In re Bauer’s Trust
New York Court of Appeals
14 N.Y.2d 272, 251 N.Y.S.2d 23, 200 N.E.2d 207 (1964)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
When Dagmar Bauer was a resident of New York, she executed an irrevocable-trust indenture that gave her lifetime income, with the remainder to her husband. The trust stipulated that if her husband preceded her in death, the trust principal was to go to the person or persons designated in her will and if there was no valid will provision, then to Bauer’s next of kin under New York law. Bauer’s husband died before her. Bauer died a resident of England. Bauer’s will, which was probated in England, had a codicil that left a trust fund to a bank to benefit two of Bauer’s nieces, with the remainder to a charitable corporation in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. An action was filed in a New York state court to invalidate the codicil trust based on the argument that, as measured from the date the power-of-appointment was created, the codicil trust violated New York’s perpetuities laws. Under English law, the validity of the codicil trust would be measured from the date the power of appointment was exercised. Under New York law at the time the original trust was created, the codicil trust was invalid, but under New York law at the time of the lawsuit and English law at the time the codicil was made, the codicil trust was valid.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Desmond, C.J.)
Dissent (Fuld, J.)
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