Harrison v. Harrison

Urner, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The object of this suit in equity is to require the repayment to the plaintiff of a fund of $12,000 paid by him to the Continental Trust Company under an agreement which he alleges to be void as against public policy. From a decree dismissing the bill of complaint, on demurrer, the plaintiff, has appealed. ³⁷⁹ The agreement was executed in July, 1928. It was primarily between the plaintiff and his wife, but appended to it was an acceptance by the trust company of the trust which it created in regard to the fund in controversy.

The reasons and considerations for the agreement are stated in the following recitals: “Whereas, The said Edward Lee Harrison and Arma Louise Harrison, being husband and wife, have heretofore separated; and “Whereas, The said Arma Louise Harrison charges the said Edward Lee Harrison with abandoning and deserting her without cause and contemplates the filing of a bill of complaint for divorce, alimony pendente lite, permanent alimony, costs and counsel fees; and “Whereas, With a view of defining and settling their respective property rights only, the said Edward Lee Harrison and Arma Louise Harrison desire to enter into such an arrangement as to their said property rights as is hereinafter expressed; and “Whereas, The said Edward Lee Harrison has agreed to pay unto the said Arma Louise Harrison the sum of nineteen hundred ($1,900.00) dollars, in cash, and the additional sum of twenty-five ($25.00) dollars per week hereafter, and to place with the Continental Trust Company, as trustee, the sum of twelve thousand ($12,-000.00) dollars, in cash, which said sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars is to be paid to said Arma Louise Harrison upon the presentation to said the Continental Trust Company of a certified copy of a decree for an absolute divorce (aforesaid payments of twenty-five ($25.00) dollars per week to cease upon the payment by said the Continental Trust Company to said Arma Louise Harrison of said sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars) ; and the said Edward Lee Harrison has further agreed to transfer to said Arma Louise Harrison all his right, title, interest and estate in and to all of the household furniture and effects now contained in the home on Boyce Avenue, in Buxton, the provisions herein contained being in lieu of ³⁸⁰ all claims that the said Arma Louise Harrison has now or may have hereafter for alimony pendente lite, permanent alimony, future maintenance and support and counsel fee; and “Whereas, The said Anna Louise Harrison has agreed to accept the said sum of nineteen hundred ($1,900.00) dollars, in cash, and the additional sum of twenty-five ($25.00) dollars per week hereafter, and to have the said Edward L. Harrison place with the Continental Trust Company, of Baltimore, as trustee, the sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars, in cash, to be paid to said Arma Louise Harrison upon the presentation to said the Continental Trust Company of a certified copy of a decree for an absolute divorce (the aforesaid payments of twenty-five ($25.00) dollars per week are to cease upon the payment by the Continental Trust Company to the said Anna Louise Harrison of said sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars) ; and has further agreed to accept said household furniture and effects in full payment and settlement for all claims of alimony pendente lite, permanent alimony, future maintenance and support and counsel fees, except as above provided, and to release the said Edward Lee Harrison and his estate from any further claim and obligation and from any rights, title, interest and demand the said Arma Louise Harrison may have or that may accrue to her in the future against the said Edward Lee Harrison or his estate; and has further agreed to transfer to the said Edward Lee Harrison all her right, title, Interest and estate in and to the property now owned by them on Boyce Avenue, in Ruxton.” The contractual provisions of the agreement were in accordance with the terms which the recitals indicated, with additional covenants for the release by each spouse of any marital interest in the estate of which the other might then or thereafter be possessed. The terms of the trust as to the $12,000 fund are thus stated in the agreement: ³⁸¹ “And it is further understood and agreed that in the event that the said Edward Lee Harrison should die at any time before the said Arma Louise Harrison shall have obtained a decree for an absolute divorce, that then upon the death of said Edward Lee Harrison the said the Continental Trust Company shall thereupon pay to the said Arma Louise Harrison the aforesaid sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars, in cash; and in the event that the said Arma Louise Harrison shall die before having obtained a decree for an absolute divorce, that then upon the death of the said Arma Louise Harrison the said the Continental Trust Company shall pay to the estate of said Arma Louise Harrison the sum of seventy-five hundred ($7,500.00) dollars, in cash, and shall return to said Edward Lee Harrison, his heirs, representatives or assigns, the sum of forty-five hundred ($4,500.00) dollars. “It is further understood and agreed that the said the Continental Trust Company, as trustee, aforesaid, is hereby authorized to retain tbe aforesaid sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars, and manage the same as a trust fund, with full power to invest and re-invest the same in any stocks, bonds and other property, real or personal, and to pay to the said Arma Louise Harrison, upon delivery to it of a certified copy of a decree of absolute divorce, the sum of twelve thousand ($12,000.00) dollars, and to pay any excess or increment, including all earnings from the said investment, to the said Edward Lee Harrison.” It is alleged in the bill of complaint that the marriage of the plaintiff and his wife occurred in 1920, and that they have had no children; that during the spring of 1928 there arose between them “some differences which, in retrospect, were not especially serious in their nature, but at the time, by reason of unfounded and intemperate criminations and recriminations, assumed in the minds of the disputants, an exaggerated importance, and in the heat of temper and passion, they reached the conclusion that it was desirable that ³⁸² they should separate and live apart for the time being”; that they entered into the agreement, to which we have referred, on July 15th, 1928; that, in pursuance of it, the plaintiff deposited $12,000 with the Continental Trust Company, which fund is still in its possession; that the plaintiff, at the-time of the execution of the agreement, was “laboring under great mental and nervous strain, due not only to the temporary disagreement with his