Hungerford v. Hungerford

Horney, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This case is a sequel to the one reported in Hungerford v. Hungerford, 223 Md. 316 , 164 A. 2d 518 (1960), wherein the plaintiffs (William H. Hungerford and his wife Viola) by a bill in equity against the defendant (Susie E. Hungerford, widow of the deceased Henry A. Hungerford, III) sought to have title to the property (where William and his family have lived for more than forty years) quieted and confirmed in them on the ground that a fee simple title had been acquired by adverse possession, and, in the alternative, sought specific performance of an oral agreement between Henry and William to convey the property to William. We denied the claim for specific performance under the doctrine of laches and remanded the case to permit amendment and further proceedings with respect to the claim for adverse possession. The evidence presented on the claim for specific performance together with that taken upon remand on the claim of adverse possession shows that in 1899 a fifty acre farm was conveyed to Nathaniel Hungerford, Sr., for life with remainder to two of his sons (Nathaniel, Jr., and Henry A., III).

A third son (William H.) was not a remainderman. In 1922, Henry and William staked out a lot on the farm, which Henry orally agreed to convey to William in exchange for William’s promise to perform certain labor or work for the life tenant. William took actual possession of the lot, constructed a dwelling thereon and moved into it. From then until now William and his ³⁴⁰ wife and family have lived continuously on the property peacefully and without being disturbed.

The life tenant died in 1935 and the remaindermen held the farm as tenants in common until 1944 when they partitioned it by deed. Nathaniel, Jr., took the northerly twenty-five acres and Henry took the southerly twenty-five acres including the site of William’s dwelling. Henry died in 1957, leaving Susie as his sole heir and the present record owner of the southerly twenty-five acres. William made repeated demands on Henry during his lifetime to execute and deliver to him and his wife a deed for the property in question, but Henry repeatedly refused to convey the same, and Susie, since the death of her husband, has refused, and still refuses to execute a conveyance of the property.

On these facts, the chancellor, being satisfied that the plaintiffs had established title to the property by adverse possession, decreed that the defendant’s claim to the property should “be forever quieted and confirmed in the plaintiffs.” And the defendant, asserting that possession of the property was permissive and not adverse, appealed. The only question presented on this appeal is whether the possession was hostile. “Possession to be adverse must be actual, open, notorious, exclusive, hostile, under claim of title or ownership, and continuous or uninterrupted for the statutory period of twenty years.” Bishop v. Stackus, 206 Md. 493, 498 , 112 A. 2d 472 (1955); Peper v. Traeger, 152 Md. 174, 181 , 136 A. 2d 537 (1927). Every