Jansen v. Jansen

178 S.E. 654, 180 Ga. 318, 1935 Ga. LEXIS 254
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 16, 1935
DocketNo. 10173
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 178 S.E. 654 (Jansen v. Jansen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jansen v. Jansen, 178 S.E. 654, 180 Ga. 318, 1935 Ga. LEXIS 254 (Ga. 1935).

Opinion

Beck, Presiding Justice.

Joseph Jansen, W. R. Jansen, and others sued Earnest W. Jansen and Mrs. Bernice Jansen, alleging in their petition as follows: On December 13, 1931, Mrs. Emma Bertha Jansen, wife of one of the petitioners and mother of the remaining petitioners and of Earnest W. Jansen, died intestate, owning, among other property, two parcels of land in Fulton Comity, one known as 269 Ninth Street, and the other as 624 Rockmont Drive. Joseph Jansen was appointed administrator of her estate, and by proper order sold the said properties before the court-house door, and bought them in in his own name individually, at the same time agreeing with his children, although the deed recited an absolute conveyance, that he would hold the properties in trust for [319]*319the benefit of himself and the children to the extent that the children had become interested in them as heirs of their deceased mother. The children all gave receipts to Joseph Jansen as administrator, for amounts recited therein. None of the children received any consideration for these receipts; they gave the receipts in order that the estate might be cleared up, all of them understanding and agreeing that their father was holding the properties for their benefit. Later, on May 17, 1933, Joseph Jansen received from his children deeds conveying their respective interests in the two properties, giving no consideration therefor. On December 2, 1933, he, with the consent of all his children, conveyed the Rockmont Drive property to Earnest W. Jansen in consideration of sums advanced by the latter, for the purpose of meeting obligations on the Rockmont Drive property and also for small advances for other purposes, which conveyance was accepted by Earnest W. Jansen in full satisfaction of the indebtedness of the estate of his mother to him. As further consideration, Earnest W. Jansen agreed that his father, Joseph Jansen, and his brother and sister, Walter Jansen and Frederica Amelia Jansen, might make their home with him at the Rockmont Drive property as long as they desired to do so. Joseph Jansen, Walter Jansen, and Frederica Amelia Jansen did make their home there for a short time. Subsequently, upon the suggestion of Earnest W. Jansen, the Ninth Street property was conveyed to him by an absolute deed. This conveyance was made because Joseph Jansen was considering remarriage, and Earnest W. Jansen suggested that such remarriage might cast a cloud on the rights of the children. Earnest W. gave no legal or valuable consideration for the conveyance, although a consideration of $1000 was recited. He agreed with his father and brothers and sisters that he would hold the property in trust for them to the extent that they were interested in the property as heirs of their deceased mother, and that on request he would convey to them their respective interests in the property or would" convey it to Joseph Jansen. On July 1, 1933, Earnest W. Jansen moyed to the Ninth Street property, and refused to allow Joseph Jansen, Walter Jansen, and Frederica Amelia Jansen to live with him. They have requested Earnest W. Jansen to convey to them their respective interests in the Ninth Street property, but he has refused to do so, claiming that he owns the property absolutely and has conveyed the same to [320]*320his wife, Mrs. Bernice Jansen, who had notice of the rights and claims of defendants in error and who gave no valuable or legal consideration for the said property.

Earnest W. Jansen and Mrs. Bernice Jansen filed demurrers, ■general and special, in which they insisted that the petition showed that at the time of the agreement alleged in the petition the plaintiffs had no interest in the property, and that the agreement was without consideration; that Joseph Jansen can not recover in any case, as he seeks to recover for a violation of his own agreement and for a breach of trust by himself; and that the petition sets up an express'trust, which is not-shown to be in writing. The demurrers were overruled, and the defendants excepted.

We are of the opinion that the court properly overruled the general demurrer. It does not appear from the facts as alleged that the plaintiffs had no interest in the property, or that the agreement on which they partly rely was without consideration. Nor does it appear that the plaintiff, Joseph Jansen, seeks to recover for a violation of his own agreement and for a breach of trust by himself. If these things are true, they can be pleaded and sustained by evidence.

The main and controlling question in this case is, whether, under the facts alleged in the petition, the petitioners were seeking to recover on an express trust which is not shown to have been made in writing, or whether the trust which they contend was created by the deed to Earnest W. Jansen in connection with the representations and promises made by him was an implied trust. Trusts are of two kinds, viz., express trusts, and constructive or implied trusts. Code of 1910, § 3731. Trusts are implied: “(!•) Whenever the legal title is in one person, but the beneficial interest, either from the payment of the purchase-money or other circumstances, is either wholly or partially in another. (2) Where, from any fraud, one person obtains the title to property which rightly belongs to another. (3) Where from the nature of the transaction it is manifest that it was the intention of .the parties that the person taking the legal title shall have no beneficial interest.” § 3739. It is the contention of the defendants in error that the allegations of the petition make out a constructive trust on the Ninth Street property referred to in the petition. We think the decisions of our court settle the proposition that where a conveyance absolute in form is [321]*321made to one person, bnt where the circumstances show that the real intention of the parties was not to make an absolute conveyance but a conveyance with restrictions or reservations, where it is alleged and appears that there was fraud on the part of the grantee to induce the execution of the deed, a court of equity will set up an implied trust in the property, by construing the conveyance so as to do full justice to the parties as their intérests may appear. In such cases the courts have held that to allow an oral agreement to be set up which restricts the original instrument does not contravene the statute of frauds, since the jurisdiction of the court is predicated upon the fraud of the grantee; and the parol-evidence rule does not exclude oral testimony which tends to establish the fraud and show the real intention of the parties. In Jenkins v. Lane, 154 Ga. 454, 475 (115 S. E. 126), it was said: "In all cases where a trust is sought to be implied, the court may hear parol evidence of the nature of the transaction, or the circumstances, or conduct of the parties, either to imply or rebut a trust, (a) While an express trust must be created by writing, and can not be proved by parol, implied trusts may be established by parol evidence, although the effect of such evidence is to alter or vary a written instrument, and although the defendant sets up and insists upon the statute of frauds.

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Bluebook (online)
178 S.E. 654, 180 Ga. 318, 1935 Ga. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jansen-v-jansen-ga-1935.