Gray v. Mills

206 S.W.2d 278, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 1265
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 14, 1947
DocketNo. 14882
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 206 S.W.2d 278 (Gray v. Mills) 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
Gray v. Mills, 206 S.W.2d 278, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 1265 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

McDONALD, Chief Justice.

The parties to this suit are Mrs. Eva Gray and her four children, some of the parties being joined by their respective spouses. Mrs. Gray was formerly married to Benjamin C. Mills, now deceased. To this union were born the four children who are parties to this suit, to-wit, Harry G. Mills, Benjamin C. Mills, Jr., Mabel M. Harper, now a widow, and George W. Mills. The controversy may be summarized somewhat as follows:

Mrs. Gray and her sons, Benjamin and George, claim that in the year 1945 Mr. and Mrs. Gray were contemplating a divorce ; that Mr. and Mrs. Gray then resided in a home on Broadway Street, in Fort Worth, which is referred to by the parties as the Broadway property; that an arrangement was made by all concerned to settle the community estate of Mr. and Mrs. Gray. That pursuant to such family arrangement the Broadway property was conveyed by Mr. and Mrs. Gray and the other three children to Harry, in trust, the purpose being that after the divorce the property would be conveyed to Mrs. Gray, or, if it should be sold, that the proceeds would either be divided among Mrs. Gray and the four children, or else held in Harry’s hands subject to their order. That Harry sold the Broadway property, and used the proceeds to pay part of the purchase price of what the parties call the Riverside property. They claim that Mrs. Gray, Benjamin and George jointly own an undivided three-fourths interest in the Riverside property, and that Harry and Mabel each owns a one-eighth interest therein, all subject to a lien in favor of the Fidelity Union Life Insurance Company. The suit of Mrs. Gray, Benjamin and George is to impress a trust on the Riverside property, and to have it sold and the proceeds divided among the parties according to their proportionate interests. Relief is sought with respect to some personal property, but the details of that phase of the suit do not require discussion on this appeal.

[280]*280It is Harry’s claim that the entire title, both legal and equitable, to the Broadway property was conveyed to him, and that he consequently owns the Riverside property free of any claim on the part of Mrs. Gray and his two brothers. The sister, Mabel M. Harper, adopts Harry’s pleadings, and denies the allegations contained in the pleadings of her mother and the other two brothers.

On a special issue verdict to the effect that the Brodaway property was not conveyed in trust to Harry for the benefit of Mrs. Gray, judgment was rendered that plaintiffs take nothing by their suit. Plaintiffs have appealed. Their first point of error complains of the exclusion of certain testimony. The second complains of the refusal of the court to include in the charge to the jury a definition of the term trust. The third questions the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict.

First to be considered is a matter of appellate practice. “A ruling sustaining an objection to a question will not be reviewed when the record does not show that the question would have been answered, or what the answer would have been, or in other words, what the witness would have testified to, or what it was expected to prove by him, or when it is not shown that the witness could or would have given the testimony expected to be elicited by the question.” 3 Tex.Jur. p. 470. Ap-pellees contend that the record does not meet the requirements of the rule just quoted. Without discussing the details of the controversy concerning this, we hold that the record before us is sufficient to show that the court was apprised of what was expected to be proved by the witnesses, and that the witnesses would have testified as plaintiffs expected them to testify. This last conclusion is reasonable especially in view of the fact that the excluded testimony was that of plaintiffs themselves. While a .bill of exceptions may be completed by having the witness testify out of the presence of the jury and by having his testimony incorporated in the bill, it is also a customary practice to show what the excluded testimony would have been by stating to the trial court what is expected to be proved by the witness, and having the bill of exceptions show that such was done. 3 Tex.Jur. p. 473; Hartfield v. Greber, Tex.Civ.App., 160 S.W. 603; Id., Tex.Com.App., 207 S.W. 85. We think that the bills of exceptions before us, although completed several weeks after the trial of the case, constituted a sufficient compliance with the applicable rules, especially when considered in the light of the testimony,, the questions put to the witnesses, the objections made by defendants, the statements of counsel for plaintiffs, and the remarks of the trial judge, all as shown by the. statement of facts.

Defendants suggest that the excluded testimony was inadmissible because it was a declaration of one who would be the beneficiary if the trust were established, citing 42 Tex.Jur. p. 196. The care cited in the footnote to the excerpt in Texas Jurisprudence demonstrates the flaw in defendants’ contention. The self-serving rule referred to applies to declarations attempted to be proved by hearsay, and not to testimony of a party offered in court. One who claims as a beneficiary may testify to facts within his knowledge. Mortimer v. Jackson, Tex.Com.App., 206 S.W. 510.

We now get to the heart of the controversy. Plaintiffs wished to prove that the purpose of executing the deed conveying the Broadway property to Harry was to. carry out the plan of settling the community affairs of Mr. and Mrs. Gray, and that it was understood by all concerned that, the property was being conveyed to him: only in trust, that he should convey it to. Mrs. Gray after the divorce, or, if he should sell the property, that he would divide the proceeds among the parties according to their respective interests in the-property. In their brief, plaintiffs contend that a resulting trust arose, while defendants contend that. the trust sought to be-proved was an express parol trust, and. that an express parol trust cannot now be established in Texas by reason of the provisions of Article 3995, Vernon’s Ann.Civ. St., commonly known as the Statute of' Frauds, Article 1288, governing conveyances of land, and the Texas Trust Acts 1943, 48th Leg., p. 232, ch. 148, amended in some respects by Acts 1945, 49th Leg.,, [281]*281р. 109, Ch. 77, Art. 7425b — 1 et seq., Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., and particularly the seventh section of the Texas Trust Act, which provides that a trust in relation to or consisting of real property shall be invalid, unless created, established, or declared by a written instrument. The second section of the Trust Act, however, provides that it does not cover resulting and constructive trusts, and certain other kinds of trusts not necessary to mention here. As has been said, defendants argue that the excluded testimony was offered for the purpose of proving an express parol trust, in violation of the statute just referred to, while plaintiffs argue that the trust sought to be established was a resulting trust.

Much has been written concerning parol trusts, and the applicability of the Statute of Frauds to them. The question for us to decide is whether the trust sought to be proved by plaintiffs was required to be in writing in order to be enforcible. In determining this question we shall look to the pleadings of the parties and the evidence introduced and also the excluded evidence which is in dispute on this appeal, and shall not be governed by the opinions of the parties that the trust is either express or implied, resulting or constructive.

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Bluebook (online)
206 S.W.2d 278, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 1265, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-mills-texapp-1947.