Trapasso v. Lewis

247 Md.App. 577

239 A.3d 703

Victoria Regina TRAPASSO

v.Elliot N. LEWIS, Personal Representative of the Estate of Thomas Edwin Kramer

No. 2843, Sept. Term, 2018

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

September 29, 2020

Argued by: Cynthia E. Young of Annapolis, MD, for Appellant

Argued by: Elliot N. Lewis (Goodman, Meagher & Enoch, LLP on the brief) Baltimore, MD, for Appellee.

Panel:^* Meredith, Kehoe, Beachley, JJ.

Beachley, J.

In 2003, Waltraud Regina and Thomas Kramer¹ were purportedly married by a religious marriage ceremony, though they never obtained a marriage license. The couple subsequently purchased a condominium unit as tenants by the entireties. In 2015, Regina executed a deed conveying her interest in the property to the Waltraud Regina Living Trust. After Regina's death in 2016, appellant Victoria Trapasso, as Substitute Trustee of the Trust, filed a petition to quiet title to the property, essentially requesting a declaration that the Trust owned fifty percent of the property because Regina and Kramer were never validly married. The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County determined that Regina and Kramer were validly married and, accordingly, that Kramer was the sole owner of the property by virtue of the tenants by the entireties deeds.²

Trapasso timely appealed and presents the following question:

Were [Kramer] and [Regina] legally married, so that Waltraud Regina lacked the legal capacity to convey her interest in the real property at issue?

Applying long-standing Maryland precedent, we conclude that Regina and Kramer were validly married and shall therefore affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On September 28, 2003, Waltraud Regina and Thomas Kramer signed a "Marriage Agreement" and participated in a religious wedding ceremony. Their failure to obtain a marriage license is at the center of this appeal. We reprint the Marriage Agreement the parties executed on September 28, 2003:

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD and of the hereinafter named witnesses, I, Thomas E. Kramer, do take Waltraud Regina to be my lawful wedded wife, and I do promise to love, honor and obey, to support her, be always faithful, cherish, hold and care for her in sickness and in health until death we do part.

And,

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD and of the hereinafter named witnesses, I, Waltraud Regina, do take Thomas E. Kramer to be my lawful wedded husband, and I do promise to love, honor and obey, to support him, be always faithful, cherish, hold and care for him in sickness and in health until death we do part.

I, Thomas E. Kramer, do recognize and hold these aforementioned marriage vows to be binding on me in the same way any civil marriage license and civil or religious church ceremony would be. I do also recognize and concede that Waltraud Regina has the same rights as if we were bound as Husband and Wife by a civil marriage license and civil or religious church ceremony.

And,

I, Waltraud Regina, do recognize and hold these aforementioned marriage vows to be binding on me in the same way any civil marriage license and civil or religious church ceremony would be. I do also recognize and concede that Thomas E. Kramer has the same rights as if we were bound as Husband and Wife by a civil marriage license and civil or religious church ceremony.

BY THE SIGNING OF THIS MARRIAGE AGREEMENT, and the taking and holding of the aforewritten Vows, we the undersigned Bride and Groom, in the presence of Almighty GOD and of the undersigned Witnesses, do declare ourselves to be Husband and Wife.

Four attesting witnesses signed the Marriage Agreement. The Reverend Robert S. Louiselle, Sr., of St. Paul's Anglican Church in Annapolis officiated the marriage ceremony and signed a "Certification" that Regina and Kramer "were joined together in the Holy State of Matrimony" on September 28, 2003, in Crownsville, Maryland.

The couple subsequently purchased as tenants by the entireties a condominium unit known as 8612 Wintergreen Court, Unit 306, Odenton, Maryland. On March 4, 2015, Regina executed a deed conveying her interest in the property to the Waltraud Regina Living Trust.

Regina established the Trust in 1998, before meeting Kramer. The Trust, a revocable trust, designated Regina as its initial trustee. An amendment to the Trust in 2014 named Trapasso, Regina's daughter from a prior marriage, as the first successor Trustee upon Regina's death or incapacity. Regina also executed a Last Will and Testament in 2014, designating Trapasso as personal representative and bequeathing all of Regina's "probate estate" to the Trust. Kramer is not mentioned in either the Trust instrument or the Will.

Regina died on June 18, 2016, and was buried with her first husband. On August 10, 2016, Kramer executed a "Confirmatory Deed" in which he recited that Regina "purportedly conveyed her interest in derogation of her interest in the property as a tenant by the entirety." The Confirmatory Deed further recited that as a result of Regina's death, Kramer was vested with sole title to the property as the surviving tenant by the entirety.

Trapasso, as Substitute Trustee, filed a Petition to Quiet Title, and for Sale in Lieu of Partition of Real Property, and an Order to Discharge Proceeds, seeking a declaration that the Trust owned fifty percent of the property. Kramer filed an Answer to the Petition, disputing the validity of the March 4, 2015 deed conveying Regina's interest in the property to the Trust.

A bench trial took place on September 21, 2018. No live testimony was presented; the parties agreed to submit their cases based on proffers and extensive documentary evidence, all of which was admitted without objection. The court received the deposition testimony of Reverend Louiselle, an ordained priest of the Anglican Church. Reverend Louiselle verified that he presided over the September 28, 2003 marriage ceremony in accordance with the precepts of the Church. He noted that he had known the couple for approximately seven years before they approached him about getting married.

In addition to the deeds at issue, the Trust documents, and Regina's Last Will and Testament, the parties submitted evidence bearing on whether Regina considered herself to be married to Kramer. That evidence included documents verifying that Regina was receiving Social Security benefits based on her first marriage, and that she maintained accounts with Verizon and AT&T, as well as bank accounts, solely in her name. Regina also represented to the Internal Revenue Service that she was "single." On the other hand, there was evidence presented that Regina co-signed an auto loan with Kramer and held a joint checking account with him.

The circuit court determined that Regina and Kramer were validly married under Maryland law "by virtue of their religious wedding held on September 28, 2003." In doing so, the court found that the Marriage Agreement and related documents "included almost every component of what one might utilize in their preparation of a marriage." Accordingly, the court declared invalid Regina's deed conveying her interest in the property to the Trust, and concluded that Kramer became the sole owner of the property upon Regina's death.³ The court entered its Order on October 25, 2018, from which Trapasso, in her capacity as Substitute Trustee, timely appeals.

DISCUSSION

We are asked to answer a straightforward question: Were Regina and Kramer validly married under Maryland law despite having never obtained a marriage license as required by Section 2-401 of the Family Law Article ? Because Maryland precedent requires us to answer "Yes" to that question, we hold that Regina's deed purporting to convey her interest in the property to the Trust was a nullity.

We begin with some basic principles of real property law. A tenancy by the entireties may only be held by a married couple. Young v. Young , 37 Md. App. 211, 216, 376 A.2d 1151 (1977). If the marriage is dissolved through divorce or annulment, or is otherwise invalid, the parties would instead hold the property as tenants in common or joint tenants. E.g., Columbian Carbon Co. v. Kight , 207 Md. 203, 210, 114 A.2d 28 (1955) ; Young , 37 Md. App. at 216, 376 A.2d 1151. In a tenancy by the entireties, one spouse generally may not act alone to convey an interest in the property; the other spouse must assent to the conveyance. Bruce v. Dyer , 309 Md. 421, 428, 524 A.2d 777 (1987) ; see also Maryland Code (1974, 2015 Repl. Vol.), § 4-108(b) of the Real Property Article ("RP"). This is in contrast to tenancies in common and joint tenancies, which allow a single tenant to convey his or her interest in the property without permission from the other tenant. RP § 4-108(a) ; see Helinski v. Harford Mem. Hosp., Inc. , 376 Md. 606, 616, 831 A.2d 40 (2003) (joint tenancy may be severed through conveyance by one of the joint tenants). Thus, if Regina and Kramer were married, Regina's March 4, 2015 deed conveying her share of the property to the Trust without Kramer's assent was invalid.

Trapasso argues that Regina and Kramer were not validly married because Family Law Article §§ 2-401(a) and 2-406(e) require parties to obtain a marriage license before marrying. Maryland Code (1984, 2019 Repl. Vol.), §§ 2-401(a), -406(e) of the Family Law Article ("FL"). Trapasso avers that, because a couple cannot create a common law marriage in Maryland, a marriage license is a prerequisite for a valid marriage.

Kramer responds that applicable caselaw clearly holds that a ceremonial marriage without a license is sufficient to constitute a valid marriage in Maryland. He claims that FL § 2-401 creates criminal liability for marrying without a license, but does not nullify the marriage itself because the statute is in derogation of the common law and does not expressly state that such a marriage is void.

Section 2-401 of the Family Law Article states, in its entirety:

(a) An individual may not marry in this State without a license issued by the clerk for the county in which the

...