SPENDTHRIFT. A person who, by exces sive drinking, gaming, idleness, or debauch ery of any kind, shall so spend, waste, or lessen his estate as to expose himself or his family to want or suffering, or expose the town to charge or expense for the support of himself or family. Vt. Rev. Stat. c. 63, § 9.
A person having the entire right to dis pose of property may settle it or give it by will in trust for another, with the provision that the income shall not be alienated by the beneficiary by anticipation, or be taken by his creditors in advance of its payment to him, although there is no censer or limitation over of the estate in such an event ; Broadway Nat. Bk. v. Adams, 133 Mass. 170, 43 Am. Rep. 504 ; Baker v. Brown, 146 Mass. 369, 15 N. E. 783 ; Hyde v. Woods, 94 U. S. 523, 24 L. Ed. 264; Pope's Ex'rs v. Elliott, 8 B. Mon. (Ky.) 56 ; Fisher v. Taylor, 2 Rawle (Pa.) 33 ; Merriman v. Munson, 134 Pa. 114, 19 Atl. 479, 21 Atl. 171; White's Ex'rs v. White, 30 Vt. 338; Garland v. Garland, 87 Va. 758, 13 S. E. 478, 13 L. R. A. 212, 24 Am. St. Rep. 682 ; Spindle v. Shreve, 4 Fed. 136 ; Roberts v. Stevens, 84 Me. 325, 24 Atl, 873, 17 L. R. A. 266; Jourolmon v. Massengill, 86 Tenn. 81, 5 S. W. 719 ; Wood v. McClelland (Tex.) 53 S. W. 381; Merchants' Nat. Bk. v. Crist, 140 Iowa 308, 118 N. W. 394, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 526, 132 Am. St. Rep. 267; Jackson Square Loan & Savings Ass'n v. Bartlett, 95 Md. 661, 53 Atl. 426, 93 Am. St. Rep. 416 ; Seymour v. McAvoy, 121 Cal. 438, 53 Pac. 946, 41 L. R. A. 544 ; Bennett v. Ben nett, 66 111. App. 28 ; Kessner v. Phillips, 189 Mo. 515, 88 S. W. 66, 107 Am. St. Rep. 368, 3 Ann. Cas. 1005. Contra, Hutchinson v. Max well, 100 Va. 169, 40 S. E. 655, 57 L. R. A. 384, 93 Am. St. Rep. 944 ; Nelson v. Nelson, 2 Ky. Law Rep. 64.
The doctrine rests upon the principle of eityna est dare, Otis est disponere; it has re gard solely to the rights of the donor ; con sideration for the beneficiary does not in the remotest way enter into it ; Morgan's. Estate, 223 Pa. 228, 72 Atl. 498, 25 L. R. A. (N. S.) 236, 132 Am. St. Rep. 732.
Where property is devised in trust for a testator's son and his family, the profits to be applied to the extent the trustee sees fit, judgment creditors of the son cannot reach the property or its income; Brooks v. Ray nolds, 59 Fed. 923, 8 C. C. A. 370.
An absolute discretion vested in trustees to make payments out of trust property con fers no interest on the beneficiary that can be asserted by him or his assignee in bank ruptcy; Nichols v. Eaton, 91 U. S."716, 23 L.
Ed. 254, where the court sustained the doc trine of trusts of this class in a forcible ar gument.
The income of a spendthrift trust is not subject to the claim of the spendthrift's cred itors, even though there Is no express provi sion therefor ; Seymour v. McAvoy, 121 Cal. 438, 53 Pac. 946, 41 L. R. A. 544 ; where the beneficiary's mother was his creditor, her executor could not apply the income to ex tinguish the debt; In re Temple, 36 Misc. Rep. 620, 74 N. Y. Supp. 479; the income of a spendthrift trust cannot be attached for the maintenance of the beneficiary's wife and child whom he has deserted ; Board of Chari ties v. Lockard, 198 Pa. 572, 48 Atl. 496, 82 Am. St. Rep. 817; but equity will enforce s physician's claim for services rendered to a spendthrift who habitually Indulged in al coholic excesses ; Sherman v. Skase, 45 App. Div. 335, 60 N. Y. Supp. 1030; id., 166 N. Y. 345, 59 N. E 990.
The instrument need not call the oeatiti que trust a spendthrift, nor is it necessary that it shall contain all the specifications and qualifications incident to such a trust. If it appear that the donor or testator in tended a spendthrift trust, that is enough. The court will not inquire whether he is a spendthrift ; Wagner v. Wagner, 244 Ill. 101, 91 N. E. 66, 18 Ann. Cas. 490; It is not nec essary to provide expressly that the income shall not be subject to execution In order to create a spendthrift trust ; First Nat. Bank of Nashville v. Trust Co. (Tenn.) 62 S. W. 392; nor need there be a devise over after the beneficiary's death ; Minnich's Estate, 206 Pa. 405, 55 Atl. 1067.