Schmidt v. Hinkley

80 A. 971, 115 Md. 330, 1911 Md. LEXIS 146
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedApril 4, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 80 A. 971 (Schmidt v. Hinkley) 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
Schmidt v. Hinkley, 80 A. 971, 115 Md. 330, 1911 Md. LEXIS 146 (Md. 1911).

Opinion

Pearce, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an appeal by the defendant below from a decree of Circuit Court Ho. 2, of Baltimore City for the specific performance by the defendant of a contract to purchase from the appellees as trustees, a fee simple property in the City of Baltimore, known as Humber 313 Horth Paca street, for the sum of seven thousand dollars, of which the sum of $200 was paid in cash March 23rd, 1910, and the balance, by the ■written agreement between the parties, was to be paid in cash upon the execution and delivery of the deed; the title to be good and marketable, and the purchaser to be allowed thirty days for examination of title.

The case was submitted on' bill, answer and agreed statement of facts.

The sale was made by the appellees as Trustees under a deed of trust from Margaret Wilson dated May 25th, 1909 and duly recorded. It conveyed and assigned to John Hinkley and Thomas Foley Hisky and the survivor of them, and their successors in office, the property above mentioned (also *332 certain furniture and other personal property, and a certain legacy of five thousand dollars, bequeathed to her under the will of -John T. Morris, then deceased), in trust to permit the said Margaret Wilson to occupy Mo. 313 Morth Paca street during her life, or in case she should not wish to occupy it, then in trust to rent the same for her benefit; also to permit her to use the said furniture and other personal property, with power to dispose of the same by will; to invest the said legacy of $5,000, and the proceeds of sale of the dwelling, furniture, and other personal property, in case the same or any part thereof should be sold for her benefit during her life. The sixth clause of said deed of trust which is the important part of the deed for the determination of this appeal is as follows:

“With power to said Trustees, and the survivor of them and their successors in the office of trustee, in their discretion, and Avithout application to any Court, to sell, lease, exchange or otherwise convey or. assign the property hereby granted and conveyed, including said dwelling house, furniture and other personal property, and the investments of said legacy of Five thousand dollars, or any parcel or portion thereof, or any rein-vestments of the same, and to execute proper deeds, assignments or other conveyances, and so that in any sales the purchasers shall not be bound to see to the application of the purchase money or other consideration therefor. Said powers to be exercised as often as may be necessary either for the purpose of changing the investments or redemption of redeemable ground rents, or for division among the parties entitled after the death of the said Margaret Wilson, or for any other purpose which, in the discretion of said Trustees, or the survivor of them, or their successors in the office of trustee, may be necessary or desirable for the purposes of the trust, the proceeds' of any sale made during the life of the said Margaret Wilson, to be reinvested by said Trustees or the survivor of them, or their successors in the office of trustee, in their discretion, and held upon the same trusts as the property originally granted.”

It will be seen later that the question for determination turns mainly upon the words we have italicised in the clause *333 above transcribed’. By another provision of the deed of trust, said trastees were, upon the death of said Margaret Wilson, to repay, out of said trust estate, to certain cousins of said Margaret Wilson, all such sums as should have been expended by them for her support and maintenance, under a family arrangement for that purpose mentioned in said deed of trust, and the said Margaret Wilson was also empowered, subject to the last mentioned provision, to devise and bequeath the entire trust estate to such person or persons as she should think proper, and in default of such disposition, the whole trust estate, after payment of the amounts due said cousins, to be conveyed, transferred and delivered to the heirs and personal representatives of said Margaret Wilson. She died February 1st, 1910, leaving a will duly executed and' admitted to probate, by which she specially exercised the power of disposition or appointment of said trust estate, hy which, after making certain small bequests, she devised and bequeathed all the rest and residue of her estate, including said trust estate to Auguste Emilie Arnold, Louise Julia Arnold' and Hannah T. Hisky, wife of Thomas Foley Hisky, to be equally divided among them, and constituted the said John Hnldey and Thomas Foley Hisky, executors of said will and authorized them, if they should see fit, to divide said residue into three equal parts and to allot one of said' parts to each of said residuary legatees.

On March 23rd, 1910, the appellees as trustees entered into the contract with the appellant which they now seek to enforce. The appellant’s objection to the title and the ground of his refusal to perform said contract, is that after the death of Mrs. Wilson and after the exercise by. her of the power of appointment reserved to her in the deed of trust, the power of sale given by the deed of trust to the trastees was destroyed. The trustees, on June 21, 1910, filed their bond as trustees under said trust in the penalty of $14,000 in the Superior Court of Baltimore City, with condition prescribed by law, which was duly approved.

*334 On June 16th, 1910, said trustee tendered to the appellant a deed in due form for said property, executed by them as trustees under said trust, and also by Auguste Emelie Arnold, Louise Julia Arnold, both unmarried, and by Hannah T. Hisky and Thomas Eoley Hisky, her husband, with proper references to said deed of trust and to said last will and testament, and demanded from the appellant the balance of the contract price. It was also admitted in the record that on February 18th, 1910, said trustees paid to said cousins all sums due either of them on account of expenditures made by them for the maintenance of said Margaret Wilson; that no debts were proved against the estate of Margaret Wilson; and that on August 11th, 1910, John Hinkley and Thomas Foley Hisky duly passed an administration account as executors of Margaret Wilson, by which all costs of administration were paid, all pecuniary and specific legacies were paid, and the balance of the estate was divided equally among the three above-named residuary devisees and legatees, and releases of all said devisees and legatees were duly filed, and it was declared by the appellant that his. reason for refusing to accept the title to the property “was that the sale should have been made by the executors under the will, and not by the trastees under the deed of trusts.”

The first contention of the appellant is “that the trust estate, and with it all powers of sale, expired upon the death of Margaret Wilson, leaving a will duly executed, and upon the repayment to her cousins of the amounts due them.” He correctly argues that the extent of the legal estate of these trustees depends upon the objects and extent of the trusts upon which the estate was given, and then proceeds to the assertion that an examination of the deed of trust in this case shows that it had but two purposes, viz.

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Bluebook (online)
80 A. 971, 115 Md. 330, 1911 Md. LEXIS 146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmidt-v-hinkley-md-1911.