Hoppes v. American National Red Cross

128 N.E.2d 851, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 259, 1955 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 342
CourtFayette County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedSeptember 6, 1955
DocketNo. 21939
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 128 N.E.2d 851 (Hoppes v. American National Red Cross) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Fayette County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoppes v. American National Red Cross, 128 N.E.2d 851, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 259, 1955 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 342 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

OPINION

By CASE, J.

This is an action for declaratory judgment seeking interpretation of three deeds of general warranty, three wills, and four mortgages: and a determination of the rights and interests of the children and grandchildren of Samuel B. Hoppes, deceased, the same being the two brothers and a sister and fourteen nieces and nephews of John Hinton Hoppes, deceased son of Samuel B. Hoppes; and the interests of two mortgages of John Hinton Hoppes, and of the American National Red Cross, a devisee under the will of John Hinton Hoppes. This matter was submitted upon the pleadings and an agreed statement of facts as hereinafter discussed and set forth.

[261]*261THE FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION

The first cause of action seeks determination of the rights and interests of the various parties with respect to 78 acres originally conveyed by Samuel B. Hoppes to John Hinton Hoppes by deed of general warranty dated December 23, 1912.

The factual situation of the first cause of action may be summarized as follows:

1912 Deed: Samuel B. deeded to John H. “for the term of his natural life, then to the heirs of his body their heirs and assigns forever.”

1929 Deed: John H. reconveyed to Samuel B. in fee simple reciting the purpose thereof “being to vest the fee simple title to said premises in the grantee, Samuel B. Hoppes.”

1934 Deed: Samuel B. reconveyed to John H. in fee simple.

1935: Samuel B. died testate but without specifically making mention or devise of said 78 acres and without including a residuary clause in said will.

1939, 1948, 1953, and 1954: John H. mortgaged said premises.

1954: John H. died testate, without issue; and without said mortgages being cancelled or released; and devising the net proceeds from the sale of said premises to The American National Red Cross.

No one of the parties to this action has contended that there is any ambiguity or uncertainty in the intent of the parties to the 1912 deed by reason of the language used therein. The granting and habendum clauses use identical words and phrasing — ^“for the term of his natural life, then to the heirs of his body their heirs and assigns forever”; and the warranty clause uses the phrase — “and the heirs of his body, their heirs, and assigns.”

In Long v. Olinger, 16 Abs 182, the appellate court for Ohio Appeals, 2nd District, held:

■ “3. A deed from a father to a son who had no children, granting the premises to the grantee ‘and the children of his body begotten and their heirs and assigns forever,’ does not convey a fee simple to the son.”

In the second headnote to In Re Estate of Jones, 44 Abs 339, the appellate court for Ohio Appeals, 3rd District, held:

“2. A granting clause in a deed executed in 1897 which recited that premises are conveyed to ‘Thomas T. Jones and heirs of his body,' entitled the grantee as the first donee or tenant in tail to full enjoyment of all rights and subject to all the disabilities incident to that species of estates, and upon his death the right of entry accrued to the issue of his body and their estate immediately became an absolute estate.in fee simple.”

In Pollock v. Speidel, 17 Oh St 439, the Supreme Court of Ohio held:

“1. Where lands are conveyed by deed ‘to A, their heirs of his body, and assigns, forever,’ the grantee takes an estate tail.

“2. By force of the statute of this state limiting entailments, the issue of A takes the inheritance as an absolute estate in fee simple.

“3. The first donee in tail can not, in this state, by a sale and conveyance in fee simple, with covenants of warranty, bar the entail, or deprive his issue of the right of succession to the inheritance.

“4. Though the issue, in such case, take by descent, yet the tenant [262]*262in tail is not the source of their title; they take, per formam doni, from the person who first created the estate, and are therefore not estopped by the deed of the tenant in tail.”

It is undisputed that John Hinton Hoppes was unmarried and without issue on December 23, 1912, that these two conditions continued unchanged throughout his life-time, and that he died on October 22, 1954, without issue..

In the interpretation of deeds, it is a well established rule of law that the intention of the parties shall govern unless the language used therein renders it imposible to give that intention effect. As to the intention of the parties to said deed of 1912, this Court must be guided by the language contained therein for all of the parties thereto are now deceased.

Sec. 8622 GC, was in force and effect on December 23, 1912, and contained the following provisions:

“No estate in fee simple, fee tail, or any lesser estate, in lands or tenements, lying within this state, shall be given or granted, by deed or will, to any person or persons but such as are in being, or to the immediate issue or descendants of such as are in being at the time of making such deed or will; and all estates given in tail shall be and remain an absolute estate in fee simple to the issue of the first donee in tail.” (Emphasis added by the Court.)

In 16 O. Jur. 415, 416, we find the following analysis and comment upon §8622 GC: t

“No. 34. * * * It is well established that this statute did not change the nature of the estate of the first donee in tail from an inheritable estate to an estate for life merely. In other words, the statute does not come into operation until the estate passess by the first donee in tail and reaches the issue of such donee. In an early case, it was asserted that the statute recognized the first donee in tail as holding an estate for life only as tenant in tail. But this statement has been construed merely to mean that the donee holding as tenant in tail cannot convey an estate that will endure beyond his own life.” (Emphasis added by the Court.)

Therefore, upon application of established statutory and case law of Ohio to the clear and unambiguous language of the 1912 deed, it must be concluded that the force and effect thereof was to entitle the grantee, John Hinton Hoppes, as the first donee or tenant in tail to full enjoyment of all rights and subject to all the disabilities incident to a fee tail estate.

Coming next to consider the force and effect of the 1929 deed, whereby the first donee in tail purported to reconvey said 78 acres in fee simple to the donor who created said fee tail estate, it becomes necessary to examine those rules of law applicable to the powers of the first donee in tail to transfer any interest in said land.

In Vol. 1, Hausser’s Ohio Practice, Real Property, 206, 207, we find the following:

“No. 451. Power of First Holder to Transfer — Same as Owner of Fee Simple Absolute Estate, but Subject to Defeasance. The donee of the estate in fee tail preserved for the lifetime of the first taker only, has [263]*263both the privilege and the power to create any interest in the land which could be created by a person having an estate in fee simple absolute. However, any interest so created may be defeated, upon the death of the donee in tail, by the persons entitled after the donee under the limitation which created the estate.

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Related

Guida v. Thompson
80 Ohio Law. Abs. 148 (Tuscarawas County Court of Common Pleas, 1957)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
128 N.E.2d 851, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 259, 1955 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoppes-v-american-national-red-cross-ohctcomplfayett-1955.