Denise Potter, et al. v. Ruby Potter (Md. Ct. of Spec. Appeals)

Filed: September 13, 2021.

Opinion: Christopher Kehoe

Holding: 

Decedent’s membership interest in a limited liability company (LLC) was “property” under Maryland estate law that passed to decedent’s estate where LLC’s operating agreement which required the membership interest to pass to named successor was not a valid will under Maryland law. 

Facts: 

James Potter (“James”) owned an interest in a Maryland LLC. The members executed an operating agreement and a members’ agreement. The LLC’s operating agreement distinguished between a member’s “interest,” which was defined as that member’s right to share in the profits and losses of the LLC, and the member’s “rights,” which was the right of a member to participate in the management of the LLC. The members’ agreement stated that, upon a member’s death, that member’s interest and right in the LLC shall be transferred to the individual identified in the members’ agreement. 

According to the members’ agreement, James’s membership interest was to be transferred to Ruby Potter, and James’s membership rights were to be transferred to two other members of the company. Although James signed both the operating agreement and the members’ agreement, the record showed that the signing of operating agreement was not witnessed and the members’ agreement was witnessed by only one individual. 

James acquired his LLC interest after his marriage to Ruby Potter (“Ruby”) in 1984. However, James and Ruby separated in 2016. Subsequently, James married Denise Potter (“Denise”). Despite his divorce and subsequent re-marriage, James did not amend the members’ agreement to remove Ruby as his successor.  In 2017, James died intestate. 

Denise opened a small estate and was appointed as personal representative of James' estate. In a document filed with the orphans’ court, Denise identified James’s membership interest in the LLC as an asset of the estate. Thereafter, Ruby filed a complaint for declaratory judgement seeking a declaration that she was entitled to James’s membership interest as she was listed as his successor in the members’ agreement. 

The Circuit Court held that Ruby was entitled the interest because the members’ agreement was a contract which controlled the passing of James’s membership interest. The Court of Special Appeals reversed, for the reasons stated below. 

Analysis:

The Court held that the membership interest was “property” as defined by the Estates and Trusts code which passed to James’s estate because the operating agreement and members’ agreement were not valid testamentary instruments under Maryland law. The Court reached its holding after considering three questions: (1) whether the operating agreement and the members’ agreement are testamentary in nature; (2) whether Maryland law permits an LLC to agree that a member’s interest can transfer by means of an agreement that does not satisfy the statute of wills; and (3) whether there is any conflict between the Estates and Trusts code and the article governing limited liability companies. 

(1) The operating agreement and members’ agreement are not testamentary instruments that control disposition of the membership interest.

As the operating agreement and members’ agreement were not witnessed in accordance with the Estates and Trust code, the Court held that such documents were not testamentary instruments under Maryland law. However, the Court also had to decide whether James’s membership interest was “property” that fell within the scope of the Estates and Trusts code. The Estates and Trust Code provides that all “property” of a decedent is subject to the estates and decedents law, and thus may only pass via will or intestacy absent other statutory exception. See Md. Code Ann., Est. & Trusts §1-301. “Property” is defined as any interest that a decedent has in real or personal property except for property “which does not pass, at the time of the decedent’s death, to another person by the terms of the instrument under which it is held, or by operation of law.” Id. §1-201(r). 

Ruby argued that the operating agreement and members’ agreements were “instruments” under which the membership interest was held that required the interest to pass to another person. The conclusion being that, as a result, the interest was not “property” subject to the provisions of the Estates and Trusts code. The Court rejected this argument on the basis that “the relevant legislative history and caselaw indicate that the General Assembly did not intend for the definition of ‘property’” to mean what Ruby asserted. 

Legislative history revealed that “property” was intended to include “those assets which traditionally constituted what is sometimes called in Maryland the probate estate.” Potter v. Potter, 252 A.3d 17, 32 (Md. Spec. App. 2021), cert. granted, 259 A.3d 787 (Md. 2021). The Court looked to case law that established what constituted a testamentary instrument at the time the Estates and Trust code was enacted. The court concluded that “a writing that purports to transfer the maker’s property at death is testamentary in nature unless it is both irrevocable and based on an otherwise enforceable legal obligation whose performance is deferred during the maker’s lifetime.” Id. As a result, the Court held that the membership interest was subject to the Estates and Trusts code because the designation in the members' agreement was not irrevocable. Id. Indeed, the Court observed that James could have changed his designation at any time, but simply failed to do so. Id. As the interest was not irrevocable during James's lifetime, the court concluded that it fell within what would have been considered the "probate estate," and was accordingly "property" as defined by the Estates and Trusts code.    

(2) The Limited Liability Act did not Subvert the Estates and Trusts Code

Ruby argued that the limited liability act authorized companies to agree that Maryland’s testamentary laws do not apply to membership interests. This argument was based on section 4A-606 of the Corporations and Associations article which provides that, unless otherwise agreed, a member’s membership in an LLC terminates at death. Ruby argued that this provision allows LLCs to alter the default provisions and to agree to the disposition of membership interests upon the death of a member. 

The Court rejected this argument based on the clear wording of the LLC Act. The LLC Act allows an LLC to make operating agreements that are “not inconsistent” with “the laws of this State.” Md. Code Ann., Corps & Ass’ns, §4A-203(15). As discussed above, Maryland law imposes strict requirements on the disposition of property that falls within the Estates and Trusts code. As an LLC cannot make agreements inconsistent with Maryland law, the provisions of the operating agreement and members’ agreement which sought to disposed of James’s property were invalid as testamentary interests due to their non-compliance with the Estates and Trusts code. 

Finally, the court held that there was no conflict between the Estates and Trusts article and the Corporations and Associations article based on its holding that, under Corps & Ass’ns, §4A-203(15), an LLC operating agreement cannot be inconsistent with other state law.  

The full opinion is available here.