Opinion
07-12-1900
In re SATTERTHWAITE'S ESTATE.
Charles K. Chambers, for petitioner. Norman Grey, for defendant.
Petition by the executors of the will of John J. Satterthwaite, deceased, for appointment of a new trustee in place of one designated in the will. Dismissed.
Charles K. Chambers, for petitioner.
Norman Grey, for defendant.
REED, V. C. This is a petition of the executor of the will of John J. Satterthwaite to have a new trustee appointed in place of the trustee named in the said will for the execution of certain trusts. The will was admitted to probate by the surrogate of the county of Burlington in December, 1897. The executors have filed their final account with the surrogate of Burlington county, and are prepared to turn the residuary fund over to a trustee, said fund amounting to $15,311.48. The following is the clause in the will which provides for the disposition and control of this fund: "All the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate I give, devise, and bequeath unto the Guaranty Trust and Safe-Deposit Co., in trust to investand keep the same invested, collect the interest and income therefrom, and, after deducting the expenses of the trust, to pay over the net income therefrom to my three brothers [naming them], to be equally divided among them, semiannually, so long as they all shall live; upon the decease of the first of them to depart this life, to pay over the net income aforesaid, semiannually, unto the survivors of them, so long as they both shall live; upon the decease of the next of them to depart this life, to pay over the net income aforesaid, semiannually, unto the survivors of him, so long as they both shall live; upon the decease of the next of them to depart this life, to pay over the net income aforesaid unto the survivor of him, so long as he shall live," etc. The Guaranty Trust & Safe-Deposit Company, named as trustee, is a corporation created by, and under the laws of, the state of Pennsylvania, and doing business in the city of Philadelphia, which has not equipped itself with the right to do business in this state. The executors who now hold this fund ask that a new trustee may be appointed, or, rather, very properly hesitate to turn over this fund to the foreign trustee unless this court shall so advise. The question propounded is not whether this court will appoint this corporation as a trustee, but whether it will say that the trustee selected by the testator shall be set aside, and the trust committed to another, upon the single ground that the trustee is a foreign corporation. It is said, in support of the petition, that this court will have no jurisdiction over the trustee or over the fund, should they be paid over to the foreign corporation. It is also said that that corporation has no right to execute the trust within this state. I see no difficulty in providing for the retention of jurisdiction sufficient to secure the execution of the trust; for the corporation tenders itself ready to give security for the due performance of its trust in this state. Nor do I see that the execution of the trust cannot be performed by the corporation. The duties of the trustee consist merely in the paying over of sums of money, which can be either paid in Pennsylvania or in this state. My conclusion is that the Guaranty Trust & Safe-Deposit Company shall execute and file a bond, made to the chancellor of the state of New Jersey, with a New Jersey corporation, qualified to act as sureties, as surety; which bond, in addition to the ordinary conditions of such a bond, shall contain a condition that, whenever an order shall be served upon the foreign corporation to account before the orphans' court of Burlington county, the court of chancery, or the prerogative court of this state, it will obey such order by filing its account, and by producing any and all vouchers or securities in its possession, belonging to such trust estate, before said court, or before a master appointed by the said court, to make and state an account of the same, and obey all orders of the said court in respect of said trust; also that the New Jersey corporation so signing as surety shall be the agent of the trustee to receive and accept service of all notices and orders in respect of said trust. Upon the execution and filing of such bond, approved by me, with the clerk of this court, this petition will be dismissed, without costs.