Estates and Trusts Commons^™

How To Sue An Asue? Closing The Racial Wealth Gap Through The Transplantation Of A Cultural Institution, Cyril A.L. Heron

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Asues, academically known as Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (or ROSCAs for short), are informal cultural institutions that are prominent in developing countries across the globe. Their utilization in those countries provide rural and ostracized communities with a means to save money and invest in the community simultaneously. Adoption of the asue into the United States could serve as the foundation by which to close the racial wealth gap. Notwithstanding the benefits, wholesale adoption of any asue model runs the risk of cultural rejection because the institution is foreign to the African American community.

Drawing upon principles of cultural and …

International Investment And The Prudent Investor Rule: The Trustee's Duty To Consider International Investment Vehicles, Stephen M. Penner

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this note will begin with a background of trust and trustees, focusing on the historical development of the trust and the present role of the trustee. Part II presents the Prudent Investor Rule. The problems in trust management which lead to the necessity of the Rule will be explored, as will the evolution of the Rule up to the recent adoption by the American Law Institute of the Third Restatement of Trusts, which is devoted solely to the Prudent Investor Rule. In Part III, the various investment opportunities available to the modern investor will be presented, first …

The Joint And Survivor Account In Michigan-Progress Through Confusion, Richard V. Wellman

Michigan Law Review

Legal writers have been intrigued for years by the challenge of classifying and identifying the resulting incidents of the joint and survivor bank deposit when an attempt is made to use it as a mode of effectuating a donor depositor's intention to confer benefits on a donee co-depositor. Much in their discussions is useful to one who is concerned with the concept that has evolved in Michigan, where a 1909 statute states that some co-depositors are presumed to be joint tenants. Michigan judges and practitioners must determine, however, whether comment about national trends is applicable here, for in many respects …

Property-Joint Bank Accounts-The Donee's Inter Vivos Interest, David K. Kroll S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

The use of joint bank accounts has become widespread throughout the United States in recent years and has been the source of considerable litigation and comment. The predominant importance of this type of account is that it allows funds remaining at the death of a co-depositor to pass to the survivor without the necessity of a will. This aspect of the account, causing it to be known sometimes as a "Poor Man's Will," has been the focal point of the attention given to the transaction; and today, after more than half a century of uneven treatment by the courts, all …

Trusts - Life Insurance Trusts - Contingent Unfunded Life Insurance Trust As Testamentary Disposition, Jerome K. Walsh Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Settlor named defendant bank beneficiary of eight insurance policies on his life. At the same time he entered into a trust agreement with the bank under which the bank was to hold the policies until the death of the settlor and, upon his death, collect the proceeds and distribute them according to one of two alternate methods of distribution. If his wife elected to reject the provisions made for her in his will and insisted on her statutory share of his estate, then the insurance proceeds were to be divided info four equal parts and paid to his four daughters. …

Banks And Banking-Deposits-Resulting Trusts Under The Contract Theory Of Joint Bank Accounts, Warren K. Urbom S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A husband carried a bank account in his own name. Subsequently, he and his wife signed a signature card at the bank upon which appeared the following: 'We agree . . . that all funds now, or hereafter, deposited to this account are, and shall be, our joint property and owned by us as joint tenants with right of survivorship, and not as tenants in common; and upon the death of either of us any balance . . . shall become the absolute property of the survivor. The entire account or any part thereof may be withdrawn by . . …

Wills-Advancements-Joint Bank Deposit As Advancement To Child, James F. Gordy S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Decedent opened a joint bank account in the name of himself and his daughter. Only two deposits were made, both by him, and solely from his funds. Decedent died intestate before any withdrawals had been made. The administratrix of his estate contended that the funds remaining in the joint bank account constituted an advancement to the daughter, and sought to have them brought into hotchpot in determining the distributive shares of the other heirs. A Colorado statute provided, inter alia, that when such a joint deposit is made, it may be paid to any one· of the joint depositors whether …

Gifts--Banking--Gift Of Joint Savings Bank Deposits, Ira M. Price, Ii

Michigan Law Review

A, the mother of B, transferred three savings bank deposits from her sole account to the account of "A or B-either or survivor." Two of the depositors' signature cards contained this language: ''We hereby certify that this account and all moneys to be credited to it belong to us as joint tenants, and will be the absolute property of the survivor of us." There was evidence that one of the reasons for A's transferring her deposits to the joint account was to enable B to draw money therefrom for A while A was in the …

Trusts-Participation By Banks In Diversion Of Trust Funds

Michigan Law Review

That fiduciaries who misappropriate or divert trust funds from their proper purpose are bound to make good is familiar doctrine. It is equally clear that those who guiltily participate in such. diversions by faithless fiduciaries are also liable. The point of chief difficulty is the determination of what participations are properly classified as guilty, for innocent participators clearly are not bound to make good. For example, a fiduciary with power to sell things held in trust may wish to turn the subject matter into cash preliminary to a misappropriation. A bona fide purchaser who provides the cash no doubt stands …

Banks And Banking -Trusts - Right Of Bank To Sell Participating Trust Certificates In Self-Owned Property, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In 1923 the trust company entered into a transaction with the land company by which the land company borrowed $130,000 with which it purchased a city property for slightly less than that amount and gave title to the trust company as security for the loan. Through a series of loans later negotiated the trust company came to have an investment of $150,000 in the property. In 1926 the trust company made an agreement with the land company pursuant to which the trust company declared itself trustee of the property at an appraised value almost fifty per cent above the purchase …

Trusts - Constructive Trusts - Preferential Claim Against Bank's Assets For Deposits Made After Hopeless Insolvency, James W. Deer

Michigan Law Review

On proclamation by the governor of the so-called bank holiday, the Union Guardian Trust Company was closed as of February 11, 1933. The evidence showed that within nine months of closing the company had made provision for obtaining $2,500,000 by pledging assets, had received loans amounting to $12,000,000 from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and was conferring frequently with the officers of· that agency to negotiate an additional $44,000,000 loan. Under the authority of emergency legislation passed after the bank holiday, a conservator was appointed. By the plan of reorganization all the assets of the company were set aside in a …

Some Problems Arising Out Of Deposits To Pay Principal And Interest On Bonds, Paul P. Lipton

Michigan Law Review

Since Lawrence v. Fox contracts students have been puzzled by the numerous and varying relations that may arise when A, the debtor, delivers money to B to pay C, his creditor. Equally puzzling and much more complicated are the rights and relations of the obligor, trustee and bondholders with respect to sums deposited with the trustee to pay principal and interest on bonds.

The insolvency during recent years of many large trust companies that had been named as trustees in indentures securing corporate bonds, having on hand at the time of their failure large sums of money which …

Banks And Banking - Trusts - Special Deposits - Agreement Between Depositor And Bank, Robert E. Sipes

Michigan Law Review

During a period of widespread bank failures, plaintiff corporation ceased depositing its funds with the defendant bank. To maintain the public's impression that the plaintiff was a regular customer of the bank, an agreement was entered into by the bank and the plaintiff whereby the bank was appointed "agent" of the plaintiff to collect and remit promptly money due plaintiff. Branch offices of the plaintiff deposited money under this agreement to be transmitted to the plaintiff. When the bank failed with some of this money still in its hands, plaintiff sought to be allowed a preferred claim. Held, the …

Trusts - Effect Of Exculpatory Clauses On The Liability Of Corporate Trustees, Milton A. Kramer

Michigan Law Review

The average investor doubtlessly relies upon the fact that some banking institution is a trustee for the bond issue in which he places his savings, and expects a degree of care commensurate with the confidence he has in that institution. The fact is, however, because of innumerable exculpatory clauses found in the corporate mortgage, the trustee's duties in regard to the protection of the bondholders' interests are practically negligible. But before proceeding further with the subject, it is necessary to distinguish two situations: first, a case where the trustee has no duty whatsoever to act; and secondly, where a duty …

Trusts -Tracing Principles Applicable Where Funds Of Two Or More Cestuis Are Wrongfully Commingled, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Public funds of a school district, of the village of Vassar, and of ten other municipalities were deposited in defendant bank without securing the deposit bond required by statute. After defendant bank had been declared insolvent, the school district intervened and sought to have the amount of its deposit impressed upon the cash assets of the bank as a trust, on the ground that the bank became a trustee ex maleficio. The total of the illegal deposits was greater than the cash on hand and the credits established in solvent correspondent banks at the time the receiver took over the …

Trusts - When Is The Beneficiary Of A Trust A Necessary Party In A Proceeding Involving The Trust Estate, Charles William Allen

Michigan Law Review

Two recent cases present the problem of the power of the trustee to represent the beneficiary in proceedings involving the trust estate. In Hood v. Cannon, arising in South Carolina, the trustee of an estate, upon merger of A bank into B bank, had applied to the probate court for permission to exchange A bank stock, held by the estate, for B bank stock. The court authorized the exchange in an ex parte proceeding to which the beneficiaries were not parties. B bank later failed, and the commissioner of banks brought suit against the defendant, the successor trustee, to …

Bills And Notes-Negotiability Of Bonds Issued By Massachusetts Trust

Michigan Law Review

In a replevin action to recover stolen bonds, held that the exclusion of the personal liability of the issuing trustees rendered the instruments nonnegotiable, Lorimer v. McGreevy, (Mo. APP. 1935) 84 S. W. (2d) 667.

Bills And Notes--Conditions-Negotiable Despite Reference To Trust Agreement

Michigan Law Review

Bonds, stolen from the owner, were subsequently acquired by a bona fide purchaser who received payment from the obligor. The owner sued the obligor on the ground that the bonds were non-negotiable. The first paragraph in each bond contained an unconditional promise to pay. The second and third paragraphs contained the following clauses: "This bond is one of a series . . . executed and delivered in accordance with and subject to the provisions of the Trust Mortgage hereinafter referred to and in pursuance of resolutions of stockholders. . . . The payment of this bond and of the coupons …

Assignments -Validity Of Gratuitous Written Assignment

Michigan Law Review

Deceased took defendant, his son, to a notary and there made and acknowledged written assignments of three mortgages he owned. He handed these assignments to defendant, saying "I give you these. Put them in the safety-deposit box." Defendant went away with the assignments which reappear only after the father's death; they were found in an envelope, marked with defendant's name in deceased's hand, in a safety-deposit box owned jointly by deceased and defendant. Deceased always retained possession and enjoyment of the actual mortgage instruments. Plaintiff, another son, claims these mortgages should be part of deceased's estate. The court held that …

Banks And Banking -Trust Funds - Deposits For A Special Purpose

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff had an arrangement with defendant bank whereby receipts of certain of plaintiff's branch stores were to be deposited daily with defendant, and the latter was to transmit each day by draft to a bank in Pittsburgh for plaintiff's credit all sums in excess of a dormant balance of $2,000. Drafts covering two days' deposits were in process of transmission to the Pittsburgh bank when defendant bank was taken over by the Comptroller of the Currency. The deposits represented by these drafts were made at a time when defendant's officers and directors knew the bank to be insolvent, though negotiations …

Bills And Notes - Negotiable Despite Reference To Trust Agreement

Michigan Law Review

In an action of replevin for the recovery of stolen debenture bonds, the defense relied upon the contention that the bonds were negotiable and that they had been bought by an innocent purchaser. The bonds in terms referred to a trust agreement "for a statement of the terms under which the said debentures are issued, and the rights. and obligations of the company, of the trustee and of the respective holders of the said debentures under the said trust agreement." It was further provided in the bonds that "to the extent provided in the said trust agreement all rights of …

Bills And Notes -- Non-Negotiable Because Of Reference To Trust Agreement

Michigan Law Review

Whether certain purchasers of notes occupied a better position than the ones from whom they purchased depended upon whether the notes in question were negotiable. Each note contained the following clause: "This note is one of a duly authorized issue of notes . . . issued under and all legally entitled to the benefit of a trust indenture. . . . For a description of the rights of the holders of the notes and the terms and conditions upon which the notes are issued, reference is made to said Trust Indenture with like effect as though said Trust Indenture were …

Banks And Banking - Changing Character Of Deposit To Establish Trust

Michigan Law Review

Respondent had a savings account with a local bank and, having arranged that the bank should purchase certain bonds for him, made an additional deposit therein. Four days later respondent was informed by an officer of the bank that the bonds had been purchased and was given a slip noting that his account had been charged with an amount equal to the purchase price. On its own books the bank charged the respondent's savings account with that amount and entered it as a "deposit" in its "bond account." Upon the insolvency of the bank it was found that no bonds …

Trusts - Tracing Of Assets - Preference

Michigan Law Review

Public funds were unlawfully deposited in the insolvent bank. At the time the bank closed the cash in its own vault was less than the amount of public funds deposited but it did have, at the time of closing and at all times before, deposits in correspondent banks which, taken with the cash in its own vault, exceeded the amount of the public funds unlawfully deposited. Held, that the unlawful deposit of the public funds, the bank knowing them to be public funds, created a trust of those funds in the hands of the bank, which trust was impressed …

Bills And Notes - Authority To Fill In Blanks - Effect Of Death Of Maker

Michigan Law Review

H gave W his note in blank with authority to fill it in at $50,000 when she wished, the note representing W's interest in their joint property. W filled in the blanks after H's death and sued H's estate on the note. Held, the authority to fill in was not revoked by H's death, for it was a power coupled with an interest. In re Ferrara (N. J. 19 3 l) 156 Atl. 265.

Banks And Banking - Misappropriation Of Trust Funds - Liability Of Bank

Michigan Law Review

Committee for incompetent deposited checks payable to him as such committee in the defendant bank to the credit of his individual account. The committee's account was entirely dissipated, but, so far as the facts appear in the opinion, the defendant bank at no time had any knowledge of the use to which the money was put. The committee was removed and the substituted committee sued the defendant bank for aiding the original committee in the diversion of the funds. Held, that it was the duty of the defendant bank to inquire whether the committee had authority to deposit the …

Trusts -- Self-Dealing Of The Trustee -- Right To Look Through The Corporate Entity

Michigan Law Review

One Northrop was appointed by the court as guardian, receiving $2,500 which he deposited in defendant bank of which he was the president, the general manager, and of which he was in complete control. Subsequently he exchanged this deposit for a mortgage owned by the bank. The bank became insolvent, and plaintiff, as substituted trustee, brought this action to have a preference adjudged out of the bank's assets in favor of the ward. Held, plaintiff could ignore the mortgage transaction but could only claim as a general creditor of the bank. Ottawa Banking and Trust Co. v. Crookston State …

Bills And Notes-Negotiability Of Corporate Debentures

Michigan Law Review

Many corporate bonds and debentures contain some such reference provision as the following: "* * * all [bonds, debentures] issued under a certain Trust Agreement, dated as of June 15, 1926, executed by the Company to the National City Bank of New York, as Trustee, to which Trust Agreement reference is hereby made for a statement of the terms under which the said Debentures are issued and the rights and obligations of the Company, of the Trustee and of the respective holders of the said Debentures under said Trust Agreement. * * *." To this clause some of these securities …

Failed Banks, Collection Items, And Trust Preferences, George Gleason Bogert

Michigan Law Review

About 1,200 banks failed in the United States during the year 1930, and failures for the years 1921-1929 averaged over 600 a year. Each of these bank failures doubtless involved several problems regarding collection items. In each case it was almost inevitable that there should be found among the assets in the hands of the defunct bank several items held for collection but not yet collected, and also that a number of items should have been collected but no effective remittance made on account of such collection. There thus arose a series of controversies between the banks or individuals which …

Trusts-Devices For Defeating Rights Of Creditors

Michigan Law Review

Attempts to protect property rights from the claims of creditors are faced at common law with the initial objection that restraints on the power of alienation are wholly ineffective. An exception has been recognized in this country in the case of equitable interests for life or for years. This exception, criticized severely at the time it was first recognized, has established itself in the law of most states in this country, though rejected in two jurisdictions.