Lynch v. Lynch

There are two actions involved in this litigation. Judgment was entered in each in favor of the defendant and appeals were perfected from both judgments. Upon stipulation of counsel and an order of this court the appeals have been consolidated for hearing and determination.

It appears that in the year 1918, defendant was the owner of 3,000 shares of stock in the Benson Timber Company, an Oregon corporation, and 300 shares in the Benson Lumber Company, later reorganized as a California corporation. These shares represented three-fifths of the total issued capital stock of the respective corporations. In 1918, the defendant, a man well along in years, decided to give stock in these two companies to certain of his heirs, including the plaintiff, in order that they might during his lifetime receive some benefit from the earnings of the companies and also avoid the payment of inheritance taxes and the expense of probate proceedings at his death. He did not want to lose control of the two companies nor be obligated to pay to the heirs all of the dividends that might thereafter be declared upon their respective shares of stock, as considerable sums of money were necessary for the…