Gause v. Gause

430 S.W.2d 409, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2590
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 10, 1968
Docket11609
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 430 S.W.2d 409 (Gause v. Gause) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gause v. Gause, 430 S.W.2d 409, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2590 (Tex. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

O’QUINN, Justice.

In this lawsuit a son and his wife seek to impress a trust upon ten acres of land held *411 by his mother which they contend was conveyed by them to his father on the oral representation and promise of his parents that the survivor of them at death would devise the land to the son and his wife.

The ten acres in controversy was an undivided part of 105.5 acres of land in Fay-ette County, Texas, bought in May, 1945, by Leonard L. Gause, Sr., with money furnished by his son, Leonard L., Jr., who at the time was a minor. The deed was taken in the name of the father. It is undisputed that the total consideration was $7,863, with a cash payment of $2,363 by the son, and the balance of $5,000 payable by an installment note. It is also uncontroverted that the son, in addition to making the down payment, also paid all installments of principal and interest until the unpaid principal balance had been reduced to $2,300 in 1949.

In 1945, when the land was acquired, Leonard, Jr., was 20 years of age and unmarried. By 1949 he was a married man with one child and had decided to move onto the land his parents had bought for him with the money he furnished. Prior to 1949 Leonard, Jr. and his wife lived in Houston. Between the years 1945 and 1949 his parents had occupied the larger of two houses on the acreage, and in 1949 Leonard, Jr. and his wife and child moved into the smaller house.

At the instance of Leonard, Jr., and his wife, the parents in April of 1949 conveyed to their son the entire tract of 105.5 acres, with recitations in the deed acknowledging that the son by virtue of having made all payments of consideration was holder of equitable title and that the deed was made for the purpose of placing legal title in Leonard, Jr.

Simultaneously with this deed, Leonard, Jr., and his wife conveyed to his father the ten acres here in dispute on which was located the large house occupied by the parents. The deed recited a consideration of $2,300, being the unpaid balance of the purchase money for the entire tract.

Leonard, Jr., and his wife contend that they refused to convey the ten acres to his father, with the big house and the only well on the place, until both parents agreed that when the suvivor of them died the ten acres woud be returned by devise to Leonard and his wife. They further contend that the value of the property conveyed was $6,000, allocated $1,000 to land, $1,000 to the well and its equipment, and $4,000 to the house on the ten acres.

It is without dispute that the parents by installments paid the recited consideration of $2,300. The parents made mutual wills under which the ten acres were devised by each to the other spouse. The father died in 1961, and his will was probated placing record title in the mother, Mrs. Magdalene Gause.

Leonard, Jr., served as a seaman in World War II. In September, 1949, after the conveyances had been made in April of that year, Leonard, Jr., returned to sea duty. By 1966 Leonard, Jr., had become a merchant marine officer and was frequently absent from the country for extended periods on sea duty. He was on a voyage in the Atlantic Ocean in 1961 when his father died and at the time his father’s will was probated. Sometime prior to 1966 Mrs. Magdalene Gause, his mother, moved from Fayette County to Houston, in Harris County, where she owned property.

A brother of Leonard, Jr., died in 1966, and settlement of his affairs was in the hands of his mother, Mrs. Magdalene Gause. In this connection, Mrs. Gause’s counsel sought to obtain from Leonard, Jr., a release of Leonard’s interest in his father’s estate. On advice of counsel, Leonard, Jr., refused to execute the release because he had been advised this might affect his title to the ten acres he had deeded to his father in 1949. Leonard went to see his mother in Houston and sought without success to discuss the matter with her in August, 1966.

In January, 1967, after seeing a “For Sale” sign in front of the ten-acre tract, Leonard, Jr., wrote a letter to the real estate *412 agent advising of his claim to an interest in the land. In May, 1967, Mrs. Magdalene Gause brought suit to enjoin Leonard, Jr., and his wife from interfering with Mrs. Gause in her efforts to sell the property. Leonard, Jr., and his wife brought suit asserting their claim to title in the ten acres. The trial court upon agreement of the parties consolidated the two- causes, and as consolidated the case went to trial in October, 1967.

Leonard Gause, Jr., and his wife, in their petition to impress a constructive or resulting trust on the ten acres, stated they were willing to tender the sum of $2,300 to- Mrs. Magdalene Gause as an offer to do- equity under their prayer for equitable relief and for judgment impressing a constructive trust upon the property.

The case was tried before the court without intervention of a jury. The trial court entered judgment on December 5, 1967, impressing the ten acres of land and all improvements with a constructive trust in favor of Leonard L. Gause, Jr., and wife, Rita Mary Gause, subject to a life estate in favor of Mrs. Magdalene Gause.

The court found that Mrs. Magdalene Gause and her husband had enhanced the value of the property to the extent of $7,000 through improvements they made “in and prior to 1949.” The court charged the property with an equitable lien in favor of Mrs. Magdalene Gause for the lesser of two sums: (1) $7,000 less one-fourth of one percent thereof per month ($17.50 per month) from September 1, 1949, to date of the death of Mrs. Magdalene Gause; or (2) The amount by which the improvements enhance the value of the property at the time of the death of Mrs. Magdalene Gause.

In addition, the property was charged with an equitable lien for the sum of $2,300 for reimbursement of the purchase price. Both the alternate sum and the sum of $2,300 were made payable at the death of Mrs. Magdalene Gause, with interest thereafter but not before.

Mrs. Magdalene Gause is an appellant seeking to have set aside the action of the trial court impressing the property with a constructive trust in favor of her son, Leonard Gause, Jr., and his wife.

The son and his wife are appellants assailing that part of the trial court’s judgment charging the property with an equitable lien for improvements made by his parents in and prior to 1949. They have not appealed from the action of the trial court charging the property with a lien for the sum of $2,300.

Mrs. Magdalene Gause urges four points of error. She contends that (1) the pleadings were insufficient as a matter of law to support a judgment imposing a constructive trust; (2) the claim to an interest in the land was barred by the statute of limitations and by laches; (3) the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to support the imposition of a constructive trust; and (4) the court was not at liberty to disregard the fact that the property was acquired for a good and valuable consideration.

The only point of error presented by Leonard Gause, Jr., and wife in their appeal is that the trial court erred in requiring them to make reimbursement for the value by which the property will be enhanced at the time of his mother’s death through the improvements made by his parents.

We consider first the points of error brought by Mrs.

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430 S.W.2d 409, 1968 Tex. App. LEXIS 2590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gause-v-gause-texapp-1968.