## Facts

- Andrew J. Brown’s will created a testamentary trust with two stages: (1) funding the education of the children of his nephew, Woolson S. Brown, and (2) thereafter providing for the “care, maintenance and welfare” of Woolson and his wife, Rosemary, during their lives.
- After the educational objective was satisfied, the trustee administered the trust for Woolson and Rosemary as lifetime income beneficiaries.
- Woolson and Rosemary petitioned to terminate the trust and distribute the principal to them outright, asserting the educational purpose was completed and the remaining objective could be met without a trust.
- The corporate trustee opposed termination, arguing that the settlor intended continuing, trustee-managed lifetime support and that this remaining objective was a material trust purpose.

## Issues

1. Whether beneficiaries may compel termination of a testamentary trust when a material purpose of the settlor remains unfulfilled, even if current beneficiaries agree.
2. Whether the trust had to be classified as a support or spendthrift trust to bar termination.

## Decision

- The Vermont Supreme Court reversed the superior court’s order terminating the trust and reinstated the probate court’s refusal to terminate.
- The Court held the trust could not be terminated because a material purpose remained: providing ongoing lifetime support for Woolson and Rosemary through trustee administration rather than outright distribution.
- The Court concluded it was unnecessary to decide whether the instrument qualified as a support or spendthrift trust because the material-purpose doctrine independently controlled.

## Legal Principles

- A trust generally may not be terminated by beneficiary consent if termination would defeat a material purpose evident from the instrument and the settlor’s plan.
- A settlor’s intent is determined from the trust’s language and structure, including the manner chosen to deliver benefits (trustee-controlled support over time rather than immediate distribution of principal).
- “Care, maintenance and welfare” language, coupled with continued trustee discretion and lifetime-benefit design, can establish an ongoing support purpose sufficient to prevent termination without reliance on formal labels such as “support” or “spendthrift.”

## Conclusion

The court refused to terminate the testamentary trust because the settlor’s plan included an uncompleted, material purpose of lifetime, trustee-managed support for the income beneficiaries, and beneficiary preference for an outright distribution could not override that intent.


In re Estate of Brown, 148 Vt. 94, 528 A.2d 752 (1987)