Myers v. Myers

²⁶⁰ Briscoe, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a hill in equity filed on April 15th, 1915, in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, by the appellants against the appellees, to vacate and set aside a deed of trust, dated the 30th day of January, 1891, from Ambrose M. Myers, late of Baltimore City, deceased, to his brother, Alexius Joseph Myers, as trustee. The bill is filed by a nephew, a grandnephew, and a grandniece, against two nephews and a niece of the grantor in the-deed. Mr. Myers, the grantor, died on the 29th day of March, 1915, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, intestate- and without children.

He never married, but left the parties to this suit, as his next of kin and heirs at law. By the deed the property named therein is conveyed unto-his brother, Alexius Joseph Myers, as trustee, as follows: “All the estate and interest, right, claim and demand, both at law and in equity of him, Ambrose M. Myers, in and to. the estate of his father, the late Charles Myers, deceased, which estate and interest, the.Court of Appeals of Maryland has recently decided to be one undivided third part thereof, absolutely in trust and special confidence nevertheless and to, for and upon the uses and trusts, following; that is to say, in trust that the said Alexius Joseph Myers shall, during the life of the said Ambrose M. Myers, collect and receive all the income, interest and dividends arising from said estate, ■and after first paying the costs and expenses of this trust and any and all taxes, public dues, insurance, ground rents, necessary repairs and outlays, together with all other expenses accruing or accrued on said property, then to' pay the net, income arising from said estate to the said Ambrose M. Myers during his life, in monthly, quarterly or half-yearly instalments, as the said Alexius Joseph Myers or his successor or successors in the trust may deem most advisable, and from and immediately after the death of the said Ambrose M. Myers in trust that the one-half part of said estate shall pass to and become the absolute estate and prop ²⁶¹ ertv of any lawful child or children or grandchild or grandchildren that the said Ambrose M. Myers may leave him surviving, to take per stirpes and not per capita, and the other one-half part thereof shall pass to and become the absolute estate and property of the said Alexius Joseph Myers, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns absolutely, but in case the said Ambrose M. Myers shall die without leaving any child or children or grandchildren lawfully begotten, living at the time of his death, then and in that event that the whole of said estate and property shall pass to and become the absolute estate and property of the said Alexius Joseph Myers, his heirs, executors., administrators and assigns absolutely,” and the said trustee and his successors in the trust are fully authorized and empowered to make such changes of the investments of the trust estate as he or they may deem right, proper and expedient and to sell, lease, mortgage or dispose of the same or any part thereof, in such manner as he or they may consider most advantageous and beneficial for the trust created. The grounds upon which it is contended that the deed should be annulled and set aside appear to be as follows: First, that the deed is without consideration and was procured by undue influence exercised upon the grantor by his brother the beneficiary and the trustee named therein. Second, because the grantor was at the time of its execution mentally incapable of executing a valid deed or contract, and Third, as alleged by the fourth paragraph of the bill, because the grantor during his whole life was mentally deficient and in fact, imbecile and unable to attend to ordinary business, incapable of making contract beyond his immediate wants and daily needs.

The deed of trust, was. executed on the 30th day of January, 1891, when Mr. Myers, was. about sixty years of age, and his brother, 'the trustee, thereupon placed the trust under the supervision of a Court of Equity. In 1895, the brother died, and was succeeded in the trust by Mr. Harry L. Frary. ²⁶² Upon the death of Mr. Frary in 1898, Mr. Benjamin F. Horwitz of the Baltimore bar, was appointed trustee. In 1898, Alexius Joseph Myers, Jr., a son of the first trustee, and one of the present appellees, was appointed, and remained as trustee, until the death of his uncle, the grantor, on March the twenty-ninth, 1915. The defendants in their answers, deny the material allegations of the bill, and aver in answer to the third and fourth paragraphs thereof, that the grantor, at the