Hart v. Bayliss

36 S.W. 691, 97 Tenn. 72
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 1896
StatusPublished

This text of 36 S.W. 691 (Hart v. Bayliss) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hart v. Bayliss, 36 S.W. 691, 97 Tenn. 72 (Tenn. 1896).

Opinions

John T. Allen, Sp. J.

This is a bill hied to enjoin the sale of certain real estate in the city of Memphis, under a deed of trust executed by complainant and her husband, to secure a debt for money loaned to the husband, and to set aside said deed of trust, etc.

Prior to July 11, 1865, E. R. Hart was the owner in fee of a house and lot in Memphis, Tennessee, the same being lot 10 in block northwest corner of Shelby and Huling Street, sixty feet front on Shelby by a depth on Huling Street of two hundred feet.

On the eleventh day of July, 1865, he conveyed said property, with some household goods, furniture, etc., to Ruel Hough, as trustee, in consideration of $16,000, he to hold the same for the use and benefit of the complainant, Kate Hart, his wife, as her sole and separate estate.

The granting clause of the conveyance is as follows: “This conveyance is made to said R. Hough for the following uses and trusts: The said Hough, his heirs, executors, administrators, assigns, and successors, as trustees, are to hold the said property for the sole use and benefit of Kate Hart, wife of E. R. Hart, free from dominion, debts, or liabilities of her present or any future husband, and the .rents, profits, proceeds of, or sale or profits of said property, or any portion thereof, shall be held under the same trusts.”

This deed was properly acknowledged and recorded on July 12, 1865.

[74]*74Mrs. Hart at the time accepted said settlement, and ever since then has had possession of the property, and has enjoyed its rents and profits.

The trustee, Hough, some years later moved from Tennessee to Massachusetts, and, prior to April 10, 1890, had there died intestate, leaving surviving him his widow, Rebecca W. Hough, and his daughter, Annie H. Brigham, wife of Alfred W. Brigham, all residents of Boston, Mass.

On March 28, 1890, Mrs. Kate Hart and her ( husband, E. R. Hart, filed, in the Probate Court of Shelby County, their petition to have a new trustee appointed, stating that the original trustee had many years ago removed from the State, and had since died intestate, a resident of the State of Massachusetts, leaving surviving him a widow and one child, Mrs. Annie H. Brigham, his sole heir at law; that they had caused said widow and daughter to acknowledge service of said petition, and asked that a new trustee be appointed.

In the petition it is stated that they had sent the same to the widow and heir of Hough in Massachusetts prior to that time, and that said widow and heir had indorsed on the petition their acknowledgment of service of same. These indorsements are as follows:

“We, Mrs. Rebecca W. Hough and Mrs. Annie H. Brigham, named in the foregoing petition, -do hereby acknowledge service of the foregoing petition, and do agree that the same may be heard in the [75]*75Probate Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, at the time and place when it may be convenient, and such decree rendered as Court may deem proper.
‘ ‘ Mes. Rebecca W. Hough.
“Mrs. Annie H. Brigham.
“Witness: A. P. Burdett.”
“I, Alfred W. Brigham, husband of said Annie H. Brigham, join in the foregoing acknowledgment of service and agreement. Alfred W. Beigham.”
“Witness: A. P. Burdett.”

The decree was rendered March 28, 1890, the same day the petition was verified and filed.

By this decree, R. E. Patterson was appointed trustee in room and stead of Hough, deceased, with the same duties and powers.

In making this appointment, no process was issued, no publication was made; simply the sworn petition, with its exhibits, having indorsed upon it the written indorsements aforesaid, of the widow of Hough and also of the heir, with her husband (she being a married woman), and final decree entered the same day the petition was filed, there being no answer by the defendants and no pro confesso against them.

On April 10, 1890, Mrs. ‘ Kate Hart, with her husband, E. R. Hart, conveyed this lot, in trust, to John I. Dunn, trustee, to secure to the Lombard Investment Company a note for $6,000, made that day by the grantors. The bill charges that this conveyance was to secure a debt due by her [76]*76husband, of which defendants had knowledge; that she received none of the money, etc., and that she signed it at the request of her husband. This deed was registered. Default having been made, the trustee, Dunn, in November, 1895, advertised the property for sale under this conveyance.. To enjoin this sale, and to remove the cloud upon her title, this bill was filed on December 2é, 1895. Although Patterson had been appointed trustee on March .28, 1890, he did not join in the execution of the deed of April 10, 1890.

On July 28, 1890, Mrs. Hart, her husband, and Patterson, as trustee, executed to the same party, and to secure the same debt, another trust conveyance, and in the same form. This deed was executed July 28, 1890, but was dated back to April 10, 1890. The sale, however, was advertised to be made under the first, not the second deed, in which the trustee was a grantor.

Complainants, in their bill, insist that Hart and wife alone could not convey the title, and that the attempted sale should be enjoined; further, that the trust was active; that the second deed failed to convey the title because of the want of power to convey; that it was the duty of the trustee to hold the property and see to it that Mrs. Hart received its rents and profits, and, in case of sale, the trustee had to hold the proceeds for her; and that it was a breach of trust to attempt to convey it to secure a debt of her husband.

[77]*77The bill further claims that the Probate Court had not jurisdiction of the defendants, and no jurisdiction to appoint Patterson trustee, and that said decree was void.

The Chancellor enjoined the sale, and, on demurrer, held .that the deed to Dunn, trustee, was made in violation of the trust, and was void. He however held that the appointment of Patterson trustee was valid, and dismissed that feature of the bill.

Each party appealed from so much of the decree as held against their respective contentions, and have assigned appropriate errors.

Under the deed from Hart to Hough, trustee, it was the duty of the trustee to hold the property for the benefit of Mrs. Hart; to hold the same, free from the control- of her present husband or any future husband, and protect it from the debts and liabilities of her present or future husband; and to hold the rent and profits for her sole use and benefit; and to hold the proceeds of sales, in event of sale of any of the property under the same trust. This made the trust active.

In Cardwell v. Cheatham, 2 Head, 17, 18 (an opinion delivered by Judge Wright), language in substance the same as here employed, was held to have created an active trust.

There the language was £ ‘ that said Cheatham should hold the legal title of the lot for the sole and separate use and benefit of complainant, the same not to be liable to the control, or for any [78]*78debt or responsibilities to be contracted or incurred, by the said James W.

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36 S.W. 691, 97 Tenn. 72, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hart-v-bayliss-tenn-1896.