Clifton v. Guest

Griffin Smith, Chief Justice.

The question is whether J. IT. Culpepper, as executor under his uncle’s will, exercised on behalf of all beneficiaries that fine sense of impartiality and unselfishness the law enjoins upon fiduciaries:1

Our view is that when Culpepper’s wife, Addie, concluded to purchase the several shares representing interests in the testator’s realty and paid from a joint husband-and-wife bank account, the executor’s position became too complicated to admit of disinterested services; hence, without being conscious of fraudulent conduct, Culpepper condoned sales at prices…