Madden v. Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co.

Mrs. Audrey H. Madden, a widow born in 1890, made formal demand on Mercantile-Safe Deposit and Trust Company (the Mercantile), trustee of the residuary trust created by the will of her father, William R. Hammond, to deliver the assets of the trust estate to her, on the theory that she had become the owner of both the life and remainder interests in the trust estate, and was therefore entitled to terminate it. The Mercantile brought a declaratory action in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, joining Mrs. Madden and all of her father’s descendants, including those who were and were not swi…