Hans v. Safe Deposit & Trust Co.

Parke, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. On the assigned grounds of duress in its making, and of the inalienability and the non-transmissibility of its subject matter, a suit was begun by Marguerite S. Hans ⁵⁵ to have annulled a deed of trust which was made on May 13th, 1916, by her and her then husband to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore as trustee. The appeal is from the decree of the chancellor sustaining the deed of trust and dismissing the bill of complaint. The testimony has been carefully considered and weighed in connection with the circumstances attendant upon the execution of the deed of trust, with the inferences to be drawn from the relation of the parties, and with the nature of the provisions of the deed of trust, and the court is of the opinion that duress is not established.

On the second ground taken, the following pertinent facts should be stated. A certain Henry S. Shryock died testate on December 6th, 1882. His large residuary estate of realty and personalty was devised and bequeathed to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore, trustee, for the use and benefit of his widow and sister and his children, and their issue, during the lives of the said widow and sister, and the life of the survivor of them, and from and after the death of the said widow and the last surviving child the whole of the rest and residue of said trust estate to be divided equally among all of the testator’s grandchildren then living, together with the lawful issue of any dead grandchild, the grandchildren living to take per compita and the issue of any grandchild to take per stirpes. The trustee appointed by the will accepted the trust and continued its administration until the death, on December 14th, 1927, of the last survivor of the testator’s widow and children.

Before the happening of this death, Marguerite S. Hans, a grandchild of the testator, and her then husband, Evan D. Hans, executed, on May 13th, 1916, a deed of trust to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company as trustee. The recital of the deed set forth the terms of the residuary clause of the will and codicil of her grandfather, which created the trust, and declared that “the said Marguerite S. Hans is desirous of settling all of her property interest and estate to which ⁵⁶ she is.now or may hereafter become entitled in the manner as in said will and codicil set forth and the said Evan D. Hans her husband is desirous of joining in these presents to more fully and perfectly carry out such settlement as aforesaid and the Safe Deposit and Trust Company in Baltimore party of the second part at the request of the parties of the first part” (the grantors) “and- for the consideration hereinafter expressed has agreed to be trustee under this deed and settlement.” After stating that the deed is “in consideration of the premises and the sum of one dollar in hand paid and other good and valuable considerations the parties of the first part thereto moving,” the grant and assignment proceeds in these words: “The said parties of the first part, Marguerite S. Hans and Evan D. Hans, her husband, do hereby bargain, sell, assign and convey unto the said Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore its successors and assigns all and every property right title interest, estate claim and demand of them the said parties of the first part or either of them in unto or out of the same and every part thereof to which she the said Marguerite S. Hans is or may be entitled to any claim or demand under the provisions of said last will and testament and codicil thereto. “To have and to hold all said property and premises hereby intended to be granted and assigned and conveyed or expressed so to be unto the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore its successors and assigns according to the nature and quality of the said property and premises upon the trusts and with and subject to the purposes, authorities and provisions hereinafter expressed and declared.” The trusts declared are, in summary, for the sole and separate use and benefit of Marguerite S. Hans for life and then to convey, assign and pay over the trust estate unto such person or persons as she shall by last will appoint; and, in default of such appointment or as far as the appointment shall not extend, in trust for all of the children, if any, of the said Marguerite, their heirs, ⁵⁷ executors, administrators and assigns, in equal shares,, the child, children or descendants of any deceased child of the said Marguerite to take the share to which its parent if living would have been entitled, and if there be only one child to his or her executors, his or her executors, administrators and assigns. If there shall be no child, children or descendants of the said Marguerite, then, so much of the said trust estate as shall be realty shall go to and devolve upon and become the property of the person or persons who would take under the laws of the State of Maryland in relation to the descent of real estate on the death of the said Marguerite as if she had died seized and possessed thereof intestate and without her having married; and so much of said trust estate as shall be personal property shall go to and become the property of the person or persons who, under the Statute of Maryland for distribution of personal estate of intestates, would, on the death of the said Marguerite intestate, become entitled thereto, if she had died possessed of the estate without having been married. Ample powers were conferred upon the trustee for the administration of the trust, subject to the provision that the power of sale and conveyance of any real estate or chattel real of the trust shall not be exercised without the prior consent in writing of the said Marguerite.

The duty was particularly imposed upon the trustee to require it to enforce the transfer and delivery to it for the purposes of the trust of all the real and personal property to which the said Marguerite “shall or may become entitled upon the happening of the event mentioned in the said last will and testament of her grandfather Henry S. Shryock or otherwise howsoever and hereby granted, conveyed or assigned or intended so to be when and so soon as said events shall occur.” In further confirmation of the clear and unmistakable intention of the grantors to grant, transfer and assign every estate interest or right, whether vested, contingent, present or future, of Marguerite S. Hans under the will of her grandfather, the grant concludes with this stipu ⁵⁸ lation: “And the said Marguerite S. Hans and Evan D. Hans, her husband, do hereby covenant and agree with the trustee of these presents that they will execute any deed, deeds or other instruments of writing which may be required to more fully vest in and assure to the trustee under these presents all such estates and properties in which the said Marguerite S. Hans now has a reversionary interest and which are intended to be conveyed and assigned by these presents for when and as soon as she shall become entitled to the same under the terms of the last will and testament and codicil of Henry Shryock aforesaid.” This deed of trust was duly delivered and recorded, but it was not until the death of the last surviving life tenant on December 14th, 1927, that the duties of the trustee became active. On December 31st, 1927, the Safe Deposit and Trust Company in its several capacities as trustee under the will of Henry S. Shryock, deceased, and as trustee under the deed of trust of the said Marguerite S. Hans (sometimes called Catherine Marguerite Hans) and husband, and as trustee of other beneficiaries under similar but distinct deeds of trust, instituted equity proceedings against the beneficiaries and other parties claiming under them. Among the defendants were the said Marguerite S. Hans and Evan Donovan Hans, her husband. At the death, on December 14th, 1927, of the last survivor of the widow and children of the testator, there were nineteen grandchildren then living, and no dead grandchild leaving issue, so there were nineteen equal shares to be divided and distributed.

The plaintiff, Marguerite S. Hans, or her grantee under the deed of trust, was entitled to one of these shares. The bill of complaint set out facts which show that the distribution of the trust estate among the parties had become so complicated by the acts of the beneficiaries with reference to their several shares of the trust estate, that the trustee desired the aid and assistance of a court of equity in making the final distribution and division. ⁵⁹ The bill of complaint concluded with the prayer for general relief and for the particular relief that the court assume jurisdiction of the trust and determine and decree whether distribution of the trust property should be made among the parties entitled, and who are the parties now entitled to receive the same, and in what proportions; and that such division and distribution may be made under the supervision and direction of the court, and, secondly, that such part of the securities and ground rents as cannot be divided in kind without loss and injury to the parties interested may be sold in order that the proceeds thereof may be divided and distributed. The trust created by the testator’s will contemplated this division and distribution of his estate by the trustee, whose office and function did not end until this division and distribution was effected. In the accomplishment of this final duty as trustee under the will of Henry S. Shryock, the trustee had the right to seek and obtain the jurisdiction, direction and supervision of a court of equity.

On May 2nd, 1928, the chancellor passed the decree in this cause, which determined that the nineteen equal shares or parts into which the trust estate had been divided by the trustee should be ratified and confirmed as in accordance with the nineteen separate schedules of division filed; and that, inter alia, the share designated “Share M” should be allotted to the “Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore, Trustee, under the deed from Catherine Marguerite Hans (Marguerite S. Hans) mentioned in these proceedings,” and that the trustee be vested with the full legal title to the parcels of real estate included in the share allotted to the trustee, as the grantee and assignee in trust of the said Marguerite S. Hans, and that the trustee under the will execute such transfers of title to the allottee and distributee as may be necessary or proper. The share embraced both real and personal property of the value of $63,248.53. As has been stated, Marguerite S. Hans and her husband, Evan D. Hans, were parties to the cause in which this decree was entered, and their deed of trust was be ⁶⁰ fore the court for its consideration in relation to the determination of who was entitled to receive the share of Marguerite S. Hans as one of the nineteen grandchildren of the testator. She was represented by counsel, who was her husband, and in her and his name he united in a written assent to the passage of the decree.

In accordance with this decree, the then vested share of Marguerite S. Hans was transferred and assigned to the Safe Deposit and Trust Company as trustee upon the trusts declared by the deed of trust of the said Marguerite S. Hans and her then husband. The trustee, from 1928, administered the trust in accordance with this deed of trust, and the said Marguerite S. Hans as its beneficiary for life received the income therefrom and the full benefits of its provisions. It further appears