Crandall, Exec. v. Crandall

Prescott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The only question involved in this appeal is a narrow one: Did the Orphans’ Court for Somerset County have jurisdiction to determine the validity vel non of a release given by the appellee herein to the executor of, and residuary legatees under, the last will and testament of her deceased husband? On November 13, 1947, Solomon S. Crandall executed a will in which he made certain cash legacies, and then gave the rest and residue of his estate to his daughter Janet and his son Hyman, whom he named to act as executor. On the first day of June, 1953, the testator and the appellee entered into an antenuptial agreement, and two days thereafter they were married.

He died on February 2, 1956, his will being admitted to probate on the 27th day of the same month. On May 21, 1956, the appellee executed a purported release of her interest in the estate of her late husband to the executor of, and the residuary legatees under, her husband’s said will and testament. On August 24, 1956, the appellee filed her election to take her widow’s share of the real and personal property left by her husband. Thereafter, the executor stated and filed an account as if no such an election had been made.

On March 15, 1958, the appellee filed a petition in the Or ⁶⁰⁰ phans’ Court in which she alleged the invalidity of both the antenuptial agreement and the release that she had given to the executor and the residuary legatees. The executor filed an answer to the petition in which he denied the jurisdiction of the Orphans’ Court to determine the question presented thereby. After a hearing, the Orphans’ Court “ordered * * * that the alleged release is and the same is hereby declared to be invalid,” that the widow’s election be given full force and effect, that the executor’s account theretofore filed be declared null and void and that the executor prepare and file a new account in accordance with the order. From this order, the executor has appealed.

The appellee argues that the provisions of Code (1957) Article 93, sections 259 and 263, are broad enough to authorize and empower the Orphans’ Court to rule upon the validity of the release in question. However, it must be remembered that Orphans’ Courts are not courts of general jurisdiction; on the contrary, they are courts of special and limited jurisdiction only, and they cannot, under pretext of incidental or constructive authority, exercise jurisdiction not expressly conferred by law. Code (1957) Article 93, sec. 287. And they have no implied or general powers, but are confined to the letter of their authority. 1 Sykes, Maryland Practice, sec. 203.

We present only this brief statement concerning the jurisdiction of the Orphans’ Courts in Maryland, because the specific question here involved has been answered on at least three occasions by this Court. The case of Shafer v. Shafer, 85 Md. 554 , 37 A. 167 , involved the validity of certain releases given by legatees to an executor, and this Court, at page 561,