Wing

— In this case a judgment creditor sought an order directing the trustee of a trust to withhold sums otherwise distributable to the judgment debtor and to pay those sums to it in satisfaction of the judgment. Under the trust instrument the judgment debtor was entitled to all income from the trust for life with the power to invade principal as necessary for his support, health and maintenance. The trust instrument also gave the judgment debtor a power of appointment of the corpus of the trust at his death. In the event he failed to exercise the power of appointment, the trust instrument provided the corpus of the trust was to be divided equally between the judgment debtor’s children or, if deceased, the issue of those children. At the time the judgment creditor filed its petition, the judgment debtor was the sole trustee of the trust.

The trial court concluded the judgment debtor was the sole beneficiary of the trust at a time when he was also the sole trustee of the trust. As such, the court reasoned, the legal interests of the trust property merged into the equitable interests and vested in the same person. Based on this reasoning the court found the trust had been…