Opinion ID: 1908963
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Proper Construction of the Income Provision

Text: In disposing of the conflicting contentions regarding the devolution of income, Judge Ross said: The language of the will so plainly states the intention of the testator that it is not open to construction. It is clear he intended that the surviving qualified income beneficiaries would share `the entire net income' until the termination of the trust upon the death or marriage of the last qualified income beneficiary. `[P]ay the entire net income    unto such    as shall be qualified    from time to time' can have no other meaning. All that [Code (1957, 1972 Repl. Vol.)] Art. 50, § 9 requires is a clear statement of intention and such is present here. Marshall v. Security Storage Co., 155 Md. 649 [, 652-53, 142 A. 186, 187] (1928). The subsequent use of the term `accumulated income' in connection with distribution upon termination gives rise to no ambiguity. It undoubtedly refers to income accumulated between the last distribution to the final income beneficiary and her death or marriage, thus avoiding the distribution of such income to her estate. Without intending to question the chancellor's conclusion, we could speculate that Mr. Clinton may well have confused the concept of accumulated income with accrued income  an imprecision utilized by many draftsmen more sophisticated than he. In general, where a will is drawn by a layman, the language used may be given the meaning it would commonly have to a person in his situation, Buchwald v. Buchwald, 175 Md. 103, 111, 199 A. 795, 798 (1938). Whatever his reason for using accumulated as an adjective, it is patent that this does not negate his clear intention as expressed by the will: that the income beneficiaries, and the survivors and survivor of them, were to take the  entire net income until the last person qualified to receive the net income dies or marries. (Emphasis supplied.) It seems to us that the devolution of the trust income is clearly controlled by the intention of the testator, as expressed in the will, Davis v. Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co., 235 Md. 266, 269, 201 A.2d 373, 374 (1964); Gent v. Kelbaugh, 179 Md. 343, 350-51, 18 A.2d 595, 598 (1941); Buchwald v. Buchwald, supra, 175 Md. at 111, 199 A. at 798; Chew v. Chew, 1 Md. 163, 168 (1851). We agree with the chancellor, that as expressed in the will, it was Mr. Clinton's intention that such of the income beneficiaries, as were qualified from time to time, were to receive the entire net income. Furthermore, the rule of our cases is clear: income is not to be accumulated absent an express provision or necessary implication, Green v. Green, 182 Md. 571, 575, 35 A.2d 238, 240 (1944); Burt v. Gill, 89 Md. 145, 151-52, 42 A. 968, 970, 43 A. 177 (1899); see also Restatement of Property § 440 (1944). Elsewhere, in cases where intention was not clearly spelled out, an equal division among income beneficiaries has been justified as a class gift, In re Hicks' Estate, 345 Mich. 448, 75 N.W.2d 819 (1956); Old Colony Trust Co. v. Treadwell, 312 Mass. 214, 43 N.E.2d 777 (1942); as a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, Bodeman v. Cary, 152 Neb. 506, 41 N.W.2d 797 (1950); In re Monroe, 42 R.I. 412, 108 A. 497 (1920); [6] or by an implication of cross remainders, Kiesling v. White, 411 Ill. 493, 104 N.E.2d 291 (1952). Examples of the latter in Maryland are Tilghman v. Frazer, 191 Md. 132, 59 A.2d 781, 191 Md. 153, 62 A.2d 596 (1948), and Heald v. Heald, 56 Md. 300 (1881); cf. Gent v. Kelbaugh, supra . See also Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 143, comment b (1959); 2 Scott, Law of Trusts § 143 (3d ed. 1967). See generally Annot., 71 A.L.R.2d 1332 (1960), and Annot., 140 A.L.R. 841 (1942), where cases involving the devolution of income from testamentary trusts upon the deaths of life beneficiaries are collected, and numerous constructions are discussed.