Buck v. Lantz

Grason, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. These are cross-appeals from a decree of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, and involve the construction of a deed of trust executed by Benjamin A. Buck and Margaret, his wife, on the first day of August, 1857. The deed conveyed all the property which the said Margaret had received from her father, James Harwood, to .Samuel Elder, in trust for the sole and separate use of said Margaret Buck during her natural life; and from and immediately after her death, then in trust as to the whole of said estate, property and effects and increase thereof, including any income or proceeds thereof that may remain in the hands of the trustee at the time of the death of said Margaret, for the sole and separate use, benefit and behoof of Margaret Buck, the daughter of said Benjamin A. and Margaret Buck, his wife, for and during her natural life, and from and immediately after her death, then in trust as to the whole of said property and the increase thereof, for such child or children of the said Margaret Buck, the younger, as she might leave living at the time of her death ; such child or children and descendants to take per stirpes and not per capita; hut if the said Margaret Buck, the younger, should depart this life, without leaving lawful issue living at the time of her death, then in trust to convey and transfer the whole of said trust property and the increase thereof, unto Mary Harwood, the sister of Margaret Buck, wife of Benjamin A. Buck, absolutely. Samuel Elder, the trustee, took possession of the trust property under said deed, and proceeded in the execution of the trust until his death in ⁴⁴³ 1866, when Oliver E. Lantz was duly appointed trustee in his stead, and has continued to act as trustee ever since.

Shortly after the execution of the deed, Benjamin A. Buck and his wife both died, leaving their daughter Margaret, their only child, and then an infant, surviving them. Mary Harwood, a sister of Margaret Buck, the grantor, also survived Benjamin A. Buck and his wife Margaret, but died in 1860, during the life-time of Margaret Buck, the younger, and Margaret Buck, the younger, died in 1875, unmarried and without issue, having first made her last will, which was duly admitted to probate, and by which she devised and bequeathed all the property, real and personal, to which she might be entitled at the time of her death, to her aunt, Cassandra Olivia Buck, the appellant. Upon this state of facts it is contended on behalf of Cassandra O. Buck that the estate conveyed by the deed to the trustee for the benefit of Mary Harwood was a contingent remainder, which could not vest until the death of Margaret Buck, the younger, without issue living at the time of her death, and as Mary Harwood had died during the life-time of Margaret Buck, the life tenant, it could never vest at all, and that the trustee held the estate in remainder, so granted to him, as a resulting trust for the benefit of the grantors, and they being dead, for the use of Margaret Buck, the younger, their only child and heir-at-law, and after her death for the use of her devisee, Cassandra O. Buck, the appellant, who, it is contended, is now entitled to the whole estate. It is perfectly clear that under this deed Margaret Buck, the younger, took only an equitable life estate and that the estate directed to be conveyed by the trustee to Mary Harwood, in the event of Margaret Buck, the younger, leaving no issue living at the time of her death, was a contingent remainder.

The deed conveyed the whole estate to the trustee, so that nothing remained to the grantors, and the remainder was created at the same time ⁴⁴⁴ and by the same conveyance, at and by which the life estate was given to Margaret Buck, the younger, and the words used to create and convey the remainder are clear and definite. If Mary Harwood had outlived Margaret Buck, the younger, there is no