A testator, by his will, gave the residue of his property to three trustees, whom he appointed executors, upon trust to sell and invest the same and to pay the income thereof to his widow for life, and after her decease, to his children, who were still infants at the time of his death. The eldest child attained twenty one in the year 1839, and the youngest in 1846. The three executors proved the will, but one of them almost exclusively acted. The money which was the proceeds of the estate was suffered by two of the executors to remain in the hands of the third, who ultimately became insolvent. On the youngest child attaining twenty one on behalf of himself and his brothers and sisters, attempted to obtain payment from the acting executor, and in 1848 wrote to him a letter consenting to receive payment of the amount then admitted to be due by annual instalments. In 1849, and shortly before the insolvency of the acting trustee, a bill was filed by all the children against the three trustees for the purpose of making them each responsible. Held, that inasmuch as it was the duty of the three trustees to have explained to their cestuis que trust what their rights were, and as they had not done so, there was nothing in the conduct of the children to deprive them of their remedy against the three trustees, who were accordingly declarecl to be, jointly arid severally liable to make good the deficiency,
Citations:
[1855] EngR 294, (1855) 5 De G M and G 233, (1855) 43 ER 859
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Cited by:
Cited – Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Others v Headley and Another ChD 28-Jul-2016
Beneficiaries’ right to information from estate
The claimant charities sought payment of interests under the will following the dropping of two life interests. They now requested various documents forming accounts of the estate.
Held: The charities were entitled to some but not to all of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Wills and Probate, Trusts
Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.292216
