Estate of Vought
New York Court of Appeals
250 N.E.2d 343 (1969)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Clarence Vought died, leaving his wife, Edna Vought, and his two children, Peter Vought and Chance Vought. Clarence’s will established a trust, naming Edna as the income beneficiary and his children as equal remainder beneficiaries. The trust prohibited the children from transferring any of their remainder interests in the trust principal. Despite this, Chance assigned his remainder interest to various entities in a series of transactions. Chance died, and Edna died approximately 18 months later. As Chance’s remainder interest in the trust was not conditioned on Chance surviving Edna, the interest would have passed to his widow and children absent any assignment. The surrogate court ruled that the assignments by Chance were invalid on account of the trust’s prohibition on alienation. The appellate court affirmed. The assignees of Chance’s remainder interests appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Breitel, J.)
Dissent (Fuld, C.J.)
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