Elder v. Smith

BATTAGLIA, Judge.

We are asked to consider whether a monetary award entered two years prior to the death of a decedent in connection with the division of marital property upon divorce, though not reduced to judgment and recorded as a lien against real estate until after his death, is afforded priority in the statutory scheme of the Estates and Trusts Article.

Emma Elder and Colonel Percy Elder were married in 1976, but after twenty-six years of marriage and the birth of two children, they were divorced in the Baltimore City Circuit Court in 2002. The next year, Emma was awarded a total of…