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Property Keyed to French
Downing v. Downing
Citation:
606 A.2d 208 (Md. 1992)Facts
In 1948, Helen Downing and John Downing Sr. bought an 88-acre farm in Carroll County, Maryland. Helen and John Sr. had two children John Jr., and Bonnie. When John Sr. died, Helen became the sole owner of the farm. August 7th, 1972 Helen conveyed the farm to a third-party who immediately reconveyed the property to “Helen S. Downing, widow, and John Robert Downing, as joint tenants, their heirs and assigns, forever in fee simple.” Before those conveyances Helen, assisted by John Jr., negotiated an oral agreement with John Myers whereby Mr. Myers was permitted to grow and harvest crops on part of the farm, in exchange for payments to Helen. The deed from the 1972 conveyances is silent on this arrangement, but afterwards Helen, with John Jr.’s concurrence, continued to receive the payments from Mr. Myers. Helen died January 15, 1987, and Bonnie was named personal representative of Helen’s estate. In her will, Helen made several bequests to various family members, but made no mention of the farm. The residue of the estate was to go half to John Jr. and half to Bonnie. Bonnie filed a complaint seeking to have the 1972 deed construed as creating a tenancy in common, so that, instead of John Jr. receiving the whole farm, half the interest in the farm would go to Helen’s estate, and the other half to John Jr.
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Topic Resources
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Joint Tenancy and Tenancy by the Entirety Intro to Concurrent Estates and Tenancy in Common