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248 N.C. 363

103 S.E.2d 474

Wagner v. Honbaier

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided May 21, 1958

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1958-05-21

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently July 1980

8 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““(1) The will creating a trust is not to be treated as an instrument to be amended or revoked at the will of devisees or to be sustained sub modo only after something has been sweated out of it for the heirs at law. The power of the court is exercised not to defeat or destroy, but to preserve, it. “ (2) The rule that the law looks with favor upon family agreements does not prevail when the rights of infants are involved. A court of equity looks with a jealous eye on a contract that materially affects the rights of infants. Their welfare is the guiding star in determining its reasonableness add validity. “(3) A court of equity will not modify or permit the modification of a trust on technical objections merely because its terms are objectionable to interested parties or their welfare will be served thereby. It must be made to appear that some exigency, contingency, or emergency has arisen which makes the action of the court indispensable to the preservation of the trust and the protection of infants. (Citations) “(4) To invoke the jurisdiction of a court of equity the condition or emergency asserted must be one not contemplated by the testator and which, had it been anticipated, would undoubted ly have been provided for; and in affording relief against such exigency or emergency, the court must, as far as possible, place itself in the position of the testator and do with the trust estate what the testator would have done had he anticipated the emergency. (Citation) It is not t”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Stellings v. Autry

Relies on Redwine v. . Clodfelter · Merrell v. Jenkins · Reynolds Ex Rel. Cannon v. Reynolds

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1958-05-21

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Denny, J.

¶1 The only exceptions in the record are those noted by the guardians ad litem to the signing of the judgment. These exceptions present the single question whether the facts found by the court below are sufficient to support the judgment. Merrell v. Jenkins, 242 N.C. 636, 89 S.E. 2d 242; Beaver v. Paint Co., 240 N.C. 328, 82 S.E. 2d 113; Paper Co. v. Sanitary District, 232 N.C. 421, 61 S.E. 2d 378; Redwine v. Clodfelter, 226 N.C. 366, 38 S.E. 2d 203.

¶2 “Family agreements looking to the advantageous settlement of estates or to the adjustment of family differences, disputes or controversies, when approved by the court, are valid and binding. They are bottomed on a sound public policy which seeks to preserve estates and to promote and encourage family accord. Spencer v. McCleneghan, *369202 N.C. 662, 163 S.E. 753; In re Estate of Wright, 204 N.C. 465, 168 S.E. 664; Reynolds v. Reynolds, 208 N.C. 578, 182 S.E. 341; Bohannon v. Trotman, 214 N.C. 706, 200 S.E. 852; Schouler, Wills, Executors and Administrators (6d), sec. 3103.” Redwine v. Clodfelter, supra; Fish v. Hanson, 223 N.C. 143, 25 S.E. 2d 461; Bailey v. McLain, 215 N.C. 150, 1 S.E. 2d 372; In re Will of McLelland, 207 N.C. 375, 177 S.E. 19; Tise v. Hicks, 191 N.C. 609, 132 S.E. 560.

¶3 A will is not an instrument, however, to be amended or revoked at the instance of devisees who are merely dissatisfied with its provisions. Rice v. Trust Co., 232 N.C. 222, 59 S.E. 2d 803.

¶4 The rule that the law looks with favor upon family agreements does not prevail if the rights of infants are unfavorably affected. In re Reynolds, 206 N.C. 276, 173 S.E. 789. Ordinarily, the rights and interest of infants are the guiding star in determining the reasonableness and validity of such instruments. Redwine v. Clodfelter, supra. However, as stated in Tise v. Hicks, supra, “Family settlements … when fairly made, are favorites of the law. … ® They proceed from a desire on the part of all who participate in them to adjust property rights, not upon strict legal principles, however just, but upon such terms as will prevent possible family dissentions, and will tend to strengthen the ties of family affection. The law ought to, and does respect such settlements; it does not require that they shall be made in accord with strict rules of law; nor will they be set aside because of objections based upon mere technicalities.”

¶5 It is not practical, in the instant case, to set out all the findings of fact found by the court below. These findings, conclusions of law, and the judgment of the court, cover 39 pages of the record. However, upon a careful review of the record, it is evident that it is extremely doubtful that Love Honbaier possessed sufficient mental capacity to make a will on 23 November 1953.

¶6 The amount of the trust fund set up for the grandchildren would seem to be rather small; even so, all thirteen of them, except two who are minors, have signed the agreement. There can be no doubt about the legal right of the seven living children of Love Honbaier, and his eleven grandchildren who are sui juris, to bind themselves by the proposed family settlement. Hunter v. Trust Co., 232 N.C. 69, 59 S.E. 2d 213. Furthermore, in light of the doubtfulness of the last will and testament of Love Honbaier to withstand a caveat, it would seem to be for the best interest of the minors in esse, as well as for those in posse, who are represented by guardians ad litem in this action, to approve the proposed family settlement agreement.

¶7 In the case of Bailey v. Wilson, 21 N.C. 182, Gaston, J., in speaking for the Court, said: “It is objected that the agreement of compromise *370 was wholly voluntary, and that a court of Equity will not enforce its specific execution. Where there is a fair doubt as to the rights of parties, an agreement entered into without fraud, for the compromise of those rights, is not a voluntary agreement, and is a fit subject for the jurisdiction of a court of Equity. … Such arrangements are upheld by considerations, affecting the interests of all the parties, often far more weighty than any considerations simply pecuniary.”

¶8 The judgment of the court below is in all respects

¶9 Affirmed.

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