Graham v. Whitridge

• Decision Date: 08 June 1904
• Citation: 58 A. 36,99 Md. 248
• Parties: GRAHAM v. WHITRIDGE et al. SMITH et al. v. SAME.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

58 A. 36

99 Md. 248

GRAHAM v. WHITRIDGE et al.

SMITH et al. v. SAME.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

June 8, 1904

¶ 5. See Executors and Administrators, vol. 2, Cet.Dig. § 1271.

Petition for further instructions.

For former opinion, see 57 A. 609.

Argued before McSHERRY, C.J., and FOWLER, BRISCOE, BOYD,, PEARCE SCHMUKER, and JONES, JJ.

McSHERRY C.J.

Since the decision of these cases by this court (57 A. 609), the trustees under the will of George Brown, the elder, have filed a petition asking further instructions as to their duties with respect to the fund which by that will was made subject to the power of appointment conferred upon the testator's daughter Mrs Greenway. The precise questions upon which the opinion of the court is now asked are as follows: First. What is the character of the life estates which by the former judgment of this court were held to be valid; that is to say, are those life estates equitable or legal? Secondly. If legal, who is to be intrusted with the possession of the corpus of the fund; that is to say, are the securities which yield the life tenants income, and in which the remainders are now invested to be held by the trustees under the will of George Brown during the lives of the life tenants, or must a trustee or trustees be appointed by decree to preserve the remainders for the benefit of the remaindermen? Thirdly. If trustees must be appointed for the purposes just indicated, will it be their duty to subdivide the investments into as many parcels as there are life estates, or will they be permitted to hold them in solido, and to divide the income amongst the respective life tenants? Fourthly. From what date are the legacies of $100,000 to Mrs. Whitridge, and of $10,000 each to the two daughters of Alexander Brown, to bear interest?

1. We are of opinion that the life estates already alluded to are legal, and not equitable, estates. It will be remembered that under the sixth article of the will of the late George Brown the elder, two-fourteenths of the rest and residue of the remainder of his estate were given in trust to certain named trustees for the use and benefit of his daughter Mrs. Grace Ann Greenway for and during the term of her natural life. The trustees were charged with active duties with respect to the corpus of that trust fund, and also with respect to the interest and income arising therefrom, during the period of the life estate mentioned. In and by the same article of the testator's will, Mrs. Greenway was given a power of appointment over the trust fund, and it was declared that, in the event of the life tenant's death without leaving a child or children, the trustees should continue to hold the trust fund "to and for" such of the other children of the testator, or their descendants, in such proportion and for such estate and estates therein, either in fee or for a less estate, and with such limitations and conditions, as Mrs. Greenway might, by any instrument of writing in the nature of a last will and testament, name, limit, and appoint. Mrs. Greenway, in execution of this power, did limit and appoint to the persons named in the fifth clause of her will certain life estates, with remainders over. The remainders thus limited we have declared to be void, and we have held the life estates to be valid. Now the question is, are the life estates thus created equitable or legal? It will be noticed that nowhere in the will of George Brown, the elder, is there a single active duty prescribed to be performed by the trustees after the death of Mrs. Greenway. The declaration that they shall continue to hold the two-fourteenths "to and for" such of the persons as Mrs. Greenway might by her last will and testament appoint, creates no active duties for the trustees to perform, either towards or concerning the fund itself, or the income that may accrue thereon, or the persons entitled to that fund under the allotments made in the will of Mrs. Greenway, or the persons who would take in the event of her failure to make allotments. Now, it is a perfectly well settled principle, which has often been recognized and applied by this court, that where an estate is given to trustees and their heirs in trust to pay the income to a person for life, and at his or her decease merely to hold the same for the use of other persons named, the trust ceases upon the death of the life tenant, for the reason that it remains no longer an active trust. The statute of uses in such cases immediately executes the use in those who are...