Brady v. Brady

28 A. 515, 78 Md. 461, 1894 Md. LEXIS 23
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJanuary 12, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 28 A. 515 (Brady v. Brady) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brady v. Brady, 28 A. 515, 78 Md. 461, 1894 Md. LEXIS 23 (Md. 1894).

Opinion

Roberts, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The record in this case brings before this Court for review and determination five appeals taken by various parties in interest from the decree passed by the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. The questions presented by these appeals have been argued together, and will be disposed of as hereinafter indicated. The bill was filed for the purpose of obtaining a judicial construction of certain provisions of the last will of Samuel Brady, Sr., late of Baltimore County. The testator executed his will on the first of November, 1862, and died in December, 1871, and now after the lapse of more than twenty years since his death, doubts have arisen as to the construction proper to be placed upon certain parts of his will.

The bill is filed by John W. S. Brady, in his own right, as the surviving administrator with the will annexed of the estate of Samuel Brady, Senior, and as trustee under the several trusts of said will, and as the administrator of the estate of Ann Mary Proctor Brady, deceased, widow of said Samuel Brady, Senior. The defendants are all the other parties interested in the estate of said testator.

The first questions presented for consideration arise under provisions contained in the first and second clauses of the will, which read as follows:

“ Firstly. After the payment of my debts and funeral expenses, I do give and bequeath to my dear wife, Ann Mary Proctor Brady, for and during her natural life, all my estate, real, personal and mixed, with power to receive, take and collect the rents, issues and profits thereof, and the same to dispose of, in all respects, as she may think proper, and with power also to use at her discretion, exchange, dispose of and renew any of my personal goods and chattels requisite to the comfort and [464]*464enjoyment of herself and family. 1 further give and bequeath unto my said wife, her heirs and assigns forever, my two slaves, Priscilla Jones, and Ann, her daughter, to be by her disposed of by will or otherwise, as to her may seem best for their welfare. After the said life estate shall have expired, my will is:

“Secondly. I give and bequeath unto my son, Benjamin Franklin Brady, now in California, and his heirs and assigns forever, the sum of sixteen thousand dollars, ($16,000,) to be paid to him or them within three years after the death of my wife, said sum to be provided for as follows, to wit: Firstly, the cash on hand belonging to the estate, as far as the same will suffice; secondly, the money realized from the payment or sale of promissory notes, and the sale of my Baltimore City stock, and other stocks and mortgages, and other securities, which I hereby authorize and direct shall be sold for that purpose; thirdly, all the money I have loaned my son, John William S. Brady, to be devoted to said fund; and fourthly, the proceeds of sale of my Pimlico Eoad farm, which I also will and direct shall he sold, the whole or so much of the above as may be necessary to be devoted to the payment of the said sum of sixteen thousand dollars, hereby devised to my son Benjamin, his heirs and assigns forever; and this devise is intended to be his entire share of my estate, and to except him as co-heir to the balance.”

After the death of the testator, letters of administration, cum testamento annexo, were granted to John W. S. Brady and Samuel Brady, Jr., who qualified and proceeded with the settlement of the estate. On December 17th, 1872, they passed an account in the Orphans’ Court of Baltimore County, by which the entire residue of the personal estate, after paying debts, funeral expenses and costs of administration, was distributed and delivered over to the testator’s widow, it appears from [465]*465the testimony that the entire supervision of this residue, and also of the real estate of which the testator died seized, was, at the instance and on behalf of the widow, taken by her son Samuel Brady, Jr., who continued to give his attention to it, until his death, which occurred December 30th, 1890. The testimony shows that all of the Baltimore City stock, all of the Franklin Bank stock, and three shares of the Frederick Turnpike stock were sold, and the proceeds delivered to the widow. Mrs. Brady, the widow of testator, died August 3rd, 1892. At the time of her death no part of the residue which had been turned over to her by the administrator remained, except one share of the Chesapeake Bank stock, three shares of Frederick Turnpike stock, the library, certain furniture of small value, and some old farming implements. The balance of the residue had been, by the widow, either consumed, lost or destroyed through use and decay, or applied in payment of taxes and other expenses on the real estate of the testator, which was largely unproductive. The widow had also advanced out of said residue to testator’s son, Benjamin, the sum of seven thousand dollars, on account of the legacy of sixteen thousand dollars which had been bequeathed to him. Since the death of Samuel Brady, Jr., in December, 1890, his widow, Helen S. Brady, has sold the farming implements for the sum of eighteen dollars, the furniture has been in part sold and partly divided, by consent of the parties interested, and the library remains to be delivered to the parties entitled under the will.

The question now arises as to whether the persona] representatives have made such disposition of the residue of the personal estate of their testator as was contemplated by him; and secondly, was the testator’s widow entitled to receive said residue, and treat it as if the items constituting the same, and the title thereto, [466]*466vested absolutely in her. These questions whilst not entirely free from difficulty are, we think, easy of solution. We think the testator never intended to authorize his personal representatives to deal with the residue of his personal estate in the manner in which they have, nor did he have it in contemplation that his widow was ever to have any such dominion over said residue as she has asserted. In seeking t.o ascertain the testator’s intention, recourse should be had to the entire will, otherwise a very narrow and unnatural construction will follow, utterly at variance with the objects sought to be accomplished by the testator, and the true meaning of his testament. Taking the provisions of the first and second clauses of this will, it is clear, beyond all doubt, that in the first instance the testator intended to make “provisions requisite to the comfort and enjoyment of his widow and family;” and in the second, in equally clear and express terms, to bequeath as a legacy to his son Benjamin, the sum of sixteen thousand dollars. The first and second clauses should be read together, for the reason that neither is capable of proper construction, without the aid of the other; but, considered together, proper regard being had to the provisions generally of the whole will, there does not appear to he much difficulty in ascertaining the testator’s true meaning. Yet we do not think that the first clause, taken by itself, admits of any such construction as that which governed the conduct of the administrators in turning over the residue of the personal property to the widow. The testator says: “After the payment of my debts and funeral expenses, I do give and bequeath to my wife Ann Mary Proctor Brady, for and during her natural life, all of my estate, real, personal and mixed, with power to receive, take and collect, the rents, issues and profits thereof, and the same to dispose of in all respects as she may think proper;” therefore the power “to receive,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 A. 515, 78 Md. 461, 1894 Md. LEXIS 23, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brady-v-brady-md-1894.