EMINENT DOMAIN - DISPOSITION OF AWARD WHEN LAND IS SUBJECT TO LIFE ESTATE AND REMAINDER

Testator devised property to his adopted daughter for life and remainder to her children, but should she leave no children at her death, then the estate was to go to a named charity. The United States took title to this property and paid the compensation into court. The life tenant and one of the five children filed a motion that the life tenant be permitted to withdraw the funds arising from the condemnation for the purpose of having them immediately reinvested in other real estate and/or government securities. This motion was approved by the guardian ad litem for the one infant remainderman. But the remaining three children objected to the granting of the motion and insisted that the proceeds be divided between the life tenant and the remaindermen according to their respective interests, as might be determined by the use of life tables. Held, the proceeds should remain under the control of the court to be reinvested in other suitable real estate, the title to be taken in accordance with the provisions of the will concerning the property condemned. In ordering a reinvestment of the proceeds, the court reasoned that it was carrying out the intent of the testator to provide a home for his adopted daughter for life, and that since the remaindermen would not have had a right to the proceeds had this been a judicial sale at their request, their rights should not be increased merely because the government had taken the property. United States v. 380 Acres of Land, (D. C. Ky. 1942) 47 F. Supp. 6