Castruccio v. Estate of Castruccio
| Decision Date | 31 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 2431,2431 |
| Parties | SADIE M. CASTRUCCIO v. ESTATE OF PETER A. CASTRUCCIO, et al. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
WILL CONSTRUCTION — CONSIDERATION OF SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES
Ordinarily, courts may not consider extrinsic evidence of a testator's intentions when construing a will. Nevertheless, the court may consider evidence relating to the situation of the testator, the testator's relationships with beneficiaries, and the circumstances surrounding the execution of the will.
In this case, to determine the meaning of clauses appearing to limit the right of the testator's wife to recover under the will, the circuit court properly considered undisputed evidence about the circumstances surrounding the execution of the will. Those circumstances included: the testator's antipathy towards his wife's nephews, the testator's desire that his wife's nephews not receive any portion of his estate, and the testator's efforts to engage in joint estate planning with his wife in order to prevent or persuade her from leaving the testator's assets to the nephews if the testator predeceased her.
WILL CONSTRUCTION — PLAIN MEANING
One unnamed item of a testator's will purported to give the remainder of his estate to his wife "should she one, survive [the testator], and two provided that she [had] made and executed a [w]ill prior to [the testator's] death." Another item stated that if, at the time of the testator's death, the testator's wife did "not have a valid will filed with the Register of Wills in Anne Arundel County dated prior thereto these [sic]," then the testator would give the remainder of the estate to a certain long-time employee of the testator.
Under the most natural reading of this will, these items imposed three conditions to the wife's recovery under her husband's will: (1) she had to survive him; (2) she had to have made and executed a will prior to the husband's death; and (3) she had to have a valid will filed with the Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County dated prior to the testator's death (or, possibly, dated prior to the execution of the testator's will). Because the wife had failed to meet the third condition, she was not entitled to receive the residue of the estate.
Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County
Case No. 02-C-14-184865 DJ
REPORTED
Wright, Arthur, Salmon, James P. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.*
Opinion by Arthur, J.
* Judge Timothy E. Meredith did not participate in the Court's decision to designate this opinion for publication pursuant to Md. Rule 8-605.1.
After mounting an unsuccessful challenge to the validity of her late husband's will, a widow contended that, as a matter of law, she was nonetheless entitled to receive virtually all of his estate under that same will. The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County disagreed and declared that the estate should pass to an alternate residuary beneficiary. The widow appealed, principally arguing that the circuit court erroneously relied on evidence other than the literal language of the will itself. We affirm.
Dr. Peter Castruccio died on February 19, 2013. He was survived by his wife of 62 years, appellant Sadie Castruccio. John Greiber, Jr., the Castruccios' lawyer for more than 20 years, was appointed personal representative under the terms of Dr. Castruccio's will. At Mr. Greiber's request, the will was admitted to administrative probate on February 27, 2013.
Dr. Castruccio's will was a six-page document with one codicil. The will began with two, brief introductory paragraphs, which were followed by 11 "items," most of which are not in dispute.
Item 7, labeled "Cash Bequests," consisted of three general legacies, to be distributed "prior to any bequest to [Dr. Castruccio's] beloved wife." The bequests consisted of $800,000.00 for appellee Darlene Barclay, Dr. Castruccio's long-time employee; $100,000.00 for Adriana Lanata, Dr. Castruccio's niece, who lives in Italy; and $100,000.00 for Ernest Stinchcomb, Jr., the Castruccios' handyman. In the codicil, Dr. Castruccio increased the amount of the bequest to Mr. Stinchcomb to $200,000.00.
Item 8 was unlabeled and read as follows:
To my loving wife, Sadie, excluding the individual bequest [sic] made in Item 7, I leave the rest and remainder of my Estate to her should she one, survive me and two provided she has made and executed a Will prior to my death.
Item 10, labeled "Residuary Clause," stated:
Should, at the time of my death, my beloved wife not have a valid Will filed with the Register of Wills in Anne Arundel County dated prior thereto these [sic], I hereby give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of my Estate and property, whether imposition, expectancy will remainder [sic], including all property over which I may have Power of Appointment to the following individuals share and share alike per stirpes and not per capita to DARLENE BARCLAY, [at Ms. Barclay's street address].
On March 12, 2013, an attorney for Dr. Castruccio's personal representative told Mrs. Castruccio that, according to the will, any bequest to her was contingent upon her having a "valid Will filed with the Register of Wills in Anne Arundel County dated prior thereto these [sic]." In the same communication, the attorney requested that Mrs. Castruccio supply a copy of any valid will that she had filed with the Register of Wills of Anne Arundel County before Dr. Castruccio executed his will. Mrs. Castruccio had not filed (or deposited) any will with the Register of Wills of Anne Arundel County.
Mrs. Castruccio responded by filing a caveat petition in the Orphans' Court of Anne Arundel County, wherein she challenged the validity of the will. As a defendant, Mrs. Castruccio named her late husband's Estate.1 Ms. Barclay intervened as a co-defendant.
The caveat proceeding moved to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County because Mrs. Castruccio petitioned to transmit issues to that court for trial. See Md. Code , § 2-105(b) of the Estates and Trusts Article.
After discovery, both sides moved for summary judgment in the caveat proceeding. On September 23, 2014, the circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the Estate and Ms. Barclay and denied Mrs. Castruccio's cross-motion for summary judgment. Mrs. Castruccio appealed. We affirmed (see Castruccio v. Estate of Castruccio, 230 Md. App. 118 (2016)), as did the Court of Appeals. See Castruccio v. Estate of Castruccio, 456 Md. 1 (2017).
Meanwhile, on January 16, 2014, while the caveat petition was pending, Mrs. Castruccio filed this case in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. In brief, in this case, Mrs. Castruccio requested a declaration that she was the rightful beneficiary of her husband's residuary estate under the will.
At the parties' request, the circuit court stayed this case pending the resolution of the caveat case, but it lifted the stay at Mrs. Castruccio's request once it had rendered its ruling in the caveat case.
After the court lifted the stay, Ms. Barclay filed a counterclaim, in which she requested a declaration that under the will she, and not Mrs. Castruccio, was entitled to receive the residuary estate. In addition, Ms. Barclay invoked Item 6 of the 2010 will, an "in terrorem" or "no contest" clause, which states: "In the event that any party, whetherthey are a beneficiary or not, shall file any proceeding in an attempt to void any and all provisions of this instrument, in that event, such party shall receive no benefits whatsoever from my Estate, in the event that such proceedings are unsuccessful." Ms. Barclay requested a declaration that, because Mrs. Castruccio had challenged the 2010 will in the caveat proceedings, she could take nothing under that will.
The parties presented conflicting interpretations of Dr. Castruccio's will. The conflict centered on whether Item 10 should or should not be read in conjunction with Item 8.
According to the Estate and Ms. Barclay, Items 8 and 10 should be read together to impose three conditions precedent to Mrs. Castruccio's right to recover under the will as a residuary beneficiary: (1) she had to survive her husband (as stated in Item 8), (2) she had to have made a will (as also stated in item 8), and (3) she had to file a valid will with the Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County before her husband's death (as stated in Item 10). Because it was undisputed that Mrs. Castruccio had not filed (or deposited) a will with the Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County before her husband's death, the Estate and Ms. Barclay argued that Mrs. Castruccio had not satisfied the third condition and, hence, could recover nothing. In that event, they said, Ms. Barclay would receive the balance of the estate under Item 10.2
Mrs. Castruccio argued that Items 8 and 10 addressed different scenarios and that they should not be read together. In Mrs. Castruccio's view, Item 8 addressed what should happen if she survived her husband, while Item 10 addressed what should happen if she did not. According to Mrs. Castruccio, under Item 8, she would receive her husband's entire estate (minus the $1.1 million in specific bequests in Item 7 and the codicil) if she survived him and had made and executed a will before his death. On the other hand, she said, if she did not survive her husband, Item 10 dictated that his estate (minus the specific bequests) would go to the beneficiaries whom she had named in her will, provided that her will was valid and that it had been filed with the Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County in a probate proceeding. In Mrs. Castruccio's interpretation, if she predeceased her husband and did not leave a will, his estate (minus the specific bequests) would go to Ms. Barclay.
On October 15, 2015, the Estate moved for summary judgment on all of the claims alleged in Mrs. Castruccio's complaint. The Estate specifically sought an order declaring that, because Mrs. Castruccio did not file a valid will with the...
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