Baker v. Baker
| Decision Date | 18 March 1914 |
| Docket Number | 12. |
| Citation | 90 A. 776,123 Md. 32 |
| Parties | BAKER et al. v. BAKER et al. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Frederick County, in Equity; Hammond Urner, Edward C. Peter, and Glenn H. Worthington, Judges.
"To be officially reported."
Suit between Henry Baker, executor of Anna Barbara Baker, and others and George H. Baker and another. From a decree for the latter, the former appeal. Affirmed, and cause remanded for further proceedings.
Argued before BOYD, C.J., and BRISCOE, THOMAS, PATTISON STOCKBRIDGE, and CONSTABLE, JJ.
Albert S. Brown, of Frederick (Charles C. Waters, of Frederick, on the brief), for appellants.
John Francis Smith and Edward J. Smith, both of Frederick, for appellees.
The controversy in this case involves the title to certain deposits in the Citizens' Savings Bank of Thurmont Frederick county, Md., and the facts which give rise to the litigation may be briefly stated as follows:
On the 19th of March, 1912, George Baker and Anna Barbara Baker, his wife, of Frederick county, sold three parcels of land for $2,800. Two of these parcels belonged to Mr. Baker, and the remaining parcel had been previously conveyed to him and his said wife. $2,000 of the money received from the sale of said property was, on the 21st of March, 1902, deposited by Mr Baker in his name in the Franklin Savings Bank of Frederick, and the remaining $800 was invested in property, containing about 10 acres of land, which was conveyed to Mrs. Baker March 22, 1902.
0n the 29th of March, 1906, Mr. Baker drew the $2,000 out of the Franklin Savings Bank and deposited it, on the 31st of March, 1906, in the Citizens' Savings Bank of Thurmont at 3 1/2 per cent. interest. At the time he made the deposit in the latter bank, he stated to the cashier that he wanted it deposited so that, if he should die before his wife, the money would be hers, and that, if she should die first, it would belong to him, and the deposit was entered in the books of the bank, and the deposit book given him, to the credit of "Mr. and Mrs. George Baker."
At the time this deposit was made, Mr. and Mrs. Baker had five children living, namely, Mary M. Martin, Caroline Grimes, Barbara Smith, George H. Baker, and Henry A. Baker, and a granddaughter, Ellen B. Wachter. About a year or two later, the precise time is not shown by the record, Mr. Baker redeposited the $2,000 in the Citizens' Savings Bank, or had the books of the bank and his bank book so changed as to make the entries in said books read as follows:
Whether the money was actually drawn and redeposited, or the change was made by writing the names of the children and the respective amounts to be paid to them above the entry, "Mr. and Mrs. George Baker," and adding the words "payable at our death to above children," does not appear; but the fact that the certified copy of the deposit book offered in evidence shows the date of the deposit to be March 31, 1906, and does not show when the change was made, would indicate that the latter method was adopted.
On the 28th of January, 1908, the property which had been purchased and conveyed to Mrs. Baker in 1902 was sold for $1,300, and Mrs. Baker received the proceeds of sale. The purchase money was paid in cash and a check and note payable to her, and on the 29th of January, 1908, she sent the check for $600 to the Citizens' Savings Bank by her son Henry A. Baker, who deposited it according to her instructions as follows:
Henry A. Baker received from the bank a bank book showing the deposit of $600 as above stated, and when he returned home he delivered the book to his father. Mrs. Baker also sent the note to the bank, with instructions to deposit the amount thereof when paid in the same account. The certified copy of the bank book shows that the $600 was deposited as stated on the 29th of January, 1908, and that there were further deposits in the same account of $500 on the 26th and $100 on the 30th of March of the same year.
The evidence shows that Henry A. Baker, prior to the deposit of $2,000, had received from his father $400, and that the division of the $2,000 and the $600, as shown by the entries in the bank books, was made by Mr. and Mrs. Baker, with the view of giving each of their children $600 and their granddaughter, Ellen B. Wachter, $200; that all of their children, except Mrs. Martin, who resided in Ohio, knew how those sums had been deposited and divided; that Mr. and Mrs. Baker stated to them, and to a number of other witnesses who have no interest in the case, that they had divided the amounts mentioned so that each child would receive $600; that they had worked hard and wanted their children to have what they had, and that they made the deposits and divided the money so that at their death the parties named would receive the respective amounts, without the expense of administration in the orphans' court; that they had retained the further sum of $600 to cover their funeral expenses and such other demands as they might have; and that that sum, with the interest on the deposits, would be all that they would need during their life.
The bank books showing the deposits were kept by Mr. Baker, and he collected the interest during his life. He died in November, 1908, and after his death Mrs. Baker kept the bank books and received the interest on the deposits. She paid his funeral expenses, including cost of the tombstone, and amounting to $18.75, out of the fund deposited in the second account.
In 1910 Mrs. Grimes purchased a property containing about 10 acres of land from William H. Stull for $1,700. It was conveyed to her on the 15th of August, 1910, and $1,500 of the consideration was paid by Mrs. Baker by check drawn against the $2,000 deposited by Mr. Baker in the Citizens' Savings Bank.
On the 26th of September, 1910, George H. Baker and Barbara A. Smith filed the bill of complaint in this case in the circuit court for Frederick county against Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Grimes and her husband, Henry A. Baker and his wife, Mrs. Martin and her husband, Ellen B. Wachter and certain other grandchildren and next of kin of Mr. Baker, and the Citizens' Savings Bank, to enjoin Mrs. Baker from drawing, and the bank from paying, any part of the funds remaining in said bank, to compel Mrs. Grimes to pay the $1,500 alleged to have been wrongfully applied to the payment of the purchase price for the property conveyed to her, and to require the bank to indemnify the plaintiffs for any loss that they might sustain by reason of the misapplication of said sum.
The bill alleged that the deposits we have mentioned were made by Mr. Baker, and that his intention was "that the income arising from the deposit of $2,000 and the deposit of $1,200 which latter was composed of three separate deposits, should be used for the support of himself and his wife, so long as they, or either of them, should live, and upon the death of the survivor said sums of money should be divided among his children in the manner indicated upon the books of said bank"; and the plaintiffs asserted that they were entitled to their shares of the sums deposited either as donees or next of kin of Mr. Baker.
Mrs. Martin and her husband and George Neidick, a grandson of Mr. Baker, answered the bill, admitting the matters alleged, and consenting to such decree as might be proper in the premises. Ellen B. Wachter answered by guardian ad litem, and a decree pro confesso was passed against two other grandchildren who were made defendants. Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Grimes and her husband, Henry A. Baker and his wife, and the Citizens' Savings Bank demurred to the bill. The court below overruled the demurrer, and they then answered the bill, alleging that said deposits were made in the first instance to the credit of "Mr. and Mrs. George Baker," and that the additional entries in the books of the bank and in the deposit books were made at the instance and by the direction of Mr. Baker, without the knowledge and consent of Mrs. Baker, and that she did not know that they had been made until after his death; that the amounts deposited in the second account were derived from the sale of property that belonged to Mrs. Baker; that it was the intention of Mr. and Mrs. Baker to "create an estate by the entireties in their funds," and that, with that intention, "their estates" were reduced to money, and the money was deposited "to the credit of Mr. and Mrs. George Baker," so that they would hold "a joint estate therein during their life," and the survivor would take the whole of what was left to do with as that survivor pleased; and that Mr. Baker attempted, by the additional entries in the bank books, to "change the ownership of said funds," without the assent of his wife, and that after Mr. Baker's death the funds deposited in the two accounts belonged to her absolutely.
The defense set up in the answer that Mr. Baker caused the entries in the bank books to be changed without Mrs....
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