Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co. v. Goodwin

The trustees in these combined appeals brought a complaint in the Probate and Family Court for instruction as to the proper distribution of the principal of the three trusts upon termination. The complaint sought a determination of how the principal of the trusts should be distributed among the issue of the three deceased children of Frederick S. Moseley (the settlor): using the deceased children as the stocks or stirpes; or, alternatively, using the settlor’s nine grandchildren (five of whom are deceased) as the stocks (stirpes). The former scheme would divide the trust principal into…