In re Howard Marshall Charitable

709 So. 2d 662 (1998)

From our private database of 46,500+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

In re Howard Marshall Charitable

Louisiana Supreme Court
709 So. 2d 662 (1998)

Facts

Howard Marshall was a wealthy individual who lived in Texas. Before he died, Marshall transferred all of his personal assets into two trusts, a living trust and a charitable trust. Marshall was an income beneficiary of both trusts. The charitable trust included a provision that the assets that remained in the trust after Marshall’s death would be distributed to Haverford College, George School, and Yale University (the schools) (defendants). The trust documents provided that the corpus was to be distributed according to a set proportion but that any outstanding charitable pledges made by Marshall to each institution would be satisfied first before the proportional distribution was calculated. After Marshall’s death, the trustee of the charitable trust, Finley Hilliard (plaintiff) began the process of distributing the corpus of the trust. Both George School and Haverford College claimed that Marshall had made large charitable pledges that were outstanding, but these pledges exceeded the corpus of the trust. Hilliard filed a petition for instruction in state court, asserting that the trust was not legally bound to fulfill the claimed pledges and that the corpus of the trust should be distributed according to the proportional allotment. George School and Haverford College asserted that the pledges were valid and must be paid by the trust and that they reserved the right to enforce any pledges unpaid by the trust against Marshall’s estate. Hilliard and Marshall’s son, as coexecutors of Marshall’s estate, filed a petition for succession of the estate in Louisiana, where the trusts resided. Haverford College and George School both filed exceptions for a lack of jurisdiction to open the succession for the estate in Louisiana, because Marshall had been a Texas resident. The lower court denied the exception to jurisdiction, and the court of appeal affirmed the denial. The Louisiana Supreme Court granted George School’s writ of certiorari.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Knoll, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 832,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,500 briefs - keyed to 994 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership