Horwitz v. Safe Deposit & Trust Co.

192 A. 281, 172 Md. 437, 1937 Md. LEXIS 251
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 24, 1937
Docket[Nos. 17, 18, April Term, 1937.]
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 192 A. 281 (Horwitz v. Safe Deposit & Trust Co.) 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
Horwitz v. Safe Deposit & Trust Co., 192 A. 281, 172 Md. 437, 1937 Md. LEXIS 251 (Md. 1937).

Opinion

Urner, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The will of Orville Horwitz, who died in 1887, bequeathed to his brother, Theophilus Horwitz, the sum of $20,000 “to be invested safely in permanent securities *439 and the interest, rent and income thereof to be received and enjoyed by him during the term of his natural life,” and the investments to become a part of the testator’s residuary estate after his brother’s death. The fund was invested by the life beneficiary in nine ground rents in Baltimore City, the title to which was conveyed to him with express reference to the limitations of the will. The life estate ended upon the death of Theophilus Horwitz in 1895, but his daughter, Caroline Norris Horwitz, was enabled thereafter to receive the income from those investments as the result of a voluntary and gratuitous provision to that end by the testator’s widow, who had been devised and bequeathed interests in his entire estate, and by his four daughters, who were his residuary legatees and devisees. That purpose was accomplished by a written authorization to Alexander Yearley & Son, real estate agents, to collect and pay to Caroline Norris Horwitz, “until otherwise instructed,” the net income from the ground rents in which the fund bequeathed by her father for life had been invested. The interests of the residuary legatees and devisees were defined, by the tenth paragraph of the will, as follows: “I give, devise1 and bequeath all the rest, residue and remainder of my Estate and Property of every sort and description, unto my four daughters, Florence, Louisa, Alice and Haller, to be equally divided between them, share and share alike, each of said shares to be held by the daughter to whom the same may be allotted for and during the term of her natural life, free and clear of any control over the same or of any interest therein of any future husband to whom she may be married and without any power or authority to her to dispose of or incumber the same in any way, but with full power to her to manage the said property, to collect in and receive all the rents, issues and profits thereof, and to receipt for the same; and with full power to her to dispose by last Will and Testament, or by any instrument in the nature of a last Will and Testament, of her said share, as fully as if she were a. feme sole; and from and after the death of any one of my said daughters, if *440 she should die without executing the power herein granted to make a last Will and Testament, then, as to her said share, to be divided equally amongst the issue of her body lawfully begotten and living at the time of her death, (descendants of deceased children to take per stirpes and not per capita), but in the event of her dying without leaving issue living at the time of her death, then the said share shall be and become a part of my residuary estate and shall pass accordingly.”

The widow 'of the testator died in August, 1914, his daughter Florence in September, 1918, and his daughter Louisa in January, 1919. After the death of Louisa a proceeding was instituted in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City for the partition of the large number of ground rents belonging to the residuary estate of Orville Horwitz, including those purchased with the furid which had been bequeathed to his brother for life. To effect an equal division among those entitled it was necessary to sell certain properties which were not susceptible of partition. The adult parties to the proceeding filed “Requests” that there should be invested so much of the proceeds of such sales “as may be necessary to purchase $24,000. par value of United States 4(4% Bonds for the purpose of providing, after deducting the trustee’s commissions of 5% on the gross income, the sum of $969.00 per annum, to be paid to Caroline Norris Horwitz during her life, in quarterly payments on the first of January, April, July and October of each year and with a proportionate part from the last payment made to her down to the time of her death, the said sum of $969. per annum being the amount of annuity heretofore paid to her by the daughters of Mr. Orville Horwitz, deceased.” Those requests were signed by the testator’s daughter Alice, the wife of Count Pietro Andreozzi-Bernini, by his daughter Haller, the wife of Col. Ronald Brooke, and by the residuary legatees and devisees under the will of the testator’s two deceased daughters, Florence, who at the time of her death was the wife of Count Renato Segalla di San Gallo, and Louisa, the widow of William C. Bullitt, each of the de *441 ceased daughters having by their wills exercised the powers of appointment given them by their father’s will as to the shares of his residuary estate in which they respectively had life interests. The will of Countess di San Gallo devised and bequeathed two-thirds of the portion of her father’s estate over which she had a power of testamentary disposition to her three sisters, Louisa, Alice and Haller, the share of Louisa to be held for her in trust by the Safe Deposit & Trust Company of Baltimore, Maryland, and at her death to pass to her two sons or their heirs per stirpes absolutely. The remaining .one-third of the appointed estate was devised and bequeathed to Maria Beatrice Andreozzi-Bemini, niece of the testatrix. There was also the following provision in the will of Countess di San Gallo: “I direct that my Executor pay over to my cousin, Caroline Norris Horwitz during her life time, through Messrs Alexander Yearley & Son, Real Estate Agents of said Baltimore, or in whatever may prove more convenient, the same annual sum of money which she has been receiving since the decease of her late Father out of my portion of the estate of my late Father. At her death said sum becomes a part of my residuary estate and passed accordingly.”

By the will of Mrs. Bullitt all of her residuary estate and that over which she had a power of appointment under her father’s will was devised and bequeathed to her sons, William C. Bullitt, Jr., and Orville H. Bullitt, and to Thomas Raeburn White, in trust for the benefit for life of such of her three sons as may be living at the time of her death, and for the widow then living of any son of the testatrix who may have predeceased her, with remainder to such persons as her sons respectively may appoint by last will and testament, or in default of such appointment to pass under the laws of Pennsylvania as if her sons had owned the estate absolutely and died intestate. In a preceding clause of her will Mrs. Bullitt had devised and bequeathed her interest in the ground rents in which the legacy for life to Theophilus Horwitz had been invested to Alexander Yearley & Son “in trust, to *442 collect and receive the rents, issues and profits thereof, and after deducting all proper charges and expenses to pay over the net income therefrom to” her cousin Caroline Norris Horwitz during her lifetime; and it was provided that after her death the interest of the testatrix in those ground rents should become a part of her residuary estate and as such should be held or distributed.

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Bluebook (online)
192 A. 281, 172 Md. 437, 1937 Md. LEXIS 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horwitz-v-safe-deposit-trust-co-md-1937.