Houck v. Houck
| Decision Date | 12 January 1910 |
| Citation | 76 A. 581,112 Md. 122 |
| Parties | HOUCK v. HOUCK et al. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court No. 2 of Baltimore City; George M. Sharp Judge.
Suit by Henry C. Houck and another against Edwin S. Houck. From an order granting relief to complainants, defendant appeals. Affirmed in part. Reversed and remanded in part.
Argued before BOYD, C.J., and PEARCE, SCHMUCKER, BURKE, PATTISON and THOMAS, JJ.
Robert Biggs and Frank L. Stoner, for appellant.
R. D Coe and Alfred J. Carr, for appellees.
Henry Houck, of Frederick county, Md., died in 1887, leaving a last will and testament, by which he made the following bequest "I give and bequeath to my son, Henry J. Houck, in trust for the sole benefit and use of my grandchild Henry Christopher Houck, son of my said son, Henry J. Houck, all of my interest in an endowment insurance policy taken on the life of my son Henry J. Houck and assigned and transferred to me; the said policy is for the sum of $2,500.00 and additional insurance or accumulations; the premium on said policy was paid by me from its commencement in the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, No. 105929; he, the said Henry Christopher Houck is not to receive the said legacy until he arrives at the age of twenty-one years which will be on the twenty-ninth day of November, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight; if my decease occurs before the policy becomes due, in that event I request and charge my son Henry J. Houck to pay the annual premium on said policy, first by using the annual dividend declared on said policy, and the balance to be paid out of the portion of my estate hereinafter bequeathed to him." In 1888 Henry J. Houck, the executor named in said will, settled his final account in the orphans' court of Frederick county, in which there was distributed to him in trust for Henry C. Houck, his son, the policy of insurance referred to in the will of Henry Houck. Henry J. Houck died in 1892, leaving a last will and testament by which he appointed his wife, Belle Houck, his executrix, and disposed of all his property as follows:
Mrs. Belle Houck, as executrix, settled her first account in the orphans' court in Baltimore city in January, 1894, in which, after the payment of the cost of administration, etc., she was allowed, a under the terms of the will, the whole balance of the estate consisting of lease hold property in Baltimore city, valued at $2,000, and bonds and stocks to the amount of $18,196. A few weeks thereafter she settled her second account in said court, and was allowed under the provisions of the will other bank stocks valued at $520. On January 14, 1908, Henry C. Houck, having arrived at the age of 30 years on the 29th of November, 1907, filed a petition in the orphans' court of Baltimore city, in which, after setting out the facts stated above, he alleged that his father, Henry J. Houck, received on the 3d of January, 1890, from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York on account of said policy the sum of $2,977.97; that no part of said sum had ever been paid to him; and that the same, with interest thereon, was still due and owing, and praying that the accounts settled by his mother, as executrixes of Henry J. Houck, be set aside and restated, etc. This petition was indorsed by Mrs. Belle Houck as follows: "I, the executrix of the estate of Henry J. Houck, admit the matters and things stated in the foregoing petition, and consent to the passage of an order as prayed." The petition was answered by Edward S. Houck, denying that the said sum of $2,977.97 or any part thereof was due and owing, and charging that the petitioner had "been guilty of gross negligence in asserting his claim," and that the orphans' court had of jurisdiction in the matter. The orphans' court on the 27th day of February, 1908, passed an order dismissing the petition, and on the following day the appellees, Henry C. Houck and Ella Houck, his wife, filed their bill of complaint in the circuit court No. 2 of Baltimore city against Mrs. Belle Houck and Edwin S. Houck and his wife, setting out the provisions of the will of his grandfather, Henry Houck, and the will of his father, Henry J. Houck, and alleging that the policy of insurance was distributed to Henry J. Houck to be held by him in trust for the appellee Henry C. Houck; that Henry J. Houck received on the 2d of January, 1890, from the insurance company $2,977.97 on account of said policy; that said sum of $2,977.97 has not been paid, and that the same, with interest thereon, is still owing to the appellee; that at the time the defendant Mrs. Belle Houck, executrix, etc., settled said accounts in the orphans' court, copies of which are filed with the bill, said appellee was only about 16 years of age, and that he was informed and believed that he was not entitled to receive anything from the estate of his grandfather or from the estate of his father until he was thirty years of age, and had therefore made no inquiry as to the facts until he arrived at the age of 30 years; that the claim of the appellee had been presented to and approved and passed by the orphans' court; that Henry J. Houck at the time of his death was possessed of certain lease hold property in Baltimore city four $100 North Carolina bonds, two $100 bonds of the city of Norfolk, 39 shares of the National Union Bank of Maryland, $1,100 worth of the stock of the Unequal Perpetual Building & Loan Association of Baltimore City, 80 shares of the National Bank of Commerce, 15 shares of the National Exchange Bank, 7 shares of the German American Fire Insurance Company, $10,000 in the preferred stock of the Southern Railroad Company, and 13 shares of Farmers' & Mechanics' National Bank of Baltimore, and that he was also seized and possessed of a lot of ground in Snow Hill, Md.; that the appellee arrived at age of 30 years on the 29th day of November, 1907; that all the debts of the said Harry J. Houck had been paid, except the debt due the appellee Henry C. Houck, and the debt due the said Belle Houck; that the said property was not susceptible of partition without loss and injury to the parties interested; and that it would be to their advantage to have said property sold and the proceeds of sale after the payment of the debts due the appellee and Mrs. Belle Houck distributed to the parties according to their respective interests. The prayer of the bill was for a decree for the sale of the property, for the payment of the amount due the appellee, for a distribution of the balance of the proceeds of sale, and for general relief.
The bill was answered by Edwin S. Houck and his wife, admitting that Henry C. Houck was only 16 years of age when the accounts were stated by his mother, as executrix of Henry J Houck, in the orphans' court, denying the claims of the appellee and Mrs. Belle Houck, a averring that the orphans' court had no authority to approve and pass the appellee's claim, and setting up the defense of limitations and laches, but consenting to the passage of a decree for the sale of the property referred to in the bill, and reserving to the plaintiffs and defendants the right, after the passage of the degree, to offer proof "on the question of the allowance or disallowance" of the claims, and stating that the consent given to the passage of a decree for the sale of the property was "in no wise to reflect upon the validity or existence" of the claims. Mrs. Belle Houck also answered, admitting the facts alleged in the bill, and asserting her claim for $27 paid a creditor of the estate, and for $498.52 paid by her in the settlement of the accounts in the orphans' court. Testimony was taken. It was admitted by counsel before the examiner that Harry J. Houck received on the 2d day of January, 1890, from the Mutual Life Insurance Company $2,977.97 on account of the policy mentioned in the will of Henry Houck and evidences was offered...
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