Trust fund

“ The power of wielding a mass of capital amounting to many millions of dollars is an enormous power, and it should be reposed only in a body which should be responsible for the careful, honest administration of the trust, at stated intervals, to the persons most interested—that is, to the policy-holders—the owners of the trust fund. ”

“ To safely manage the said trust fund, to change investments whenever said Association may deem it necessary or advisable to reinvest the principal of said trust fund in such securities, property and investments as said Association may deem best, and to use the income thereof only for the education of colored people of African descent residing in the recent slave States of the United States of America hereinbefore specified. ”

“ The trustee contends that the whole trust is valid, and that the surplus income over the amount necessary for the payment of the annuities mentioned must be accumulated up to the time of the general distribution under the trust, as provided for in the will, and that such surplus shall then be distributed as part of the trust fund to the persons then entitled to that fund. ”

“ It is a general principle that a trust estate must bear the expenses of its administration. It is also established by sufficient authority, that where one of many parties having a common interest in a trust fund, at his own expense takes proper proceedings to save it from destruction and to restore it to the purposes of the trust, he is entitled to reimbursement, either out of the fund itself, or by proportional contribution from those who accept the benefit of his efforts. ”

“ If he can, however, it is upon the ground that the assets of the corporation constitute a trust fund, which will be administered by a court of equity, in the absence of a trustee; the principle being that equity will not permit a trust to fail for want of a trustee.'
While it is true language has been frequently used to the effect that the assets of a corporation are a trust fund held by a corporation for the benefit of creditors, this has not been to convey the idea that there is a direct and express trust attached to the property. ”

“ Now with this theory in view, our company gets to work and canvasses the country and it gathers together thousands of little, useless, insignificant, unproductive funds like yours and mine and joins them together into one vast, giant aggregate which we call a trust fund. ”

“ Thus, if the trust fund be an equitable interest, of which the legal interest cannot be at present transferred to them, it is their duty to lose no time in giving notice of their own interest to the persons in whom the legal estate is vested; for otherwise, he who created the trust might incumber the interest he has settled in favor of a purchaser without notice, who, by first giving notice to the legal holder, might gain a priority. If the trust fund be a chose in action as a debt, which may be reduced into possession, it is the trustee's duty to be active in getting it in ”

“ The supreme court there held that: 'A fund which comes into the possession of a bank with respect to which the bank had but a single duty to perform, and that is to deliver it to the party thereto entitled, is a trust fund, and is therefore incapable of being commingled with the general assets of such bank subsequently transferred to its receiver. ”

“ Where in the misappropriation of a trust fund it has been confused with any other fund, the uniform rule is, simply to make the trust fund a charge on the new acquisition. Crop v. Norton, 2 Atk., 75. The only limitation upon the doctrine as established by Lord Hardwicke in Crop v. Norton, that a trust never results, except where all the money is paid by one person, is, that where the joint advance is in conformity with an agreement of purchase a trust will result. Wray v. Steele, 2 Ves. ”

“ If any trust income shall not be appropriated by a law which becomes effective on or before the last day of the fiscal year next succeeding that during which it was received, such trust income shall thereafter cease to be subject to appropriation and shall become part of the trust capital to be held in the trust fund on the same terms and conditions as are applicable to all other assets constituting the trust capital. ”

“ To the extent practicable, the board shall keep all moneys at any time held in the trust fund invested in such eligible investments as shall, in its sole and uncontrolled judgment, produce the greatest trust income over the term of such investments while preserving the trust capital. ”

“ So, also, where an irrevocable trust is established to pay for insurance on the settlor's life, to collect the policy upon his death, and to hold or apply the proceeds for the benefit of his dependents, Congress may declare the income of the trust fund taxable to the settlor as part of his own income. ”

“ City R. R. Co. v. Douglass, 14 N. Y. 336; Seymour v. Sturges, 26 id. 134. The capital stock of a moneyed corporation is a fund for the payment of its debts. It is a trust fund, of which the directors are the trustees. ”

“ In making any investment of moneys held in the trust fund, the board shall exercise the judgment and care, under the circumstances prevailing at the time of such investment, which an institutional investor of the highest standard of prudence, intelligence and financial expertise would exercise in the management and investment of large assets entrusted to it not for the purpose of speculative profit but for the permanent generation and disposition of funds, considering the probable safety of capital as well as the expected amount and frequency of income. ”

“ Over the next 4 years the States can use this money in either of two ways. If they want to continue receiving Federal grants in such areas as transportation, education, and social services, they can use their trust fund money to pay for the grants. Or to the extent they choose to forgo the Federal grant programs, they can use their trust fund money on their own for those or other purposes. ”

“ This amended bill gives the names of a large number of stockholders, with a statement of the sum received by each, and is full of the general allegations that the money so received was a trust fund that should have been applied to the payment of the debts of the bank, but was diverted from its proper use to the payment of dividends. ”

“ To the extent that any income or profit derived from such certificates of deposits or other investments is referable to any period after the transfer thereof into the trust fund, such income or profit shall not constitute trust capital nor trust income but shall remain in the general fund subject to appropriation by the legislature. ”

“ The capital stock of an incorporated bank is deemed a trust fund for all the debts of the corporation: and no stockholder can entitle himself to any dividend or share of such capital stock, until all the debts are paid, and if the capital stock should be divided, leaving any debts unpaid, every stockholder, receiving his share of the capital stock, would, in equity, be held liable pro ratâ to contribute to the discharge of such debts out of the fund in his own hands. ”

“ The largest bequest to an individual was of one million, to Edward Shuttleworth, who received in addition thirty thousand a year salary as administrator of the thirty-million-dollar trust fund, left to be doled out to various charities and reform societies practically at his own discretion. ”

“ NOTE.—In the assets is listed trustees' fund, $182,846.41. This amount is not at present an available asset, for the reason that it is a trust fund placed to secure bondsmen for ground rent and other purposes, and may be partially or totally absorbed for the reimbursement of bondsmen who may be defendants in suits that may be instituted. ”

“ Personal property is universally liable for debts. If the particular fund provided by the testator for that object, be of that description and a specific thing, bequeathed to another, be taken in execution by a creditor, it has never been doubted, that the legatee whose property has been taken, may resort to the trust fund for compensation. ”

“ Is the fund a trust to be held by the company for the benefit of the policy-holders? If it be, then the courts of equity have complete and entire jurisdiction, and to them it should be left. They are competent to enforce the proper execution of other trusts, and presumably of this. Give perfect freedom of individual action to each policy-holder, take off the leading-strings of State supervision, and leave the parties to a life insurance contract where the parties to other contracts are left, to themselves and the courts. ”

“ I must approach the deed trying to give a fair construction to its operative parts. The recital makes it quite plain that a charitable trust was intended to be set up, but that cannot control the operative part. It seems to me clear that so far as cl 2 (i) is concerned, taken by itself, that is plainly a charitable trust, and the contrary was not really suggested. In my judgment, so is cl 2 (ii) , for grammatically it reads:
"The trustees shall hold the fund together with all income arising therefrom upon trust to pay and apply such income from time to time for such charitable purposes ... ”

“ Carefully drawn trusts generally contain a power for the trustee to sell if the purpose of the trust is to produce an income-bearing fund for a long period of years. For that purpose a change of investment is frequently desirable, and therefore trustees are expressly given that power. ”

“ Other methods fix the amount as so many per cent of gross or net profit, of the bonds outstanding, of total business done, etc. Oftentimes, scientific accuracy, even if desirable, is impossible because of provisions in the trust agreement to the effect that the moneys in the sinking fund are to be used for the purchase of the company’s own bonds at market but providing a maximum price above which none are to be bought. ”

“ Trusts for the preservation of policies of insurance involve a continuing exercise by the settlor of a power to direct the application of the income along predetermined channels. In this they are to be distinguished from trusts where the income of a fund, though payable to wife or kin, may be expended by the beneficiaries without restraint, may be given away or squandered, the founder of the trust doing nothing to impose his will upon the use. ”

“ There are a very large number of charitable purposes which can be carried out in compliance with the provisions of cl 2 and cl 3, and I cannot see that the fact that the trustees have to be persons who are members of the society can alter that. I venture to think that the contrary argument really comes to this: that the trustees might commit a breach of trust and might, therefore, apply the moneys wrongly in furthering the objects of the society. I should add this. No one in fact suggests that they have committed any breach of trust. ”

“ The court may well have compared the relations of the government towards the fund in the treasury to this class of trusts. It is less probable that it intended to convert those relations into an equitable trust, since the essential elements of personal confidence and trust reposed in the depositary by the creator of the trust are wholly wanting. ”

“ I desire, if it may be, that the corporation may have full liberty to invest its funds according to its own best discretion, without reference to, or restriction by, any laws or rules, legal or equitable, of any nature, regulating the mode of investment of trust funds; only I wish that neither principal nor income be expended in land or buildings, for any other purpose than that of safe and productive investment for income. ”

“ It is argued that a bank investment fund simply makes available to the small investor the benefit of investment management by a bank trust department which would otherwise be available only to large investors, and that the operation of an investment fund creates no problems that are not present whenever a bank invests in securities for the account of customers. ”

“ In 1930 it created, by an appropriate instrument, a fund to afford those for whom it acted the advantage of investing small amounts in securities at minimum expense and with opportunity of ready liquidation. ”

“ The Master of the Rolls said, 'If the object of the bill were to recover the fund with a view to its administration by the court, the parties interested must be represented. But it merely seeks to recover the trust-moneys, so as to enable the trustee hereafter to distribute them agreeably to the trusts declared. ”

“ That if the laws of the State where any national bank accepting trust accounts is located do not prescribe how trust funds shall be invested, then the board of the American Reserve Bank shall fix rules and regulations for the investment of such funds. ”

“ Investments for estates are limited by law, like savings bank investments, to certain classes of securities, and a trust company has little temptation to violate such laws. It is customary, moreover, for investments of trust funds to be made by authority of the board of directors, thus protecting the estate against the uncertainties of individual judgment. ”

“ And I do direct that my said trustees shall pay and apply the interest and dividends of each of the said children's shares in the said trust funds for his, her, or their maintenance and education during their minorities, notwithstanding their shares may not become vested interests, but that such interest and dividends as shall not have been so applied shall accumulate, and follow, and go over with the principal. And I do nominate, constitute, and appoint the said John Cam Hobhouse and John Hanson executors of this my will. ”

“ If trustees, having a large estate to invest and accumulate for the benefit of an infant, for a number of years, will keep no books of account, make out no annual or other account of their trust estate; if they risk the trust funds in their own speculations ”