{
  "id": 3562244,
  "name": "In re ESTATE OF DEAN BISHOP, Deceased (LeRoy State Bank, Ex'r and Trustee of the Estate of Dean Bishop, Deceased, Petitioner, v. Rose Blunk et al., Respondents-Appellants; Trustees of LeRoy Presbyterian Church et al., Respondents-Appellees)",
  "name_abbreviation": "LeRoy State Bank v. Blunk",
  "decision_date": "1984-09-05",
  "docket_number": "No. 4\u201484\u20140049",
  "first_page": "165",
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  "analysis": {
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  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:14:53.477818+00:00",
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    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
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  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "In re ESTATE OF DEAN BISHOP, Deceased (LeRoy State Bank, Ex\u2019r and Trustee of the Estate of Dean Bishop, Deceased, Petitioner, v. Rose Blunk et al., Respondents-Appellants; Trustees of LeRoy Presbyterian Church et al., Respondents-Appellees)."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "PRESIDING JUSTICE MILLS\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nCollateral attack.\nAn order amending will.\nFour years, 10 months later.\nMotions to dismiss allowed.\nWe affirm.\nThe original proceedings in this matter were commenced on January 3, 1977. On that date, the LeRoy State Bank, as trustee under the will of Dean Bishop, filed a petition in the circuit court to amend the will.\nThe petition sought to amend the terms of a testamentary trust so that the trust would qualify as a charitable remainder unitrust under section 664 of the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C. sec. 664 (1977)). One of the more significant amendments to the trust was that the annuity paid to the income beneficiaries was to be fixed at 5% of the net fair market value of the trust assets. The will had originally provided that all of the net returns of the trust corpus were to be paid to the income beneficiaries.\nThe income beneficiaries and the LeRoy Presbyterian Church were named as respondents in the petition. All of the named respondents signed written appearances which consented to an immediate hearing without notice on the bank\u2019s petition. A decree amending the will in accordance with the petition was entered on January 3, 1977.\nThe bank filed its final report as executor on June 5, 1979. All of the income beneficiaries signed forms acknowledging receipt of the final report, waiving notice of the report and consenting to the approval of the report. The bank was discharged as executor, and the estate was closed on June 21, 1979.\nOn November 16, 1981, the income beneficiaries (respondents here) filed a motion to vacate the decree amending the will. Respondents argued that the bank\u2019s failure to obtain their consent to the amendment to the will deprived the circuit court of subject matter jurisdiction and, therefore, the decree amending the will was void.\nThe Attorney General of the State of Illinois and the LeRoy Presbyterian Church filed motions to dismiss respondents\u2019 motion to vacate. The circuit court allowed the motions to dismiss and respondents have appealed.\nRespondents\u2019 motion to vacate the decree amending the will was filed 4 years and 10 months after the decree was entered and thus constitutes a collateral attack on the decree. (See Federal Sign & Signal Corp. v. Czubak (1978), 57 Ill. App. 3d 176, 372 N.E.2d 965.) The attack is grounded on the contention that the decree was void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in the circuit court. See, e.g., Federal Sign & Signal Corp. v. Czubak (1978), 57 Ill. App. 3d 176, 372 N.E.2d 965; Irving v. Rodriquez (1960), 27 Ill. App. 2d 75, 169 N.E.2d 145.\nRespondents contend that the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the bank failed to obtain respondents\u2019 consent to amend the will pursuant to section 1(2) of \u201cAn Act to conform certain charitable trusts to the requirements of the Federal Tax Reform Act of 1969\u201d (Charitable Trusts Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 148, par. 51(2)). The Charitable Trusts Act allows a trustee to amend a trust to bring it into conformity with the requirements for a charitable remainder unitrust under section 664 of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 1(2) of the Act states: \u201c[T]he trustee before making any amendment under subparagraph (d) shall first obtain the consent of all noncharitable beneficiaries whose interests have not expired.\u201d Respondents characterize the consent requirement of section 1(2) as a \u201cjurisdictional fact\u201d which must be shown of record and without which the circuit court had no subject matter jurisdiction.\nOn the nature and scope of subject matter jurisdiction, no lengthy excursus is needed here. The history of jurisdiction, as chronicled in In re Estate of Mears (1982), 110 Ill. App. 3d 1133, 443 N.E.2d 289, provides all the groundwork necessary for resolution of the issue before us.\nIn Mears, this court observed that under article VI, section 9, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, the jurisdiction of the circuit court is no longer dependent upon statutes and derives from the constitution itself. (See also In re L.E.J. (1983), 115 Ill. App. 3d 993, 451 N.E.2d 289.) We said in Mears, \u201cNo longer do we seek statutory justification for the exercise of jurisdiction; rather the inquiry must be whether there exists a justiciable controversy, and if so, are there any statutory conditions precedent to judicial intervention.\u201d 110 Ill. App. 3d 1133, 1138, 443 N.E.2d 289, 293.\nThe bank\u2019s petition to amend the will clearly created a justiciable controversy. Black\u2019s Law Dictionary defines \u201cjusticiable controversy\u201d in part as \u201c[a] question as may properly come before a tribunal for decision.\u201d (Black\u2019s Law Dictionary 777 (5th ed. 1979).) Matters relating to trusts have traditionally been resolved by the courts. Our supreme court has observed that, \u201cOne of the oldest heads of chancery jurisdiction is the execution and control of trusts and trust funds.\u201d Maguire v. City of Macomb (1920), 293 Ill. 441, 453, 127 N.E. 682; see also Hopkins v. Granger (1869), 52 Ill. 504.\nHaving determined that the petition to amend the will created a justiciable controversy, we need make no further inquiry. The circuit court had subject matter jurisdiction over all justiciable controversies, and the petition to amend the will created a justiciable controversy. Therefore, the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction, and its decree cannot be collaterally attacked.\nThe bank\u2019s alleged failure to comply with the Charitable Trusts Act by obtaining the respondents\u2019 consent to the amendment of the trust has no effect on the circuit court\u2019s jurisdiction. While the legislature may impose statutory conditions precedent to the exercise of the circuit court\u2019s jurisdiction, the consent requirement of section 1(2) of the Charitable Trusts Act was not such a condition.\nThere is no suggestion whatsoever in section 1(2) of the Charitable Trusts Act that the legislature intended the consent of the beneficiaries to be a condition precedent to the exercise of the circuit court\u2019s jurisdiction. Section 1(2) makes no reference to court proceedings in this context. The consent requirement is merely a limitation on the trustee\u2019s power to amend the trust. It is not a condition precedent to the exercise of the circuit court\u2019s jurisdiction.\nEven if a statutory condition precedent had not been met in the present case, such an omission would be merely a procedural defect, not jurisdictional. (See Watt v. Farmers State Bank & Trust Co. (1979), 71 Ill. App. 3d 455, 389 N.E.2d 947; Lopin v. Cullerton (1977), 46 Ill. App. 3d 378, 361 N.E.2d 6.) The court\u2019s decree would have been erroneous and subject to reversal on a direct appeal, but it would not be void for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and would not be subject to a collateral attack.\nHaving found that the circuit court had subject matter jurisdiction to hear the bank\u2019s petition to amend the will, we hold that the circuit court properly dismissed respondents\u2019 motion to vacate the decree amending the will.\nAffirmed.\nGREEN and WEBBER, JJ., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "PRESIDING JUSTICE MILLS"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Marvin H. Gesell, of Arnold, Gesell & Schwulst, of Bloomington, for appellants.",
      "Neil F. Hartigan, Attorney General, of Springfield, pro se (Edward M. Kay, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for appellee Attorney General.",
      "Thomas M. Barger, Jr., of Livingston, Barger, Brandt & Schroeder, of Bloomington, for other appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "In re ESTATE OF DEAN BISHOP, Deceased (LeRoy State Bank, Ex\u2019r and Trustee of the Estate of Dean Bishop, Deceased, Petitioner, v. Rose Blunk et al., Respondents-Appellants; Trustees of LeRoy Presbyterian Church et al., Respondents-Appellees).\nFourth District\nNo. 4\u201484\u20140049\nOpinion filed September 5, 1984.\nRehearing denied October 2, 1984.\nMarvin H. Gesell, of Arnold, Gesell & Schwulst, of Bloomington, for appellants.\nNeil F. Hartigan, Attorney General, of Springfield, pro se (Edward M. Kay, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel), for appellee Attorney General.\nThomas M. Barger, Jr., of Livingston, Barger, Brandt & Schroeder, of Bloomington, for other appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0165-01",
  "first_page_order": 187,
  "last_page_order": 191
}