Ebert v. Myers

9 S.W.2d 1066, 320 Mo. 804, 1928 Mo. LEXIS 833
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 20, 1928
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 9 S.W.2d 1066 (Ebert v. Myers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ebert v. Myers, 9 S.W.2d 1066, 320 Mo. 804, 1928 Mo. LEXIS 833 (Mo. 1928).

Opinion

*806 WHITE, P. J.

The plaintiff brought this suit to set aside a conveyance by Ns Myers to his daughter, Olivia Myers, as in fraud of creditors.

The petition alleges that Ns Myers became indebted to plaintiff in July, 1915, in the sum of $575.70, and executed his note therefor; that August 4, 1924, plaintiff brought suit and later recovered judgment against the defendant Ns Myers in1 Audrain County Circuit Court for the debt and interest, amounting to $1001.31; that February 19, 1923, the defendant, Ns Myers, conveyed to' his daughter Olivia Myers, certain real estate, described, in the city of Mexico, Missouri, for a recited consideration of one dollar'and other valuable considerations; that in fact such conveyance was voluntary, without consideration, and made for the purpose of delaying and defrauding the creditors of Ns Myers; that by reason of such conveyance Ns Myers rendered himself wholly insolvent.

The defendants answered, admitting the indebtedness to plaintiff, the judgment and the conveyance by Myers to his daughter, but alleged that the conveyance was for a valuable consideration; that Ns Mvers owed to her and her brothers and sisters various sums *807 amounting in all to $4827.67, anil that the conveyance was made ior the payment of those debts, i The children to whom those debts were listed were Mrs. Terrell Crews, $1324.27; James R. Myers, $324.47; Clara Le Sheeley, $796.14; Charles L. Myers, $610; Lawrence Q. Myers, $700.05; Martin T. Myers, $217.50, and Olivia Myers, $262.55.

It is alleged that these children of Ns Myers to whom he was indebted requested that he make conveyance, in payment of said debts, of the property described, to Olivia Myers, “as the person to hold the title to said land for their benefit, and surrendered to defendant, Ns Myers, their claims for said debts and look solely to the defendant, Olivia Myers, for the payment thereof, in so far as property will go towards such payment, and have no further claim upon said Ns Myers for said debts.”

It is further alleged that the property was the homestead of Ns Myers upon which he and his wife resided, and was not worth the $4287.67, the amount of the debts to the children.

It is further alleged that at the time of 'the said conveyance the said Ns Myers was negotiating for a loan to pay back taxes and money borrowed for the purpose of paying taxes, and February 20, 1923, did execute a deed of'trust for the purpose of procuring money to pay said, back taxes, and said money borrowed for that purpose, and that Olivia Myers and the parties whom she represents knew all said negotiations for said loan and parts thereof, and knew that they were acquiring the property subject to said deed of .trust. The deed sought to'be set aside, although executed the day before the deed of trust, was not filed for record for a year and a half later.

The court rendered judgment March 26, 1925, holding that the conveyance by Ns Myers to Olivia Myers was fraudulent and void .as to the plaintiff, found that the property described was a. homestead of the grantor, of the approximate value of $4500, and adjudged that Ns Myers, under Section 5863, Revised Statutes 1919, should within ten days exercise the option to convey said, property to the plaintiff on payment by plaintiff of $1500, the value of his homestead, or pay the said judgment; otherwise the property should be sold and the proceeds apportioned accordingly. Defendant appealed. , . •

I. In the answer defendants attempt to set up a resulting trust in favor of Olivia Myers, her brothers and sisters, on the ground that the conveyance was ¡made to her by her father in consideration of each of those children cancelling his or her debt, which it is claimed the father owed. It is conceded that there is no written evidence of any agreement of the parties to that effect, and appellant contends that therefore a trust resulted *808 by operation of law; (hat Olivia therefore holds the property-in trust for her brothers and sisters in proportion to the debt so surrendered, as their several parts of the purchase price.

A resulting trust arises by operation of law from the facts in the case and never'by operation of any agreement; from what the parties do, and never what they agree to do. Where an alleged trust must be established by agreement the agreement must be in writing, under Section 2253, Eevised Statutes 1919, and it cannot be a resulting trust under Section 2264. [Bender v. Bender, 220 S. W. 929; Thompson v. Thompson, 211 S. W. 52; Heil v. Heil, 184 Mo. l. c. 675; Price v. Kane, 112 Mo. 412.]

The appellant cites the case of Shelton v. Harrison, 182 Mo. App. 404, as nearest in point. In that case a number of persons entered into an agreement to purchase land for a fruit farm and one Harrison who originated the scheme collected the-money ifrom his associates in monthly installments to pay for the land, and purchased the land in his own name. It was held that a trust resulted. Judge Sturgis, who wrote the opinion, reviewed the1 authorities at length, and quoted (l. c. 417), from Pomeroy on Equity Jurisprudence, as follows:

“All possible trusts, whether of real or personal property, are separated by a principal line of division into two great classes: Those created by the intentional act of some party having dominion over the property, done with the view to the creation of a trust, which are express trusts; those created by operation of law, where the acts of the parties may have had no intentional reference to the existence of any trust — implied, or resulting and constructive trusts. ’ ’

A resulting trust always arises in favor of a person who furnishes the purchase money for land which is taken in the name of another. It is that principle on which appellant relies.

In the Bender case it was said (l. c. 930) : “If a parol agreement providing for a conveyance is -resorted to, it at once becomes an express trust, and not a resulting trust, and cannot be established by parol.”

In the Price ease (l. c. 439), this was said: “The only evidence introduced in the case to establish a trust ivas that of declarations made by the wife to the effect that the .property belonged to her husband, and that she would convey it back to him whenever he wished her to do so. These were declarations of an express trust which could only have been been proved by writing.” In the Heil case it was said (l. c. 675-6) : “An express active trust is one in which, from the express directions of the language creating the trust or from the very nature of the trust itself, the trustee is charged with the performance of active and substantial duties with respect to the *809 control, management and disposition of the trust ^property for the benefit of the cestui que trust.” (Italics ours.)

In view of this state of the law it is necessary to examine the evidence.

The defendant Olivia Myers testified in a deposition introduced by the plaintiff, after describing the execution of the deed which her father made to her, she said:

“Q. Now, who brought the matter up; who spoke first about it? A. It ivas my sister, Mrs. Sheeley, or Clara. She suggested that 1 AA'ould be the one to deed it to.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bostian v. Bono
322 S.W.2d 813 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1959)
Padgett v. Osborne
221 S.W.2d 210 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1949)
Mays v. Jackson
145 S.W.2d 392 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1940)
Purvis v. Hardin
122 S.W.2d 936 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1938)
Parker v. Blakeley
93 S.W.2d 981 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1936)
Cunningham v. Kinnerk
74 S.W.2d 1107 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1934)
Stierlin v. Teschemacher
64 S.W.2d 647 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1933)
Gates Hotel Co. v. C. R. H. Davis Real Estate Co.
52 S.W.2d 1011 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1932)
Cape County Savings Bank v. Wilson
34 S.W.2d 981 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1931)
Citizens Bank v. Hilkemeyer
29 S.W.2d 1000 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
9 S.W.2d 1066, 320 Mo. 804, 1928 Mo. LEXIS 833, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ebert-v-myers-mo-1928.