Majority
Clendenin J. Ryan died on August 21, 1939. In the will of Ms father, Thomas F. Ryan, he was named the life
Clendenin J. Byan was named not only as the beneficiary but also as a trustee of the trusts created by his father. After his death his cotrustee, Guaranty Trust Company, filed its account of the proceedings of the trustees of the two trusts from the date of their last accounting to a time subsequent to the death of the life-tenant, and the executors of Clendenin J. Byan joined in his behalf, as cotrustee, in that account. The account so filed was settled by written agreement of the accountants and the remaindermen, except that two controversial matters were reserved for further agreement or for determination by the court. These matters concern the disposition of dividends which had accrued prior to the death of the life tenant upon securities held in the larger trust and the allocation to principal or income of shares of common stock of Standard Oil Company received by the trustee during the lifetime of the beneficiary, as a stock dividend upon stock of Standard Oil Company in the two trusts.
The executors of Clendenin J. Byan thereafter filed a petition for the determination of the matters upon which there was no agreement. An order granting leave to the United States to intervene was made upon its petition, stating that it has filed a claim for the unpaid balance of the income tax due from Clendenin J. Byan at the time of his death'. His estate is, concededly, insufficient to pay the claim of the United States even if the matters in controversy are decided in favor of the executor of the estate. The claim of the United States is entitled to priority
In April, 1931, Clendenin J. Byan and Guaranty Trust Company as cotrustees of the larger trust purchased a house in the city of New York for the sum of $206,000. The house “was purchased as a principal investment ” of the trust and the purchase price was paid out of the proceeds of sales of securities in the trust. The house was immediately leased by the cotrustees to Clendenin J. Byan individually for a term of five years ending April 5, 1931, at an agreed rental of $10,329.40, and the tenant agreed, in addition, to pay all taxes, rates, charges and assessments which might be imposed upon the premises and that unpaid taxes, etc., should be added to the installment of rent next thereafter to become due.
.•The rent, when paid by the life beneficiary of the trust as tenant of the property, which was- a “ principal investment ” of the trust, became part of the income to which the tenant was entitled as beneficiary. To avoid such costly circuity, the lease was modified in October, 1933, to provide that “ the annual rental of $10,329.40 provided in said agreement of lease to be paid by the Tenant is hereby reduced to the sum of $10 annually from the date hereof until the end of the term provided in said agreement of lease or until the death of the Tenant, whichever event occurs earlier, subject, however, to the reinstatement of said annual rental in the manner and upon the happening of events as hereinafter provided. In the event of the Tenant’s death before the expiration of the term provided in said agreement of lease, then and in that event the annual rental of $10,329.40, or that portion of the same accruing after the death of the Tenant, shall be reinstated and become and continue an obligation of the estate of the Tenant.”
The term of the lease as modified was extended to April 6, 1941, and it was also provided that “ in the event that the Tenant fails to pay and discharge, when the same shall become due, the taxes, rents, charges, assessments, insurance and other charges provided in said agreement of lease to be paid by the Tenant, in addition to the annual rent therein provided for, or to satisfy
Clendenin J. Ryan occupied the leased property as his home, and, until his death in August, 1939, he complied with all the terms of the lease and paid the rental and all charges imposed upon the property. After his death the executors of his estate relinquished possession of the premises. The surviving trustee refused to accept a surrender of the lease but took possession of the premises for their protection. It was agreed that such action should be without prejudice to any question of the executors’ possible liability under the lease. Though, as we have said, two of the remaindermen of the trust were over the age of thirty when the life beneficiary died, and were entitled to their share of the trust fund, and the other two remaindermen have since reached that age, the surviving trustee, in accordance with agreements executed by each remainderman, still holds the premises and has filed a claim against the estate of the deceased life beneficiary in the amount of $26,109.98. That amount is made up of (1) $16,771.44 of fixed rental of the premises for the remainder of the extended term for which the premises were leased to the life tenant, and (2) $9,338.54 for taxes, water charges, upkeep and maintenance for the same period, constituting, as agreed, additional rental under the terms of the lease. Since the estate of the deceased beneficiary is concededly insolvent and the United States has priority in the distribution in the assets of the estate among the creditors of the decedent, nothing will be paid to the trustee by the estate upon that claim.
Guaranty Trust Company, as surviving trustee of the trust in which the leased premises were held as a “ principal investment ”, has retained the sum of $69,088.39 out of income which had accrued before the death of the life tenant. The life tenant could not assign that income nor could his creditors obtain a lien upon it while it was retained by the trustees, except to the limited extent permitted by section 684 of the Civil Practice Act. The executors upon the death of the life beneficiary have
The priority of the United States in the order in which the property of an insolvent debtor, or of his estate, must be distributed among his creditors is not created by the law of the State and may not be impaired or superseded by a legislative or judicial declaration of a rule of law of the State, however conclusive such declaration may be in other fields. (United States v. Waddill Co., 323 U. S. 353 .) In that decision, however, the general rule is implicitly recognized that the priority of the United States over other creditors is confined to the distribution of moneys or property to which, under the law of the State, the insolvent debtor, or upon his death his estate, is entitled, and that the rights of the insolvent debtor or his estate to property which may be available for distribution among his creditors are subject to and defined by the law of the State.
The question remains whether that beneficial interest is subject to a charge for unpaid rent and taxes on the leased premises, which the beneficiary as “ tenant ” under the lease agreed to pay to the trustees as landlord. Applying the rule that ‘ ‘ If one of the beneficiaries of a trust contracts to pay money to the trustee to be held as part of the trust estate and he fails to make the payment, his beneficial interest is subject to a charge for the amount of his liability ” (Restatement, Trusts, § 252; Scott on Trusts, §§ 251, 252, 255.1), the Surrogate has held that the beneficial interest of the deceased life beneficiary is subject to a charge or offset for the amount which' under the terms of the lease was payable to the trustees of the trust as “ landlord ”. We need not now decide whether the beneficial interest of a beneficiary of a trust who fails to make a payment of money which he has contracted to pay to the trustees to be
The “ covenant to pay rent créates no debt until the time stipulated for the payment arrives. * '* * It is not a case of debitum in praesenti solvendum in futuro. On the contrary, the obligation upon the rent covenant is altogether contingent.” In some contingencies the stipulated rent payable in the future by a lessee for the right to occupy leased premises might never become due. (In re Roth & Appel, 181 Fed. 667 , 669.) Citing that case and other cases, we approved that rule in Kottler v. New York Bargain House, Inc., ( 242 N. Y. 28 ). (See, also, Central Trust Co. v. Chicago Auditorium, 240 U. S. 581 ; Varick Spring Corp. v. Bank of United States, 264 N. Y. 297 .) In the case we are now deciding, the obligation to pay rent is, indeed, made contingent by the express provisions of the lease; for the lease as modified provided that if the trustees should sell the property before the expiration of the lease they might at their option cancel the lease, and if the trustees as “ landlord ” availed themselves of that option, no further payments would become due under the lease. Since concededly the beneficiary of the trust had not dealt wrongfully with the trust property and had not failed to meet his obligation to pay moneys which he had agreed to pay under his lease as such payments became due, and since his obligation to pay moneys in the future was contingent, no legal or equitable ground existed during his lifetime or at the time of his death for any charge against his beneficial interest in the trust. The life beneficiary was entitled to receive the accrued income of the trust and “ On the death of the beneficiary of a spendthrift trust, his executor or administrator is entitled to income which has accrued under the trust at the time of his death but which has not been paid to the beneficiary.” (Restatement, Trusts, § 158.)
The death of the life beneficiary not only terminated his interest in the trust fund but also terminated the trust period, at least in respect to the share of the two remaindermen who were over the age of thirty at the death of the life beneficiary. Doubless, as the learned Surrogate pointed out in his opinion, the surviving trustee still had ‘ ‘ the duty of accounting and distribution ” and so the functions of the trustee were not entirely at an end. We may assume that legal title to moneys received by the trustee as income did not pass to the person entitled to the income until the trustee had deducted the legitimate charges against the money received and paid over the balance. A large
On December 15,1938, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey paid a “ regular dividend ” of fifty cents in cash and an “ extra ” stock dividend of 1%. Each trust of which Clendenin J. Byan was the life beneficiary owned some stock of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and the surviving trustee holds the stock dividends paid on such stock. The stock dividends, it is stipulated, “ were paid out of earnings and profits of the corporation accumulated subsequent to the purchase by said two trusts of the stock on which such dividends were paid.” For that reason the executors of the life beneficiary claim that he was entitled to the stock dividends as income of the trust and that the stock dividends should now be paid to his executors.
The Personal Property Law, section 17-a, provides: “ Stock Dividends. Unless otherwise provided in a will, deed or other instrument, which shall hereafter be executed and shall create or declare a trust, any dividend which shall be payable in the stock of the corporation or association declaring or authorizing such dividend and which shall be declared or authorized hereafter in respect of any stock of such corporation composing, in whole or in part, the principal of such trust, shall be principal and not income of such trust. The addition of any such stock dividend to the principal of such trust, as above provided, shall not be deemed an accumulation of income within the meaning of this article.” It is said that this section is intended to apply only to extraordinary dividends payable in stock and that ordinary dividends paid in stock out of current earnings are not included in its scope. The Tax Law in article 16 entitled “ Taxes Upon and With Respect to Personal Incomes ” distinguishes between a “ dividend ” which is defined as “ any distribution
The order of the Appellate Division and the decree of the Surrogate’s Court should be modified in accordance with this opinion, and as so modified affirmed, without costs.
Loughran, Lewis, Conway, Desmond, Thacher and Dye, JJ., concur.
Ordered accordingly.
Cases cited
- In re the Estate of Villard 147 Misc. 472 p. 87, p. 88
- In re the Accounting of Osborne 209 N. Y. 450 p. 87, p. 89
- In re Accounting of Guaranty Trust Co. 279 N. Y. 255 p. 88
- City Bank Farmers Trust Co. v. Ernst 263 N. Y. 342 p. 88
- Kellogg v. Kellogg 166 Misc. 791 p. 88
- In re the Accounting of the United States Trust Co. 262 N. Y. 284 p. 88
- Equitable Trust Co. v. Miller 233 N. Y. 650 p. 88
- In re the Estate of Summerfield 172 Misc. 509 p. 88
- In re the Estate of Depew 179 Misc. 1074 p. 88
- In re the Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors of Lincoln Chair & Novelty Co. 274 N. Y. 353 p. 88
- United States v. Texas 314 U. S. 480 p. 88
- United States v. Emory 314 U. S. 423 p. 88
- New York v. Maclay 288 U. S. 290 p. 88
- Smith v. Kearney 2 Barb. Ch. 533 p. 88
- In re the Estate of Van Nostrand 177 Misc. 1 p. 88, p. 89
- In re the Estate of Grifenhagen 174 Misc. 559 p. 88
- In re Louis Friedman & Brother, Inc. 150 Misc. 209 p. 88, p. 89
- In re the Estate of Suderov 153 Misc. 214 p. 88, p. 89
- Hayes v. Hayes 2 Del. Ch. 191 p. 88
- In re the Estate of Cramer 166 Misc. 713 p. 88, p. 89
- Ungrich v. Ungrich 201 N. Y. 415 p. 88
- In re the Accounting of First Trust & Deposit Co. 289 N. Y. 456 at 461 p. 88, p. 95
- Pink v. Title Guarantee & Trust Co. 274 N. Y. 167 p. 88
- Fera v. Wickham 135 N. Y. 223 p. 88
- Bradley v. Angel 3 N. Y. 475 p. 89
- Gerseta Corp. v. Equitable Trust Co. 241 N. Y. 418 p. 89
- In re the Accounting of Hale 257 N. Y. 349 p. 89
- In re the Accounting of Beeckman 254 N. Y. 292 p. 89
- In re the Estate of Lathers 137 Misc. 226 p. 89
- In re the Accounting of Central Union Trust Co. 238 N. Y. 499 p. 89
- In re the Judicial Settlement of the Account of Proceedings of Central Union Trust Co. 120 Misc. 230 p. 89
- In re the Estate of Burr 143 Misc. 877 p. 89
- In re the Judicial Settlement of a Final Account of Proceedings of the Equitable Trust Co. 129 Misc. 106 p. 89
- Helvering v. Griffiths 318 U. S. 371 p. 89
- In re the Estate of Greenberg 261 N. Y. 474 p. 89
- In re the Accounting of Brann 219 N. Y. 263 p. 89
- In re the Estate of Van Schoonhoven 142 Misc. 384 p. 89
- Equitable Trust Co. v. Prentice 250 N. Y. 1 p. 89
- People ex rel. Clark v. Gilchrist 243 N. Y. 173 p. 89
- In re the Accounting of the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit Co. 262 N. Y. 301 p. 89
- Gibbons v. Mahon 136 U. S. 549 p. 89
- Eisner v. Macomber 252 U. S. 189 p. 89
- Towne v. Eisner 245 U. S. 418 p. 89
- United States v. Waddill, Holland & Flinn, Inc. 323 U. S. 353 p. 93
- Kottler v. New York Bargain House, Inc. 242 N. Y. 28 p. 95
- Central Trust Co. v. Chicago Auditorium Ass'n 240 U. S. 581 p. 95
- Varick Spring Corp. v. Bank of United States 264 N. Y. 297 p. 95