Ex Parte Worcester County National Bank of Worcester, 279 U.S. 347 (1929)

Ex Parte Worcester County National Bank of Worcester

No. 469

Argued April 11, 1929
Decided May 13, 1929
279 U.S. 347

APPEAL FROM THE PROBATE COURT FOR WORCESTER COUNTY,

STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS

Syllabus

The Act of February 25, 1927, provides that any national bank may be consolidated with any state bank or trust company under the charter of the national bank; that, upon such consolidation, all the rights, franchises and interests in property of the state corporation shall be deemed transferred to and vested in the national bank; that the consolidated national bank

shall hold and enjoy the same and all rights of property, franchises, and interests including the right of succession as trustee, executor, or in any other fiduciary capacity in the same manner and to the same extent as was held and enjoyed

by the state corporation, but that no such consolidation shall be in contravention of the law of the state under which such state bank or trust company was incorporated.

Held:

1. That the Act enjoins upon a consolidated national bank complete conformity with the state law in its conduct of estates of deceased persons when acting as trustee or administrator thereof. P. 360.

2. Where the highest state court decided that, under the state law, a national bank with which a local trust company had been consolidated under the Act did not succeed to an executorship held by the trust company and could not render an account of the estate, except as executor de son tort, because the consolidation had ended the existence of the trust company and the bank, being a different entity, could not rightfully represent the estate without a new appointment from the probate court, this decision, as to the state law, should be followed by the Court. P. 359.

3. To conform with the state law, under the Act of Congress, the bank, in order to represent and administer the estate, should apply for an appointment by the probate court. P. 359.

23 Mass. 444 affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment entered by the Probate Court for Worcester County, Massachusetts, in accordance with a rescript from the Supreme Judicial Court dismissing the appellant’s petition for allowance of its account as executor under a will.