Bailey's Estate

Citations

• 208 Pa. 594
• 57 A. 1095
• 1904 Pa. LEXIS 810

Syllabus

<p>Trusts and trustees — Discretion of trustee — Payment out of principal for maintenance — Accounts.</p> <p>Where a testator directs his trustee to pay to his son $300 per year for life, if the income should be sufficient, or $400 per year if the sickness or necessity of the son made it necessary, in the discretion of the trustee, and the trustee pays the larger sum, and his accounts showing such payments are confirmed, other parties in interest cannot claim on a bill of review that the burden is upon the trustee to show that he properly exercised his discretion in paying to the son the larger amount. In such a case the burden of proof is not on the accountant, but on those who question the correctness of his accounts. Every presumption is in favor of the trustee’s honest exercise of his discretion.</p> <p>Where an accountant charges himself with interest on the whole balance of principal carried forward from prior accounts, and it appears that the principal is being encroached upon and diminished by proper annual payments in excess of income and by expenses of administration, an adjustment is properly made by taking credit for the interest on the amount of principal paid out.</p> <p>Bills of review — Orphans’ court practice — Grounds for review.</p> <p>A bill of review may be had as a matter of right only for errors of law appearing on the face of the record, or for new matter that has arisen since the confirmation, and ex gratia for new evidence discovered after the confirmation that could not have been produced before.</p>