Harbour v. Harbour

181 S.W.2d 805, 207 Ark. 551, 1944 Ark. LEXIS 703
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJuly 10, 1944
Docket4-7410
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 181 S.W.2d 805 (Harbour v. Harbour) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harbour v. Harbour, 181 S.W.2d 805, 207 Ark. 551, 1944 Ark. LEXIS 703 (Ark. 1944).

Opinion

McFaddin, J.

This appeal necessitates the determination of whether a resulting trust exists in real estate, and also whether limitations, laches, or estoppel bar the enforcement of the trust.

Miss Lorine Lumpkin worked-in a bank in Marion, Arkansas, as teller and bookkeeper; and Dr. Otis Harbour was a veterinarian, residing in Marion, Arkansas, but engaged in the practice of his work in Memphis, Tennessee. When they married in February, 1930, she was thirty years of age and he was forty years of age. They lived together as husband and wife until 1942. We will hereafter refer to them as Mrs. Harbour and Dr. Harbour.

At the time of the marriage Dr. Harbour had no' property. He had his employment in the stock yards in Memphis (from which he was paid on a basis of services nerformed), and had a bank account of $291.80; but owed a balance on the engagement or wedding ring. Mrs. Harbour had her position in the bank at Marion (at a salary of $150 per month); owned $500 in bank stock (that paid dividends until after 1936); received fees as notary, public (that amounted to as much as $161 at the time’of one deposit); owned a house (in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee) from which she regularly received rents varying from $18.50 to $25 per month; and had a bank account of $250 at the time of the marriage; and she owed no debts. So, to the marriage partnership Dr. Harbour brought only the expectancy of earnings, but Mrs. Harbour brought the dowry.

Mrs. Harbour continued to work in tbe bank until after 1936 and her salary was increased to $175 per month sometime about 1934. She was in charge of all of the deposits and accounts in the bank. Since Mrs. Harbour worked in the bank Hr. Harbour entrusted to her the depositing of his money and the making of various bank accounts; and in the period of time from 1932 to 1936 they had six bank accounts being:

(1) Otis Harbour (a regular checking account on which each party wrote checks).

(2) Otis Harbour, savings account (which was closed out and became the Otis Harbour special account).

(3) Otis. Harbour, special account (which'was used in lieu of the savings account).

(4) Otis Harbour, farm account (in which rents were deposited and from which advances were made to tenants, and in which the rents from the tenants were deposited).

(5) Lorine Harbour, checking account (her personal checking account).

(6) Lorine Harbour, savings account (her personal savings account).

Some of these accounts were opened at different times, but each plays a part in the story. The principal account was the Otis Harbour checking account. In 1934, the parties decided to buy a farm and they looked for a good investment, and soon located the splendid farm of 196.15 acres here involved, and then being sold by the Tennessee Joint Stock Land Bank'at a distress price. The deed was taken in the name of Dr. Otis Harbour. The total purchase price was agreed to be $13,730.50. On March 26, 1934, Dr. Harbour paid $1,000 earnest money (by check on Otis Harbour checking account), and signed a contract to pay $2,730.50 in cash and to execute notes totaling $10,000 whenever the title could be delivered. The purchasers were to receive the 1934 rents. On October 15, 1934, the title was approved, and Dr. Harbour paid the $2,730.50 (by a check on the Otis Harbour checking account), and executed the notes totaling $10,000. These' notes were secured by purchase money mortgages on the land. Mrs. Harbour signed the mortgages, but did not sign the notes, and did not in any way become personally liable for the. payment of the $10,000. The notes were paid on or before March 30, 1936, and all the payments were from the Otis Harbour checking account.

Financial fortune smiled on the Harbours because each was energetic and thrifty; and a prosperous and happy married life could have easily resulted; but it did not. They separated in 1942 in Memphis; and Mrs. Harbour has pending, in Tennessee, a suit for divorce and alimony. We here point out that the divorce action between the parties is pending -in another state, and that this case concerns only the alleged trust property in Arkansas. No question was raised in the lower court, or here,.as to jurisdiction in this case; and since the “res” (land) is in Arkansas, and since the parties have come into the Arkansas courts, we proceed to adjudicate the case on it's merits. Leñar on Conflict of Laws, §§ 26, 36 and 118.

In 1943, Mrs. Harbour filed this suit to have a trust declared in her favor for an undivided one-half interest in the lands and for partition to segregate her interest. Hr. Harbour denied any trust, and pleaded limitations, laches, estoppel and the statute of frauds. The trial court found for Mrs. Harbour and decreed her to be the equitable owner of an undivided one-half interest in the lands, and appointed commissioners to make partition; and from that decree Dr. Harbour has appealed. The record is voluminous and the exhibits are numerous and detailed; but through it all, there is the wife’s contention that she is entitled to one-half -of the land in fee, and there is the husband’s denial of the asserted claim.

To sustain the decree of the chancery court, appellee claims:

(1) That the money which paid for the land was from a “joint account,” and therefore the title was joint in equity; and (2) if this court should hold against the “joint account” theory, then, to the extent that the money of the wife went into the purchase of the land— to that extent, at all events — the wife is entitled to a beneficial trust interest in the land. We proceed-to an examination of these contentions as well as the other questions in the case.

I. “Joint Account” Theory

Mrs. Harbour claims that the Otis Harbour checking account was a “joint account” owned equally by Dr. Harbour and herself; and that since all the checks, which paid for the farm, were drawn on the “joint account” therefore she is the owner of one-half interest in the farm. This “joint account” theory cannot be sustained as that term is used in the statutes, cases, and books on banks and banking. The Arkansas statute on “joint accounts” is § 727a of Pope’s Digest, and it is predicated on the fact that the deposit shall be made “in the name of such depositor and other person.” Our statute presupposes that a “joint account” will be a two-name account. This statute was discussed by this court in Black v. Black, 199 Ark. 609, 135 S. W. 2d 837. In the case of Ferrel, Administratrix, v. Holland, 205 Ark. 523, 169 S. W. 2d 643, there was involved the “joint account” in building and loan certificates.. In 7 Am. J. 299, there is a discussion of joint deposits and accounts; and the discussion begins with the assertion: “Bank accounts may be established in the name of two or more persons.” To the same effect see 9 C. J. S. 595. The basic legal conception of a “joint account” means that it be in two or more names. That essential does not exist in the account here involved, since the account stood only in the name of Otis Harbour.

But Mrs. Harbour contends that it was agreed between herself and Dr. Harbour that she was to have an undivided half interest in the account regardless of the name in which it stood.

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Bluebook (online)
181 S.W.2d 805, 207 Ark. 551, 1944 Ark. LEXIS 703, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harbour-v-harbour-ark-1944.