Schwarzkopf v. American Heart Ass'n of Greater Miami, Inc.
Florida District Court of Appeal
541 So. 2d 1348 (1989)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
Harold Ramsfelder’s will established a testamentary charitable trust pursuant to which the three named trustees (plaintiffs) would administer the trust, manage the investment of trust assets, and make quarterly income distributions to four designated charities over a period of 10 years. After the 10-year period expired, the trust corpus would be distributed to the four charities. The trust was properly executed in accordance with all trust-execution formalities. Less than a year after Ramsfelder’s death, two of the charities, the American Heart Association of Greater Miami Inc. and the American Red Cross (the charities) (defendants), petitioned to prematurely terminate the trust and distribute the trust corpus. The trial court held that Ramsfelder’s testamentary trust was a passive trust and therefore ordered that the trust be extinguished and the trust corpus be distributed to the four charities named as beneficiaries. The trial court further reasoned that the charities would do better with the trust corpus than the trustees. The trustees appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Schwartz, C.J.)
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