Gillespie v. Seymour

The opinion of the court was delivered by This is an action by beneficiaries of a trust for recovery of damages for oil and gas investments made by the Trust. The case before us was determined in a bench trial and involves a very complex factual situation as witnessed by the trial court's entry of over 200 findings of fact. A highly summarized statement of the facts is as follows. Warren Brown was a wealthy Wichita businessman. In 1956, Mr. Brown created two revocable inter vivos trusts. His two children, Dorothy Brown Wofford and Pauline Brown Gillespie, were the co-trustees of each trust. In the trust instruments, the trustees were vested with full legal and equitable title to the trust property; the effect of such language will be discussed in the standing issue of this opinion. Broad powers were granted to the trustees as to the investment of trust property, to-wit: