Gardenville Permanent Loan Ass'n v. Walker

Bartol, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Since the decision of Willett and Wife vs. Carroll, 13 Md., 459 , and Donnelly vs. Edelin, 40 Md., 117 , there can he no doubt that by the will of John Frederick Walker, deceased, the farm or parcel of land by him devised in fee to his son, John Frederick Walker, Jr., was charged with the burden of a reasonable support and maintenance of the appellee, the widow of the testator, during her life; and the appellant, having purchased the land, took the same subject to this charge. A careful reading of the testimony in the record has brought us to the same conclusion reached by the Circuit Court, that the appellee was justified in leaving the house of the defendant, Walker, and seeking a home elsewhere, for the reason that he failed to provide her with reasonable and necessary support and maintenance, while she remained a member of his family, such as she was entitled to enjoy under the will. She is entitled to maintain her bill for the enforcement of the charge for her reasonable maintenance and support, against the land in the hands of the appellant.

We are next to determine the amount to which she is entitled. ⁴⁵⁵ It appears in evidence that at the death of the testator, John E. Walker, Sr., the land devised to his son was encumbered by a mortgage executed by himself and wife in favor of Otto Gunther, for one thousand dollars. This mortgage debt was paid by the devisee, John E. Walker, Jr., and was released by Gunther’s administratrix on the 16th day of February, 1872, and it further appears by the testimony, that the money borrowed from the appellant, and for which the property was mortgaged to the latter, was used in paying Gunther’s mortgage; and the appellant contends that it is entitled, by subrogation, to the benefit of the mortgage lien held by Gunther, for the purpose of diminishing the charge of the appellee