Heuser v. Belvin

87 S.E. 594, 118 Va. 346, 1916 Va. LEXIS 15
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJanuary 13, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 87 S.E. 594 (Heuser v. Belvin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heuser v. Belvin, 87 S.E. 594, 118 Va. 346, 1916 Va. LEXIS 15 (Va. 1916).

Opinion

Cardwell, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The motion of appellee, E. Bee Trinkle, to dismiss the appeal, for the reasons that W. E). Belvin, Jr., Byle R. Belvin, Marjorie [347]*347B. Belvin and Constance L. Belvin are not parties to the petition therefor, and H. M. Heuser, as receiver and as trustee, has no interest entitling him to prosecute the appeal, is without merit and is, therefore, overruled.

The material facts leading up to the final decree in the cause complained of are as follows: In 1882 certain relatives of W. D. Belvin purchased for him a farm in Wythe county, Va., containing 190 acres, which farm was, by deed dated April 2, 1882, executed by J. M. Suavely and wife, for the consideration of $5,500, conveyed to Witcher Jones, trustee for W. D. Belvin, in trust “for the use and benefit of W. D. Belvin for his life, and at his death to be conveyed by the trustee to such person or persons as should then be the legal heirs of said W. D. Belvin, in such portion as they would be entitled to by law if said Belvin had owned the land in fee, and had died intestate.” W. D. Belvin was not provident, and domestic differences arose between him and his wife, culminating in a divorce from bed and board about the year 1902, and- the decree provided for alimony at the rate of $225 per annum to Mrs. Belvin in addition to costs and allowances for attorney’s fee. About the time the divorce suit was pending two creditors’ suits against W. D. Belvin were brought, in which suits, consolidated, the farm held by Jones, trustee, was rented out to satisfy the debts of Belvin and to pay alimony to his wife, and the annual rental for some of the earlier years amounted to $300, but this was later reduced on account of the condition of the property and the terms under which it had to be rented, so that the prevailing rental ran for a number of years at $225 per annum; the result being that all of the proceeds of rental were taken up in the payment of the debts involved in the creditors’ suit, only a small amount' having been paid on alimony, and the unpaid alimony having accumulated to about $1,100 or $1,200. The farm had been in the hands of renters for a number of years before it was rented out by the court, had become so much run down from year to [348]*348year that it would have taken several years and a considerable outlay of money to restore it to its former value. No hay had been made upon it for years; the timber was practically gone; inside fences were of no account; there was scarcely any grass; fruit trees had all died; all outbuildings were gone, and the dwelling house was very dilapidated; porches rotted down; the roof of the dwelling not good; all guttering and spouting were off; and the windows and doors were in bad condition and some of the floors were sprung.

The condition of the wife and children (some of whom were living with their mother) was that the debts of the father and costs of the creditors’ suits, taxes and expenses of such repairs as were made upon the farm had so depleted the revenue from rent derived therefrom that practically nothing had been paid on the alimony decreed to Mrs. Belvin, and the amount of alimony due had accumulated, as remarked, to about $1,100 or $1,200, without any hope of its being paid, or of the current revenues from the farm being sufficient to pay the alimony that might accrue from year to year. The condition of W. D. Belvin, the husband and father, was that he was separated from his wife and children. He had no home, and being without means of support, and an old Confederate soldier, he had finally drifted to the Soldiers’ Home in Richmond to receive such care and comfort as the bounty of the State could provide for him.

In these circumstances, and as the price of land in the vicinity of the farm had risen since the original purchase of it, so that it was thought that an investment of the proceeds of its sale in some other form would prove more beneficial to all concerned, Mrs. Belvin and her children became desirous of selling the farm, with the view of relieving the embarrassing situation described and putting the investment in some other form. W. D. Belvin at first did not favor a sale of the farm, as he had an exaggerated idea of its value, and a fanciful notion that the land was underlaid with some kind of valuable [349]*349minerals, but his reluctance to sell was finally overcome, by reason that he himself was not in a position to prevent a sale, or show that it would not be advantageous to all concerned. Another reason was, a prospect that he might derive something out of a sale of the land by a contemplated purchaser, E. Lee Trinkle (as hereinafter explained) at an advance, if a sale to Trinkle were consummated, and the land placed in a condition to be handled to advantage. He realized also that the increased income from the fund arising from the sale of the farm would, when reinvested or put at interest, after a few years, produce sufficient to give him a small surplus over and above the alimony decreed to his wife, to be enjoyed by himself.

The trustee in the deed under which the title to the property was held, Witcher Jones, had been dead several years and H. M. Heuser was substituted trustee in his stead. Heuser who had been acting as receiver of the court in said chancery cause, and as attorney for Mrs. Belvin and her children, took the view that a sale of the property would be to the advantage of all concerned, as appears from certain letters written by him to W. D. Belvin appearing in this' record as exhibits “Heuser Ho. 1” and “Heuser Ho. 2.” After these letters were written, the matter of the proposed sale of the property for a change of the investment was taken up by the brother of W. D. Belvin with appellee, E. Lee Trinkle, resulting in a conference at Bichmond, at which an understanding was reached that the property might be sold, and that Trinkle should purchase it. The best offer that could be obtained for the property at that time, as shown by Heuser’s letter, Exhibit Ho. 1, was somthing like $11,000—that is, there was a prospect to sell the property for something like $11,000, which Heuser considered a good price. There was some competition by the parties in the neighborhood who desired to purchase the land, or a part of it, surpassing the expectations of everyone. This competition finally resulted in an offer of $13,000, $1,000 in excess of the amount at which Heuser was authorized to sell by a [350]*350power of attorney lie held, from all parties interested, and $2,000 in excess of what he considered a good price for the land, and which he had advised W. D. Belvin, as well as the other parties in interest, to take. Trinkle was not concerned in any of the competitive bidding bringing the offer np to $13,000, but after that offer had been made, and when it appeared that it was the best offer the trustee and receiver could get (as Trinkle had notified the receiver and trustee to obtain the best offer he could), Trinkle advanced the offer to $13,010. Not only was this considered an extraordinary good price by the trustee and receiver and the parties immediately concerned, but it was so considered by all of the witnesses who testified in this case as to the value of the property. In fact, all considered it an unusually good price for the property.

Bor the purpose of effecting a sale, Lula B. Belvin, the wife, and the five children of W. D.

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

Related

Bowman v. Mericle
69 Va. Cir. 87 (Norfolk County Circuit Court, 2005)
Larkin v. Wright
39 S.E.2d 355 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1946)
Copenhaver v. Pendleton
155 S.E. 802 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1930)
Southern States Fire & Casualty Insurance v. Napier
96 S.E. 15 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
87 S.E. 594, 118 Va. 346, 1916 Va. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heuser-v-belvin-va-1916.