ESTATE OF HENRY L. WOOD, Deceased (84-1184/ABC) — In this uncontested proceeding in the estate of Henry L. Wood, Wayne Bank, as successor-in-interest to the National Bank of Delaware County, petitions to resign as trustee of a charitable trust known as the “Trust for the Walton Central School District” (the “Trust”) established, in 1984 pursuant to Article SECOND (D) of decedent’s will, and seeks the appointment of Community Bank, N.A., as successor trustee. The application is granted. Letters of successor trusteeship shall issue to Community Bank, N.A., upon its duly qualifying according to law. Petitioner also asks the court to modify the provisions of the Trust due to changed circumstances. The Trust was created to provide annual college scholarships for up to four graduates of Walton High School attending four-year colleges. The testator directed that only the Trust’s interest be used for this purpose. The Trust is currently valued at approximately $121,000 and generates income of less than $3,000 a year, which petitioner contends is insufficient to provide meaningful scholarship aid, given the rising costs of higher education. Petitioner thus asks the court to modify the Trust to allow the trustee to distribute principal as well as interest, as it determines is necessary, to fund the annual scholarships. The Walton Central School District and the New York State Attorney General have no objection to this request. The equitable doctrine of cy pres, codified in EPTL §8-1.1(c) (1), authorizes the court to modify the terms of a charitable trust where the donor had a general charitable intent which has become impossible or impracticable to achieve due to changed circumstances (Matter of Hummel, 30 AD3d 8 02 [3d Dept 2006]; Matter of Post, 2 AD3d 1091 [3d Dept 2003]; Matter of Mirjanian, NYLJ, June 14, 2005 at 23, col 6 [Sur Ct, NY County]). Here, petitioner has shown that changed circumstances have rendered adherence to the literal terms of the Trust ineffectual and that the proposed change will better serve decedent’s charitable intent by allowing the trustee to provide meaningful and effective scholarships to qualified graduates of Walton High School, as decedent intended (Matter of Othmer, 185 Misc 2d 122, 126 [Sur Ct, Kings County 2000]). Accordingly, the requested modification of the trust is granted. Order signed. Dated: August 7, 2022
