Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Co. v. Superior Court

Petitioner as trustee of a trust known as the “Robbins Foundation” has petitioned this court for a writ of mandamus to compel respondent court, sitting as a probate court, to hear and determine a petition for an order confirming the sale of an interest in certain land that was distributed to the trustee under the will of Frederick Averill Bobbins. The question before this court is whether the probate court has jurisdiction to hear the petition for confirmation of the sale of this interest in the land.

In 1916, Frederick Averill Robbins transferred certain property in trust to the Union Trust Company of San Francisco, predecessor of the Wells Fargo Bank and Union Trust Company, by a trust agreement under the terms of which the trustee was to use the income from the property to establish scholarships for certain students of the mechanical arts. The trust instrument, provides that “The property constituting said fund shall be invested and reinvested by my trustee as in its discretion may seem to be for the best interests thereof . . . and my trustee shall also have full power and authority, subject only to confirmation of court, to sell the property composing said trust or fund.…