Craig v. Bradley

134 S.W. 1081, 153 Mo. App. 586, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 182
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 30, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 134 S.W. 1081 (Craig v. Bradley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craig v. Bradley, 134 S.W. 1081, 153 Mo. App. 586, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 182 (Mo. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

ELLISON, J.

William E. Bradley and Julia A. Bradley were husband and wife, without children. They lived to an old age and died a few days apart, he on the 16th and she on the 29th of March, 1909. He left a will whereby he gave to Julia A. all of his personal property during her life. Defendant was appointed administrator of the estate. Upon Julia’s death plaintiff, as public administrator, was put in charge of her estate, and he then brought this action to recover the following personal property claimed by defendant to belong to him as administrator of her deceased husband:

[590]*590One note for $3600 payable to William E. and Julia ■Bradley, endorsed, interest paid to July 7th, 1908, $200 paid on principal.

One note for $2500 payable to William E. Bradley and Julia A. Bradley or either of them, interest paid to January 4th, 1909, $200 paid on principal.

Deposit in the Farmers and Commercial Bank in" the name of William E. and' Julia A. Bradley, $309.36.

Deposit in the Bank of Holden in the name of William E. and Julia A. Bradley, $181.10.

The action is based on the claim that the property thus held by these parties was an estate in the entirety and as such, upon the death of William, it became the sole property of Julia.

The evidence showed the note for $3600 was given as purchase price of a tract of realty owned by William and Julia as an estate by the entirety. That the note for $2500 was given to them for borrowed money and of that sum Julia contributed $1083.75, which was drawn by her from the bank out of her separate account, the remainder, $1416.25, was drawn by William by check on their joint account. The evidence further showed that the deposits which constituted the joint account were made by William and all checks on that account were drawn by him, with one exception when Julia drew $25.

The trial court found that plaintiff was entitled to the note for $3600, on the theory that besides being made payable to both, it was the proceeds of the sale of real estate held by entirety, and, as such, was the property of the surviving wife. The court further found that the note for $2500 was not held in entirety, but that plaintiff was entitled to $1083.75 of it on the ground that that was the sum Julia put in it. The court found for defendant as to the balance of that note, and also for both bank accounts. There were some other findings not necessary to notice, not being in dispute. Both parties appealed.

[591]*591The defendant’s complaint is that William owned one-half of the note for $3600 and that, therefore, he should have had judgment for one-half, instead of plaintiff for all of, it. Plaintiff’s complaint is that the finding should have been in his favor for all of the note for $2500, as well as all of the bank accounts, on the ground of an estate by the entirety in Julia, his intestate.

Defendant claims that while formerly there could, be estates in entirety in personal property, such estates have been, in effect, abolished by the married woman’s statutes Avhich have been enacted in this state in recent years, Avhich, in a property sense, disunite husband and wife. So that his full claim is that while the estate in entirety in lands has been preserved to husband and Avife, such estate has been destroyed as to them in all personal property. The latter part of this claim is in direct conflict with the views of the Supreme Court. [Frost v. Frost, 200 Mo. 474; Bains v. Bullock, 129 Mo. 117.] In the latter case it was said that while the statute abolished the legal unity betAveen husband and wife, which gave rise to estates by the entirety, it left the estate itself intact. In the former case it is said that the Married Woman’s Statute did not have estates by entirety in view and did not intend any interference therewith, md that such estates had not been altered in any respect. And to the same effect, considering similar statutes, are- the cases of Boland v. McRowen, 189 Mass. 563, and Pray v. Stebbins, 141 Mass. 219. Therefore estates by the entirety still existing as at common bw, the case should be determined unaffected by the Married Woman’s Statute.

The note for $3600 Avas not only payable to William and Julia, which alone was sufficient, but it arose from the sale of lands held by them in entirety. Undoubtedly it was an estate in entirety, and the trial court properly ruled that upon his death the full title remained in her.

[592]*592Both bank.accounts were made up of deposits by the husband alone, in the name of both. Whether these were held in entirety depends upon the intention. The mere direction of the husband to the bank to keep the account in their joint names is not conclusive, but it has a favorable bearing on the question in the wife’s favor. Thus, if a husband buys land with his own money and takes title in his wife, it will be presumed he intended it to be a provision for her. And the same is true where he causes a note to be taken in her name. [Case v. Espenschied, 169 Mo. 215.]

We consider that the evidence and circumstances .surrounding these persons, in connection with the presumption just stated, leave no doubt that it was the intention of the husband, and indeed the wife’s also, that the survivor was to have the whole of the accounts. The case of Platt v. Grubb, 41 Hun 447, is much like the one _ before us, and it was there held that upon the death of the husband the wife took the whole account as survivor.

We have given much consideration to’ the note for $2500. We think it is not improper, ordinarily, in an estate of this kind to test one party’s right by the right of the other. May we not say, by way of illustration, that a test of plaintiff’s right, as representing the wife in the capacity of administrator of her estate, is the right the husband would have had in that note had he survived her? For the right to claim by reason of survivorship should be mutual; the right of each depends upon a corresponding right of the other; for, to be an estate by the entirety each must have an ownership in the whole of the estate. Therefore, if the husband could not rightly have claimed the whole of the note, had he survived his wife, she cannot claim it as his survivor. The ground stated as the reason why the husband could not have claimed it as an estate by the entirety, is that to allow such claim would be to annul the statute protecting the separate property [593]*593of married women, to which we have already referred. That statute is that in order that a husband may legally reduce his wife’s personal property to his possession, she must give her express written consent. [Sec. 4340, R. S. 1899.]

But we think the husband made no effort to reduce to possession the wife’s money which made up a part of that note. The facts show it to be a transaction of the wife’s. She invested her money in the note in conjunction with her husband’s money, and she, as well as he, had the note taken in the name of both so as to become an estate by the entirety. This, undoubtedly, she could legally do; for the statutory emancipation of married women, as regards their rights of property, enable them to deal with such property as though they were unmarried. Would the statute, therefore, have stood in- the way of the husband’s claim of an estate in the entirety had he survived the wife? Do not the facts disclosed in the record leave the statute without application? We do not intend to intimate a decision of a case not before us and only indulge in these suggestions by way of illustration.

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Bluebook (online)
134 S.W. 1081, 153 Mo. App. 586, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craig-v-bradley-moctapp-1911.