Grove v. Spiker

Decision Date18 June 1890
Citation20 A. 144,72 Md. 300
PartiesGROVE v. SPIKER ET AL.
CourtMaryland Court of Appeals

Appeal from orphans' court, Allegany county.

Argued before ALVEY, C.J., and BRYAN, MILLER, IRVING, FOWLER BRISCOE, and MCSHERRY, JJ.

Ferd. Williams and J. S. Devecmon, for appellant.

Benj. A. Richmond, James W. Thomas, and G. W Hamill, for appellees.

MCSHERRY J.

These are appeals from the orphans' court of Allegany county. A paper writing purporting to be the last will and testament of Margaret Steyer was propounded for probate on the 27th day of August, 1889, and on the same day a caveat was filed by a sister of the decedent. The caveat alleges that Miss Steyer was of unsound mind, incapable of making a valid deed or contract, when the paper was executed; that she did not know or understand its contents; and that the alleged will was procured by the undue influence of one John S. Grove. Grove, the sole caveatee, answered under oath, and a mass of testimony was taken. The orphans' court admitted all of the paper to probate except the residuary clause, and that it rejected. From the order so passed, both caveator and caveatee have appealed.

A careful examination of the record has convinced us that Margaret Steyer, though a woman of weak and feeble intellect, was still possessed of sufficient mental capacity to make a valid deed or contract. As a recital of the evidence bearing on this branch of the case cannot possibly serve any useful purpose, we pass, without further comment, to a consideration of the other questions raised by the caveat.

Undue influence is that degree of importunity which deprives a testator of his free agency, which is such as he is too weak to resist, and will render the instrument not his free and unconstrained act. It is closely allied to actual fraud; and like the latter, when resorted to by an adroit and crafty person, its presence often becomes exceedingly difficult to detect. Indeed, the more skillful and cunning the accused and the more helpless and secluded the victim the less plainly defined are the badges which usually denote it. Under such conditions, the results accomplished, the divergence of those results from the course which would ordinarily be looked for, the situation of the party taking benefits under the will towards the one who has executed it, and their antecedent relations to each other, together with all the surrounding circumstances, and the inferences legitimately deducible from them, furnish, in the absence of direct evidence, and often in the teeth of positive testimony to the contrary, ample ground for concluding that fraud or undue influence has been resorted to, and successfully employed. The circumstances to which we shall allude in a moment have forced upon us the conclusion that the alleged will of Margaret Steyer was the direct result of an undue influence, adroitly, cautiously, and secretly exerted by the caveatee, John S. Grove. Margaret Steyer died August 23, 1889. She was then a spinster between 87 and 88 years of age. She had lived a very secluded and retired life, and was never seen away from the premises occupied by her in the town of Frostburg. She was illiterate, unable to read manuscript, or to write her name. In addition to this, she was a woman of feeble mind, and easily influenced, particularly by any one who had gained her confidence. Many years ago she intrusted the management of her property, which then consisted of some real estate, and about $7,000 of money and securities, to a Mr. Knode, and, upon his becoming too old to attend to the business any longer, she selected a Mr. Metzgar. These gentlemen collected her rents and interest, made deposits thereof in bank to her credit, and every month drew by check the sum of $50, and gave that amount to her for her support. Her next of kin consisted of a sister, and the children of two deceased brothers and one deceased sister. None of these relations resided with her. She visited no one, and seems to have been visited by but very few persons. Grove, the caveatee, is an educated man, 45 years of age, and a lawyer by profession. He was a total stranger to Miss Steyer when he went to Frostburg, and was not related to her in any way. His habits were dissipated, and his conduct at times exceedingly disorderly and lawless. He moved to Frostburg some 17 years ago, and shortly afterwards rented an office which was located on the same lot occupied by the house in which Miss Steyer lived. In a short time his wife separated from him, and not long thereafter he went to live in the house of Miss Steyer, paying neither rent for the office, which belonged to her, nor board for his meals and lodging in her home. He fastened himself upon her, and soon began to procure small sums of money from her, and by rude and offensive conduct endeavored to deter her sister-in-law, Mrs. George Steyer, from visiting her. He gradually, by alternately winning her confidence and by exciting her fears, obtained complete dominion over this feebleminded, inexperienced, and secluded old woman. That dominion was so complete that he could, as stated by some of the witnesses, have induced her to sign any will he wanted. H...

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