Warner v. Rice

Alvey, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents the question, whether the interest or estate of George Warner, the debtor, in certain property embraced in a deed of trust made by himself and wife, and others, to Joseph A. Sprigg, is liable to attachment or execution for his debts. The deed bears date the 18th of Sept., 1877, and the judgment upon which the attachment issued was rendered several years after the deed was made and recorded. It appears that the late George Warner, Jr., who died in 1877, willed his.property to trustees to be divided by them among his three children in certain proportions; and after the division, those children joined in the deed of trust to Sprigg, just mentioned, in which certain trusts are declared by the grantors.

The property conveyed was both real and personal. The will and deed of trust were both before this Court for construction, in the case of Warner vs. Sprigg, 62 Md., 14 . It was there held, that, under the will, the children took an absolute legal estate in the property devised and bequeathed; and that the deed of trust was valid, and vested in the trustee the legal estate in the property conveyed, subject to the trusts declared. ⁴³⁹ The declaration of trust in the deed, in relation to the property of George Warner conveyed, or that portion of it sought to he made liable to the attachment in this case, is made in these terms: “In trust for the use and benefit of said George Warner and his immediate family, free from liability for any of his debts, contracts or engagements; and when, if so by said trustee found requisite, by him deemed proper, to apply the uses, rents, income and profits to the support and maintenance of said George and his said family, during his, said George’s life; and after his decease the same to go as he by last will may have directed; or in case of his decease intestate, the same to go according to law, under the existing statutory provisions ©f the law of Maryland.” And in the concluding part of the deed, there is a general declaration of intention, made by all the parties thereto, in the following terms: “It being the intent of all said grantors, parties hereto, to convey and assign to said Sprigg, to be held by him and those who may •succeed him in said trust relation, in trust, for said grantors respectively, as to their several estate and interest, the legal title, they respectively controlling the investments, and changes of investments, from time to time, and in the manner hereinbefore specified. * * * The said 'Cestuis que trust respectively being entitled and reserving the right to collect, receive and have, eaclr for her or himself, the rents, issues and profits of her or his respective ■share, conformably with the trust hereby created.” George Warner has a wife, who joined with him in the deed of trust, and the record shows that he has two infant •children; but whether he has other children or not, the record does not inform us. All the garnishees, in whose hands the attachment was laid, except the trustee, appear to be lease-holders, and it is the annual ground rents payable by them, that are sought to be applied, by means of the attachment, to the satisfaction of the judgment against George Warner. ⁴⁴⁰ It is certainly a well settled doctrine in the law of property, that a beneficial legal estate in fee or for life, cannot be conveyed or devised to a person with a provision that it shall not be alienated, or that it shall not be subject to the debts, of the legal owner.

And, as a general principle, it is equally true, that equitable estates cannot be effectually created with a proviso against alienation or that they shall not be liable to the debts of the cestui quetrust, except in the case of trusts created for the protection and benefit of married women. It is wholly against the policy of the law to allow property, whether legal or equitable, to be fettered by restraints upon alienation, and generally whenever property is subject to alienation by the-owner it is subject to his debts. But though such be the general rule upon the subject, property may be so devised or conveyed for the special benefit of a party that it cannot be alienated by him, and creditors and assignees in bankruptcy cannot seize and appropriate it to the payment of debts. As, for instance, a devise of the income of property, to cease on the insolvency or bankruptcy of the devisee, is good, and such limitation is effectual.

Brandon vs. Robinson, 18 Ves., 429; Rockford vs. Hackmen, 9 Hare, 475; Nichols, Assignee vs. Eaton, 91 U. S., 722 . But such principle has no application to the case before us. Here, George Warner was legal as well as equitable owner of his share of the estate of his father, which was. conveyed by the deed of trust; and he is himself the author of the trust created in his own favor under which he .is now seeking to shield himself against his creditors. The object of the deed of trust was not to destroy or divest himself of his right of property, but simply to place the legal estate therein in a trustee as, perhaps, a guard against improvident management.

But the equitable estate remains in George Warner during his life, with full power of disposition by will, and, in default of will, ⁴⁴¹ the property devolves on his heirs and representatives at his death, when the trust will terminate. It is only during his life that the rents, profits and income from the property are directed to he applied to the support of himself and his