Groat v. Sundberg

73 A.3d 374, 213 Md. App. 144, 2013 WL 4603124, 2013 Md. App. LEXIS 94
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedAugust 29, 2013
DocketNo. 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 73 A.3d 374 (Groat v. Sundberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Groat v. Sundberg, 73 A.3d 374, 213 Md. App. 144, 2013 WL 4603124, 2013 Md. App. LEXIS 94 (Md. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

WOODWARD, J.

On June 18, 2010, Irv Groat, appellant,1 filed a request with the Register of Wills of Anne Arundel County that a one-page document dated January 21, 2010 (the “Document”) be admitted to probate as a codicil to the will of Frank Haigas (“Mr. Haigas”),2 who had died on March 21, 2010 or, in the alternative, that a hearing be held to determine the Document’s validity. Appellees, Kristin E. Sundberg and Michael Pren[147]*147dergast, challenged the admission of the Document to probate. On August 26, 2010, a hearing was held before the Orphans’ Court for Anne Arundel County to determine the validity of the Document as a codicil. On September 14, 2010, the orphans’ court determined that the Document did not satisfy the witnessing requirements for a testamentary document under Maryland Code (1974, 2011 Repl.Vol.), § 4-102 of the Estates and Trusts Article (“E.T.”) and refused to admit the Document to probate as a codicil to the will of Mr. Haigas.

Appellant presents three questions for our review, which we have slightly rephrased:

1. Did the orphans’ court err when it placed the burden of proving due execution on appellant?
2. Did the orphans’ court err when it implicitly considered that an interested witness’s failure to recall whether she was in the same room as the testator at the time she signed the codicil was evidence against due execution?
3. Is the requirement of E.T. § 4-102 that a witness sign “in the presence of the testator” satisfied when a witness signs a codicil at the direction of the testator and while in the same house as the testator?

For the reasons set forth herein, we shall answer each question in the negative and accordingly affirm the judgment of the orphans’ court.

BACKGROUND

On August 12, 2006, Mr. Haigas executed a Last Will and Testament (the “Will”). He appointed his niece, Melissa Haigas (“Ms. Haigas”), “Executrix” of the Will. Article IV of the Will stated:

I have provided, through MicroLamda, LLC, for the payment to my estate of $500,000 in life insurance benefits upon my death for my interest in MicroLamda, LLC. Upon receipt of such insurance proceeds by my Executor I direct that my Executor convey all of my right, title, and interest in the ownership of MicroLamda, LLC as follows:
[148]*148a. One half of my interest to Kristin E. Sundberg, and
b. One half of my interest to Michael Prendergast.
In the event that either predeceases me then I give, devise and bequeath their one half interest to the survivor.

In Article V of the Will, Ms. Haigas was to receive “all of [Mr. Halgas’s] estate and all the rest, residue and remainder of [his] estate, both real and personal property of every description whatsoever, including any property over which [he has] a power of appointment----”

On March 21, 2010, Mr. Haigas died. Appellant thereafter asked the attorney for the Estate of Frank Haigas (the “Estate”) to present the Document to the Register of Wills for probate as a codicil to the Will. The Document is reproduced, in its entirety, as follows:

January 22,2010
Upon my death I will transfer at of my stock to frw Groat for 0i* sum of $10,000,00.
A copy of Ui« chccfe should be furnished to ftdtcn» Lambda . to initiate transfer.
[[Image here]]

[149]*149The attorney for the Estate refused to present the Document to the Register of Wills, because he believed that it failed to satisfy the statutory requirements of a testamentary document.

On June 18, 2010, appellant filed a request with the Register of Wills for Anne Arundel County that the Document be admitted to probate as a codicil to the will of Mr. Haigas or, in the alternative, that a hearing be held to determine the Document’s validity. On June 22, 2010, the Will was admitted to probate, and Ms. Haigas was appointed personal representative of the Estate.

On August 26, 2010, a hearing was held before the orphans’ court to determine the validity of the Document as a codicil to the Will. At the hearing, appellant testified that, between January 7 and 14, 2010, Mr. Haigas contacted him about executing a codicil:

Mr. Haigas told me that it was a Codicil and he emailed me a soft copy of [the Document] and directed me over the phone to print out three copies of it and bring it with me to have lunch with him at his home, bring the three copies. I did so. In his presence he asked me to sign it, sign all three copies, and I did, and he signed all three copies in front of me and he asked me to leave them on the desk in his den where he was spending most of his time.
We ate in the den. He had an easy chair where he spent most of his time because that was the most comfortable place for him at the time. So all three copies were signed by him, by me that day and left on his desk and he told me he would have [Ms. Haigas] sign them and call me up when that was accomplished.

Ms. Haigas testified that on January 15, 2010, she had a conversation with Mr. Haigas about “his intention to have—to transfer the stock to [appellant], instead of following the Will as it was written.” Ms. Haigas continued:

And so [Mr. Haigas] said that the next time I came, which would be two weeks later, he would have a document ready for me to sign. And so when I came back two weeks later, [150]*150it was around February 6th, 5th [or] 6th. [The Document] was there, and it was signed by Uncle and [appellant], and I signed it.

Ms. Haigas clarified that she did not see anyone sign the Document; it had already been signed by Mr. Haigas and appellant. She specifically recalled seeing Mr. Halgas’s signature on the Document.

On direct examination, appellant’s counsel asked Ms. Haigas whether she signed the Document in Mr. Halgas’s presence:

[COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT]: And was [Mr. Haigas] in the room at the time you signed the document?
[MS. HALGAS]: Yeah. As [appellant] mentioned, he was in the chair that he was always sitting in. And to be honest with you, I don’t remember where the documents were sitting. They may have been on his desk. They may have been in the kitchen. I can’t recall.
[COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT]: Just to be clear, [Mr. Haigas] gave you the [D]ocument and you signed it in his presence and returned it to him?
* * *
[MS. HALGAS]: I don’t recall. I mean, if they were in the kitchen, he may have said, “They’re in the kitchen, sign the [D]ocument,” and I left it in the kitchen. If they were on the den desk, I signed it in his presence. To be honest with you, I don’t recall if I signed it in his presence or not.
* * *
[COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT]: [B]ut you don’t recall exactly where you were when you signed it?
[MS. HALGAS]: In which room of the house, I don’t remember.

(Emphasis added).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 A.3d 374, 213 Md. App. 144, 2013 WL 4603124, 2013 Md. App. LEXIS 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/groat-v-sundberg-mdctspecapp-2013.