## Facts

- Julia Voorhis executed a will creating multiple testamentary trusts.
- One trust was for cemetery purposes: placing monuments and markers on her family’s burial plot in a specified cemetery.
- Voorhis was related to General William Clark, a leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the family plot contained a substantial and expensive monument to Clark.
- In administering the monument-and-marker trust, money from the trust was initially used to pay insurance intended to repair or replace the Clark monument if it were damaged.
- A proceeding was brought in the New York County Surrogate’s Court requesting a determination regarding the continuing validity and proper administration of this trust in light of its purpose and the insurance expenditures.

## Issues

1. Whether a testamentary trust directing funds to be used for monuments and markers on a private family burial plot is valid under New York law.
2. Whether using trust funds to pay insurance premiums connected to potential repair or replacement of an existing monument falls within the trust purpose stated in the will.

## Decision

- The Surrogate’s Court addressed the petition seeking a ruling on the continuing validity and administration of the will provision creating the monument-and-marker trust for the family burial plot.
- The court considered how the trust’s stated purpose applied to the trustee’s use of funds for insurance associated with potential repair or replacement of the General William Clark monument.
- The court’s ruling provided guidance on administering the trust consistent with the cemetery/monument purpose described in the will.

## Legal Principles

- A Surrogate’s Court may be asked to construe a will provision creating a trust for burial-plot monuments and markers and to determine whether the arrangement is legally effective under New York law.
- The scope of a trustee’s authority is governed by the will; expenses must be tied to the purpose the testator stated for the burial plot, monuments, or markers.
- When a trustee applies trust assets to expenses not expressly named in the will (such as insurance connected to possible repair or replacement), the court may be asked to decide whether those expenses are consistent with, or incidental to, the will’s stated cemetery/monument purpose.
- When questions arise about whether a purpose trust for cemetery/monument matters can continue as administered, Surrogate’s Court supervision can be used to ensure the trust is carried out in the manner the will authorizes.

## Conclusion

In *In re Voorhis’s Estate*, the New York County Surrogate’s Court considered a testamentary trust created to place monuments and markers on Julia Voorhis’s family burial plot, where an expensive historic monument to General William Clark stood, and the court was asked to determine the continuing validity and proper administration of the trust, including whether trust funds could be used for insurance associated with repair or replacement of that monument.


In re Voorhis's Estate, 27 N.Y.S.2d 818 (1941)