Masius v. Wilson

Hammond, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Appealing are two sisters, unsuccessful below in their effort to set aside a deed from their mother to their two brothers made several years before her death. They alleged, and directed their proof toward showing, a want of mental capacity and advantage taken by one of the brothers of a claimed confidential relationship between him and the mother. We find ²⁶² in the record enough to support the chancellor’s finding that they failed in both efforts.

Mrs. Minnie Wilson lived at Eden in Somerset County. Seemingly, she had been a widow for some years and had reared and supported her two sons and two daughters on the income from real estate she owned and her salary as postmistress, a position she held until 1949. At least as early as May, 1951, when she was about seventy-four, she had high blood pressure, for which she went regularly to the doctor. In May of 1952 she had a fall causing, or resulting from, a slight stroke.

She spent but a day or two in bed, and a little later went to the home of her son, Levin, in Princess Anne, where she stayed until October. On July 25, 1952, Mrs. Wilson executed the deed under attack in which she reserved a life estate in a farm owned by her and transferred a, half interest in fee to her son, Levin, and a half interest for life to her son, Philip, with remainder in that half to Levin, his heirs and assigns, at Philip’s death. The more militant of the daughters, Mrs. Mercer, learned of the deed from her brother Philip within three months of its execution and discussed it with her sister, Mrs. Masius, and with her mother, in an effort to have the farm reconveyed. Mrs. Mercer sought legal advice as to what could be done to bring about a reconveyance but took no action until after the mother’s death in 1955, which resulted from injuries suffered when she slipped, and fell from the porch of her home.

Mrs. Mercer and her husband lived with Mrs. Wilson in Eden after she returned from Levin’s home, for some months until they moved out in March, 1953. Thereafter, Mrs. Wilson lived alone until her death, and the Mercers lived close by. The appellees claim, not unreasonably, that only when a jury, in a condemnation proceeding by the State Roads Commission, placed a value -on the farm undreamt of when it was owned by Mrs. Wilson and when she conveyed it, was Mrs. Mercer stirred to covetous action in the suit now before us. In seeking to show mental incapacity, the appellants produced the doctor in Salisbury who had treated Mrs. Wilson from May, 1951, until June, 1952, and again from June of 1953 on.

She testified that Mrs. Wilson was not competent ²⁶³ to execute a valid deed or contract in July of 1952 because she lacked continuity of thought, asking the same questions several times, laughed at things that were sad and cried at things that were not sad. The chancellor may not have given her opinion full weight in light of the testimony of two witnesses that she had told them before the trial that Mrs. Wilson was sometimes hazy and at other times lucid. Each of the daughters expressed an opinion as to lack of competency, over objection. Mrs. Mercer’s testimony was positive, Mrs. Masius’ was qualified, even tentative.

Mrs. Mercer’s opinion had to be weighed, as the chancellor undoubtedly weighed it, in the light of the facts (a) that she had taken a deed of a valuable property from her mother in October of 1950, and (b) that in 1955 she had her mother sign and acknowledge a power of attorney to her, and had recorded it, after taking her mother to a doctor who, according to Mrs. Mercer’s testimony, had not stated whether or not her mother then was competent. Mrs. Mercer admitted that her mother wrote and signed checks on her bank account regularly up until the time of her death. In considering Mrs. Masius’ testimony, account would have to be taken of the fact that at the time discussion was had between Mrs. Wilson and a lawyer regarding the transfer of the farm, Mrs. Masius was present and participated in discussion of a then contemplated transfer to her of a bungalow owned by her mother. The one remaining witness to want of competency was an employee of Mrs. Mercer who helped take care of Mrs. Wilson after she began to live alone.

She testified as to a number of eccentricities, as well as absent-mindedness and forgetfulness, none of which, alone or in combination, would necessarily evidence incompetency. Sellers v. Qualls, 206 Md. 58 . Opposed to the testimony of incompetency was an abundance of testimony that Mrs. Wilson was normal, keen and fully capable mentally. She had been treated by a doctor in Princess Anne from June, 1952, to June, 1953, who had seen her often about the time the deed was executed.

He testified that his treatment had reduced her blood pressure and that she was in full possession of her mental faculties and was entirely competent to execute a deed or contract. A number ²⁶⁴ of disinterested lay witnesses, who had known Mrs. Wilson well for years and who had seen her before and after the execution of the deed, testified as to her competency and business ability. They denied the eccentricities, the absentmindedness and the forgetfulness attributed to her by the appellants. Particularly persuasive was a State Roads Commission right-of-way man who had seen her three times in 1954, when seeking to acquire property for a road.

He apparently had an extraordinary memory as he proved on cross-examination. He testified that she was normal and keen and had complete knowledge of her property, how it was acquired and other pertinent facts about it, and that she spoke of the farm that she had given to her sons, Levin and Philip, and explained the details to him. We think the chancellor was fully justified in his conclusion that there was no sufficient evidence of mental incompetency at the time of the execution of the deed. Appellants strongly urge that regardless of capacity, the deed was procured by Levin in breach of his fiduciary duties arising from the confidential relationship between his mother and him.

No presumption of such a relationship arises in the case of a gift from a parent to a child. The relationship must be proved as a fact, and factors which are pertinent in deciding whether it existed include the parent’s advanced age, physical debility, and mental feebleness, no one being necessarily conclusive but each having weight. Hoffman v. Rickell, 191 Md. 591 ; Tribull v. Tribull, 208 Md. 490, 506 . This Court, in several cases where an aged parent has transferred property to a child, has found that there was no confidential relationship.

See Abromaitis v. Lipinaitis, 160 Md. 444 ; Williams v. Robinson, 183 Md. 117 ; Hoffman v. Rickell, 191 Md. 591 , supra; Meley v. DeCoursey, 204 Md. 648, 655-656 . See also Gordon v. Rawles, 201 Md. 503 . It was shown that Mrs. Wilson frequently visited all her children and that she depended on various ones to take her where she wished to go and to help her in her business transactions when she wanted help. It may well be that there was no showing of a confidential relationship bfetween Levin and his mother.

The chancellor expressly found that the relationship had not been ²⁶⁵ established and we cannot say that this finding was unjustified. If, however, we assume, without deciding, that a confidential relationship was established, the result would not be changed, we think. If there is a confidential relationship, the burden is on the grantee to show that the transfer was the deliberate and voluntary act of the grantor and that the transaction was fair, proper and reasonable under the circumstances. Upman v. Thomey, 145 Md. 347, 360 ; Tracey v. Tracey, 160 Md. 306, 320 ; Hoffman v. Rickell, Meley v. DeCoursey, and Tribull v. Tribull, all supra.

We think that every such requirement has been met in the transfer before us. It was shown that while at her son’s house, Mrs. Wilson talked alone to Judge Duer, then a practicing lawyer, for some three-quarters of an hour about the proposed conveyance and problems in connection with the disposition of her estate. Soon thereafter Mrs. Wilson again visited Judge Duer, accompanied by Levin and her daughter, Mrs. Masius. Again there was a full discussion as to the ideas Mrs. Wilson had for the disposition of her property and how to accomplish it.

These ideas included the transfer of the farm to Levin and Philip and a contemplated transfer