a trust during the lifetime of the son to whom the fee would have passed if the proviso had been omitted, is to make it possible to give effect to the remainders that are to preserve the estate for the use of the descendants, and in default of them, for charity. If the remainders are destroyed, the trust is a futility. The testator’s state of mind in that contingency is not a subject of speculation merely. He has expressed it in the will. He has told us in substance that he has no wish for the trust except in aid of the remainders. Strike out the remainders for the issue and the charities, and the consequence will be, if the trust is to be preserved, that Cortlandt will have a remainder in fee, devisable and alienable, dependent upon a trust for his own use to continue during life. Such a remainder will be upheld, if the testator was willing to create it (Roane v. Mercantile Trust Co., 160 N. Y. 494 ). It cannot be upheld under this will without thwarting the
We are not forgetful of the directions of the testator as to the severance of the good from the bad in the event of partial invalidity. Like directions are not unusual now-a-days in ordinances and statutes. The decisions are to the effect that the declaration of a will to sever is an aid to construction; “ not an inexorable command ” (Dorchy v. Kansas, 264 U. S. 286 ; Williams v. Standard Oil Co., 278 U. S. 235 , 241; cf. Moffat Tunnel Improvement District v. Denver & St. L. Ry. Co., 45 Fed. Rep. [2d] 715, 731). A point there must be, both for statutes and for testaments, at which severance is not surgery, but useless mutilation. We think that point is reached when what is expressly declared to be an adjunct, in promotion of a larger end, is given a separate existence after the end has come to naught.
The annulment of the trust and the dependent remainders to the extent stated in this opinion will relieve the son Cortlandt from the duty of restoring to the trust the moneys adjudged by the referee to have been wrongfully withdrawn in so far as those moneys shall be found to have been the proceeds of real estate in New York devised to him by his mother under the power of appointment.
The judgment of the Appellate Division modifying and as modified affirming the referee's judgment of July 23, 1929, should be further modified in accordance with this opinion in respect of any real estate situated in New York and included in the first share of the residuary estate, and in respect of the requirement for the restoration to the trust of any proceeds of such real estate withdrawn by the plaintiff, and as so modified the judgment should be affirmed with costs to all parties appearing and filing briefs in this court payable out of the estate.
The judgment of the Appellate Division affirming the
The form of the remittitur may be settled upon notice.
Pound, Crane, Lehman, Kellogg, O’Brien and Hubbs, JJ., concur.
Judgment accordingly.
Cases cited
- Hillen v. Iselin 144 N. Y. 365 at 378, 380 p. 42, p. 44, p. 46, p. 51
- Ely v. Ely 163 App. Div. 320 p. 42
- Murray v. Miller 85 App. Div. 414 p. 42
- Murray v. Miller 178 N. Y. 316 p. 42
- In re the estate of McGraw 111 N. Y. 66 p. 42
- In re the Will of Opdyke 255 N. Y. 255 p. 42
- Fairchild v. Edson 154 N. Y. 199 p. 42, p. 43
- Decker v. Vreeland 220 N. Y. 326 p. 42
- Lefevre v. Lefevre 59 N. Y. 434 p. 42
- Kerr v. Dougherty 79 N. Y. 327 p. 42
- Stephenson v. Short 92 N. Y. 433 p. 42
- In re the Accounting of Brooklyn Trust Co. 239 N. Y. 259 p. 42
- In re the Accounting of United States Mortgage & Trust Co. 249 N. Y. 541 p. 42
- Holmes v. Mead 52 N. Y. 332 p. 42
- Frick v. Pennsylvania 268 U. S. 473 p. 42
- In re Holden 126 N. Y. 589 p. 42
- In re the Probate of the Will of Budlong 100 N. Y. 203 p. 42
- In re Pitney 186 N. Y. 540 p. 42
- Illensworth v. Illensworth 110 App. Div. 399 p. 42
- Livingston v. Ward 248 N. Y. 193 p. 42
- Douglas v. Cruger 80 N. Y. 15 p. 43
- Lent v. Howard 89 N. Y. 169 p. 43
- Cuthbert v. Chauvet 136 N. Y. 326 p. 43
- In re Williams 187 N. Y. 286 p. 43
- Ungrich v. Ungrich 201 N. Y. 415 p. 43, p. 45
- Ellis v. Kelsey 241 N. Y. 374 p. 43, p. 45
- Ellis v. Kelsey 242 N. Y. 495 p. 43
- In re the Estate of Stewart 131 N. Y. 274 p. 43
- In re the Appraisal under the Transfer Tax Act of a Certain Trust Fund held by Harbeck 161 N. Y. 211 p. 43
- William P. Rae Co. v. Courtney 250 N. Y. 271 p. 43
- In re the Accounting of Smith 237 N. Y. 562 p. 43
- Close v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. 195 N. Y. 92 p. 43, p. 45, p. 46
- Mee v. Gordon 187 N. Y. 400 p. 43, p. 45, p. 46, p. 50
- Howland v. Clendenin 134 N. Y. 305 p. 43, p. 44, p. 45
- Striker v. Mott 28 N. Y. 82 p. 43
- Smith v. Scholtz 68 N. Y. 41 p. 43
- Williams v. Boul 101 App. Div. 593 p. 43
- Cochrane v. Schell 140 N. Y. 516 p. 43
- Bliven v. Seymour 88 N. Y. 469 p. 43, p. 45
- Phillips v. Phillips 112 N. Y. 197 p. 43
- Smith v. Floyd 140 N. Y. 337 p. 43, p. 45
- Collister v. Fassitt 163 N. Y. 281 p. 43
- Furniss v. Cruikshank 230 N. Y. 495 p. 43
- In re the Judicial Settlement of the Estate of Moore 152 N. Y. 602 p. 43, p. 45
- Avery v. Hoffman 201 N. Y. 247 p. 43, p. 45, p. 50
- Tyson v. Blake 22 N. Y. 558 p. 43
- Lytle v. Beveridge 58 N. Y. 592 p. 44
- Farmers' Bank of Fayetteville v. Hale 59 N. Y. 53 p. 44
- Roseboom v. Roseboom 81 N. Y. 356 p. 44
- Banzer v. Banzer 156 N. Y. 429 p. 44
- Fowler v. Ingersoll 127 N. Y. 472 p. 44
- Vanderzee v. Slingerland 103 N. Y. 47 p. 44
- Brown v. Gardner 233 N. Y. 261 p. 44
- In re the Final Accounting of Gardner 140 N. Y. 122 p. 44
- Herzog v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co. 177 N. Y. 86 p. 44, p. 45
- Crozier v. Bray 120 N. Y. 366 p. 44, p. 45
- Noble v. Thayer 19 App. Div. 446 p. 44
- Dammert v. Osborn 140 N. Y. 30 p. 44, p. 50
- Despard v. Churchill 53 N. Y. 192 p. 44
- Chamberlain v. Chamberlain 43 N. Y. 424 p. 44
- White v. Howard 46 N. Y. 144 p. 44
- Cross v. United States Trust Co. 131 N. Y. 330 p. 44, p. 50
- New York Life Insurance & Trust Co. v. Viele 161 N. Y. 11 p. 44
- Dupuy v. Wurtz 53 N. Y. 556 p. 44
- Matthews v. Studley 17 App. Div. 303 p. 44
- Trask v. Sturges 170 N. Y. 482 p. 44
- Schermerhorn v. Cotting 131 N. Y. 48 p. 44
- Schettler v. Shuster 41 N. Y. 328 p. 44, p. 46
- In re Trevor 239 N. Y. 6 p. 44, p. 46
- Trustees v. Greenough 105 U. S. 527 p. 44
- Atwater v. Elkhorn Valley Coal-Land Co. 227 N. Y. 611 p. 44
- Schoenherr v. Van Meter 215 N. Y. 548 p. 44
- Woodruff v. New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad 129 N. Y. 27 p. 44
- Bailey v. Buffalo Loan, Trust & Safe Deposit Co. 214 N. Y. 689 p. 44
- Jessup v. Smith 223 N. Y. 203 p. 45
- Austin v. Oakes 117 N. Y. 577 p. 45
- Taggart v. Murray 53 N. Y. 233 p. 45
- In re the Accounting of Buechner 226 N. Y. 440 p. 45
- In re Estate of Blake 157 Cal. 448 p. 45
- Fargo v. Squiers 154 N. Y. 250 p. 46
- Farmers' Loan & Trust Co v. Kip 192 N. Y. 266 p. 46
- Hallinan v. Skillen 253 N. Y. 550 p. 46
- Tiers v. Tiers 98 N. Y. 568 p. 46
- In re Durand 250 N. Y. 45 p. 46
- In re the Accounting of Wilcox 194 N. Y. 288 p. 46, p. 51, p. 52
- Bailey v. Bailey 97 N. Y. 460 p. 46
- In re Hurlbut's Estate 51 Misc. Rep. 263 p. 46
- Dana v. Murray 122 N. Y. 604 at 616 p. 51
- Walker v. Marcellus & Otisco Lake Railway Co. 226 N. Y. 347 p. 52
- Doane v. Mercantile Trust Co. 160 N. Y. 494 p. 52
- Dorchy v. Kansas 264 U. S. 286 p. 53
- Williams v. Standard Oil Co. 278 U. S. 235 at 241 p. 53