Berghauser v. Blanckenburg

Holding

The court held that trustees acting under a decedent’s will could not collect commissions for managing a one-third interest in property that had been adjudicated as the absolute separate property of the decedent’s widow in a prior divorce decree, as the will created no testamentary power over that asset. Furthermore, the court found no evidence to support the trustees’ alternative claims for compensation based on an express contract or quantum meruit for services rendered to the widow.