Woolley v. Price

• Decision Date: 22 June 1897
• Citation: 86 Md. 176,37 A. 644
• Parties: WOOLLEY et al. v. PRICE et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

37 A. 644

86 Md. 176

WOOLLEY et al.

v. PRICE et al.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 22, 1897.

Appeal from circuit court, Queen Anne's county, in equity.

Bill by William Busteed, trustee, against William J. Price and another, executors of William K. Sparks, deceased. Demurrer to bill was sustained, and Florence Woolley and others, by leave of court, became parties plaintiff, and appeal. Affirmed.

Argued before McSHERRY, C. J., and BRYAN, FOWLER, BRISCOE, ROBERTS, BOYD, and PAGE, JJ.

John B. Brown, Edwin H. Brown, and Hope H. Barroll, for appellants.

Olin Bryan, for appellees.

BRYAN, J. James B. Palmer, of Queen Anne's county, died in the year 1885, possessed of a considerable amount of personalty. He left a last will and testament, which was duly admitted to probate. By his will, he left one-half of the residue of his estate to his widow, and the other half to B. Palmer Keating, in trust for his brother George S. Palmer, for life, with remainders over upon certain contingencies, and he appointed the widow and Keating executors. The executors received letters testamentary, and gave bond in the usual form. Mrs. Palmer, the widow, died in March, 1894. Before her death no inventory of the estate had been returned to the orphans' court, and there were no proceedings in the court to show how the duties of the executors had been discharged. After the death of Mrs. Palmer, the surviving executor, B. Palmer Keating, returned an administration account, which showed a sum of more than $12,000 as the moiety of the residue bequeathed to him in trust. After the passage of this administration account, Keating was, by the decree of a court of equity, removed from the trusteeship, it being proved that he was insolvent, and William W. Busteed was appointed trustee in his place, with authority to take such legal and equitable proceedings against the executors of James B. Palmer and the sureties on their official bond as might be necessary and proper for the recovery of the funds belonging to the trust. William K. Sparks was one of the sureties on the testamentary bond of the executors of James B. Palmer. He died in the year 1890, leaving real and personal estate, which he disposed of by last will and testament. It is alleged that all the other sureties are insolvent. A bill in equity was filed by Busteed, trustee, against the executors of Sparks, his devisees and legatees, for the purpose of enforcing against them the alleged liability of the executors of Palmer for the legacy to B. Palmer.

Keating, in trust for the persons named in his will. A demurrer was filed to the bill, and it was dismissed. After the dismissal of the bill, the appellants, by leave of the court, became parties plaintiff, for the purpose of prosecuting this appeal.

The cardinal question in the case is whether the executors of Palmer continued responsible for the legacy to Keating, as trustee, or whether it is to be considered as paid to Keating, in his capacity as trustee, at the expiration of the time appointed by law for the settlement of the estate, or afterwards. It is well settled that, if the legacy had been to both of the executors as trustees, there would have been, by operation of law, a transfer of the fund to them as trustees, and, as they would have ceased to hold it as executors, their testamentary bond would have been discharged. State v. Cheston, 51 Md. 352. The principle is stated that, as they would represent different characters, they could not pay the money to themselves, and that, in case of refusal, there was no person who could enforce payment, and that, therefore, the law would, by implication, consider the money in their hands in that representative character which ought to receive it. It was also said that, where an executor "sustains the twofold character of executor and guardian, the law will adjudge the ward's proportion of the property then in his hands to be in his hands in the capacity of guardian, after the time limited by law for the settlement of the estate, whether a final account has been passed by the...