McIntyre v. Smyth

857 A.2d 1235, 159 Md. App. 19, 2004 Md. App. LEXIS 150
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedSeptember 17, 2004
DocketNo. 1928
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 857 A.2d 1235 (McIntyre v. Smyth) 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
McIntyre v. Smyth, 857 A.2d 1235, 159 Md. App. 19, 2004 Md. App. LEXIS 150 (Md. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

KRAUSER, J.

When Marion I. Knott died, her Last Will and Testament named, as personal representatives of her estate, two of her children, appellees Patricia K. Smyth1 and Francis X. Knott, and, among other things, left her “tangible personal property” to her ten surviving children. In dispute is the fate of that property and its implications for the standing of the decedent’s other children to request judicial probate. If, as appellees [22]*22Smyth and Knott contend, that property was adeemed, before her death, appellants, who comprise six of the decedent’s eight other children, had no standing to file a petition for judicial probate, and the decision of the orphans’ court, dismissing that petition on those grounds, must be affirmed. But if, as appellants claim, the ademption of that property was in dispute at the time that their petition was dismissed, then appellants did have standing, and the orphans’ court erred in dismissing their petition for judicial probate.

This matter commenced when, upon Mrs. Knott’s death, appellees Smyth and Knott filed a petition for administration of a small estate, together with the decedent’s Will and First Codicil (collectively, the “Will”),2 with the Register of Wills for Baltimore City. The only asset of the estate, according to the petition, was a bank account, containing a little less than $13,000. No tangible personal property was listed. After admitting the Will to probate and appointing appellees, Smyth and Knott, as personal representatives of the estate, the register of wills sent notice of the appointment to all “interested persons.”

In response to that notice, seven of decedent’s other children: Martin G. Knott, Sr.3 and appellants Marion Knott McIntyre, Alice K. Voelkel, Margaret K. Riehl, Mary Stuart K. Rodgers, Sarah Lindsay K. Harris, and Rose Marie Porter, filed a petition for judicial probate in the Orphans’ Court for Baltimore City, requesting, among other things, a plenary hearing and the appointment of an independent personal representative to conduct an investigation into whether the actions purportedly taken by the decedent or by others on her [23]*23behalf or on behalf of her estate “were in accord with her intent.”

Appellees filed a response to that petition, requesting that the orphans’ court dismiss appellants’ petition and re-appoint them as personal representatives, as their administrative appointment ended, in accordance with ET § 6-307,4 when appellants filed their Petition for Judicial Probate. That response was followed by a motion to dismiss appellants’ petition for judicial probate, in which appellees, for the first time, sought dismissal on the grounds that appellants were no longer “interested persons” under the Will and therefore, under Maryland law, lacked standing to request judicial probate. The orphans’ court agreed, granted appellees’ motion, and dismissed appellants’ petition for judicial probate.

Challenging that ruling, appellants present two issues for our review. Reordered, they are:

I. Whether the orphans’ court erred when it held that appellants did not qualify as heirs under the definition of “interested persons” as set forth in section 1-101(i)(4) of the Estates and Trusts Article and as a result did not have standing to file the Petition for Judicial Probate.
II. Whether the orphans’ court erred when it held that appellants did not qualify as legatees under the definition of “interested persons,” as set forth in section 1-[24]*24101(i)(3) of the Estates and Trusts Article and as a result did not have standing to file the Petition for Judicial Probate.

For the reasons that follow, we shall vacate the judgment of the orphans’ court and remand this matter to that court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Marion I. Knott, a Baltimore City resident, died testate on April 15, 2003. Before her death, in 1994, she executed both the will at issue and a power of attorney authorizing Patricia K. Smyth and Patricia’s now-deceased brother, Henry J. Knott, Jr., to create a revocable trust on the decedent’s behalf. According to appellants, the decedent was to be the sole beneficiary of that trust, and upon her death, the assets were to be payable to her estate.5

In her Will, the decedent left all of her “tangible personal property” to her surviving children. The property included her “furniture and furnishings, household and personal effects,” and was to be divided “among them in shares nearly equal in value as practicable.” She left the balance of her estate to the Marion I. and Henry J. Knott Foundation, Inc. (the “Foundation”)6 and named two of her children, Henry J. Knott, Jr. and Patricia K. Smyth, as the personal representatives of her estate. She further provided in her Will that if Henry J. Knott, Jr. were to predecease her that Francis X. Knott was to serve as co-personal representative in his place.

[25]*25Shortly after Decedent’s death, appellees Smyth and Francis Knott (Henry J. Knott, Jr. having passed away) filed a petition, requesting administrative probate of a small estate, with the Register of Wills for Baltimore City. The decedent’s estate qualified as a small estate, they claimed, because its only estate asset was a checking account containing $12,344. In that petition, they also requested that they be appointed, in accordance with the terms of the Will, personal representatives of the estate.

After admitting the Will to administrative probate and appointing Smyth and Knott as personal representatives of the estate, the register of wills published, in a newspaper of general circulation, as required by Md.Code (1974, 2001 Repl. Vol.), § 7-103 of the Estates and Trusts Article (“ET”), notice of the appointment of appellees as personal representatives and sent a copy of that notice, as required by ET § 2-210, to appellants, as “interested persons” under ET § l-101(i). In response to that notice, appellants, as “interested persons,” filed a petition for judicial probate in the Orphans Court for Baltimore City.

Appellants’ judicial probate petition requested “the appointment of an independent person selected by the Court to serve as Personal Representative of the Estate for purposes of conducting an independent investigation to assure that all actions taken by or on behalf of the Decedent, during her lifetime and on behalf of her estate, after her death, were in accord with her intent, without violation of a confidential relationship and without self-dealing or other conflict.” The petition also “demand[ed] a plenary hearing to determine testamentary capacity of the decedent, the validity and proper execution of the Will and Codicil, and for the appointment of an independent Personal Representative.”

After filing their petition for judicial probate, appellants sent appellees interrogatories and requests for production of documents, seeking information regarding the decedent’s testamentary capacity; her execution of the will; the assets of her estate, including her tangible personal property; her [26]*26revocable trust; and any “gift, distribution, transfer, exchange, [or] other disposition of any type” that appellees received from the decedent before her death. When appellees failed to respond to those requests, appellants moved for sanctions.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Zadnik v. Ambinder
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2023
Dept. of Health v. Myers
242 A.3d 1180 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
857 A.2d 1235, 159 Md. App. 19, 2004 Md. App. LEXIS 150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcintyre-v-smyth-mdctspecapp-2004.