Patterson v. Wilson

Yellott, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The bill of complaint in this cause was filed in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City by the appellees who are the surviving trustees under the last wills and testaments of James Wilson, deceased, and of Mary Wilson, deceased, who were husband and wife. The said James departed this life in 1851, and his widow in 1869, each having made and executed a testamentary disposition of property. These proceedings were instituted.by the trustees for the purpose ¹⁹⁵ of obtaining directions from tbe Court in relation to the transfer of certain property and estate left by said decedents to their daughter Mary L. Patterson, and for a judicial construction of certain clauses in the last will and testament of said Mary L. Patterson ; the trustees holding said property in trust for the said Mary L. Patterson during her life, and in the event of her intestacy, then in trust for her issue in conformity with the following clause In the will of said James Wilson, and a similar provision in the will of said Mary Wilson.

The clause in the will of the said James now referred to, reads as follows: “ It is my will and desire that each of my said children, including my daughters, whether single or married, shall have power by last will and testament, or instrument of writing in the nature of a last will and testament, whether the same shall be made in my life-time or after my decease, and although such child may die before me, to dispose of absolutely or in any manner he or she may think proper, all the property, ‘ real, personal or mixed, bequeathed or devised immediately or by way of remainder, to or in trust for him or her by this my will, or which may come or pass to him or her under or by virtue of any of the clauses or provisions of this my will, and such property shall pass and be distributed in all respects according to the will, or instrument in the nature of a will of such child. None of my said daughters are to have the power of disposing of tile property left in trust for them respectively, except by will as aforesaid.” In the will of Mary Wilson certain property is devised and bequeathed to the said Mary L. Patterson with the same limitations and powers. By the last wills and testaments of her said parents, it is also provided that if the said Mary L. Patterson should die intestate as to the property left in trust for her, the share or shares of such of her issue as may be under the disability of infancy shall remain and continue in trust ¹⁹⁶ until the son or sons shall arrive at the age of twenty-one years, and the daughter or daughters at the age of eighteen, at which time their respective shares shall be payable, and the trust shall cease and close as to them respectively. On the 12th day of August, 1884, the said Mary L. Patterson departed this life, leaving a last will and testament and children and grandchildren, one of her children having died, leaving an infant surviving her, the said Mary L. Patterson.

All the children and grandchildren are parties to these proceedings. In the bill of complaint it is distinctly and explicitly averred that the said Mary L. Patterson, at the time of her death, had, besides that held in trust for her as aforesaid, other property both real and personal, which she held in her own right, absolutely and in fee simple; and there has been no adduction of proof tending to show that there was no other property upon which her will could operate except that subject to the power created by the wills of James and Mary Wilson. The said Mary L. Patterson in her last will and testament, duly admitted to probate, after certain specific bequests of articles of personal property, describes all the other property thus disposed of as “all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal and mixed, wheresoever situated and to which I am in any manner whatsoever entitled.” In the Court below it was decided that, as the will of Mary L. Patterson did not, either in express terms or by necessary implication, indicate an intention to execute the power created by the wills of James and Mary Wilson, the property held in trust as aforesaid, must be held and distributed in conformity with the provisions contained in their wills, to which reference has already been made. Whether there was a sufficient indication of an intent to execute the power created as aforesaid, is therefore the sole question presented for determination by this appeal. ¹⁹⁷ Upon an inspection of the will of Mary L. Patterson, it at once becomes apparent that there is not the slightest