McMurray v. McMurray

167 S.W. 513, 258 Mo. 405, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 350
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 26, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 167 S.W. 513 (McMurray v. McMurray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McMurray v. McMurray, 167 S.W. 513, 258 Mo. 405, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 350 (Mo. 1914).

Opinion

ROY, C. —

On April 1, 1908, Mary McMurray was the owner and in possession of the west thirty-six and [411]*411one half feet of lots 26', 27, 28, 29 and 30 in block 17, Dundee Place, an addition to Kansas City, and on that day executed a deed of trust thereon to Richard W. Hocker to secure a loan of $2500 made hy Homer McWilliams to her.

Helen Y. Elbert recovered judgments against Mary MbMurray before a justice of the peace of Jackson county and filed transcripts thereof in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Jackson county on the following dates and for the following amounts:

' Judgment for $300 dated Oct. 23, 1908, filed Oct. 28, 1908.

Judgment for $300 dated Oct. 23, 1908, filed Oct. 28, 1908.

Judgment for $300 dated Jan. 16,1909, filed April 23, 1910.

'Judgment for $300 dated Peh. 23, 1909, filed April 23, 1910.

Judgment for $300' dated Dec. 16, 1909, filed April 23, 1910.

The liens of those judgments have been duly revived and kept alive.

On October 28, 1908, Mary McMurray executed to Nathan Younger a general warranty deed for the property, which was filed on that day, and Younger executed to James E. Lyons a general warranty deed for the property dated November 301, 1908, and filed for record March 3, 1909: Those two last-mentioned deeds were fraudulent as to the creditors of Mrs. McMurray and were so adjudged hy the trial court.

On October 3, 1910, the above-named deed of trust was foreclosed hy sale and Ed H. Batson became the purchaser and received the trustee’s deed for a recited consideration of $4040. That deed was filed for record October 5, 1910, and on the same day Batson executed a deed of trust to Walter W. Calvin, trustee, to secure a loan of $5200 made by Beulah L. Ketchum. On May 13, 1911, Batson executed to R. T. Herrick, trustee, a [412]*412second deed of trust on the land to secure a loan of $600 made by P. E. Colvin. In December, 1911, the note secured by this deed of trust was duly indorsed and assigned to Beulah U. Ketchum.

On September 23, 1911, Mary McMurray was duly adjudged by the probate court to be of unsound mind and incapable of managing her estate, and Sam B. Strother was duly appointed and qualified' as her guardian. lie commenced this suit as such guardian September 26, 1911, and on March 8, 1912, resigned as such guardian, and IT. D. Kissenger was duly appointed and qualified in his place.

On December 18, 1911, the deed of trust for $5200 dated October 5, 1910, was foreclosed and Claude T. Goble became the purchaser as trustee for Beulah L. Ketchum for the consideration of $6228, and received the trustee’s deed for the land.

All the above-mentioned deeds were promptly and duly recorded. The third amended petition, filed October 4, 1912, makes all parties connected with the above-mentioned deeds and judgments, and also Katie McMurray, plaintiff’s daughter, defendants herein. It alleges that Mary McMurray was insane during all the time in which said instruments were made, and that those instruments were made under a conspiracy between all the defendants except Helen V. Elbert to cheat plaintiff out of her property; and that said instruments were without any consideration, and that defendants then and there knew that plaintiff was of unsound mind.

The petition charges that defendant Katie McMurray had received the rents from the corner building on the property since October 28,1908, and refused to account therefor. The property is alleged to be worth $15,000. It contains an offer to do equity and to place all parties in statu quo, and asks that all the above-mentioned conveyances be cancelled.

[413]*413The answer of Beulah L. Ketchum admitted the execution of those conveyances and denied the other allegations of the petition. It alleged that she made the above loan of $5200 in good faith, and that at the time this suit was filed she learned for the first time that Batson had held title to the land for Mrs. McMurray, and that it was so held by him to cheat and defraud Mrs. McMurray’s creditors.

The answer and cross-petition of Helen Y. Elbert alleges the existence of her judgments as above set out and the filing of the transcripts as stated, and then alleges that the conveyances above set out were made with the intention on the part of all the parties thereto to hinder and delay the creditors of Mrs. McMurray, and that said Batson purchased the land at the first foreclosure sale for Mary McMurray and held the title thereunder for Mrs. McMurray. Then follows a prayer that her judgments be declared first liens on the property and that all said conveyances be adjudged void. There was no answer by Beulah L. Ketchum to this cross-petition, but the cause was tried as though there were a denial of its allegations.

On May 7, 1912, James R. Page was appointed receiver to take charge of the property, and he duly qualified as such.

On October 4, 1912, after trial, the court entered its decree in which it found that Mary McMurray was of sound mind at the time of the execution of the deed of trust of April 1, 1908, and at the time of its foreclosure, and also at the times of the execution of the two deeds of trust by Batson. It also found that Batson purchased at the first foreclosure and held the title for Mrs. McMurray, and that the two deeds of trust executed by Batson were executed at Mrs. McMurray’s request and for full value which was received by her.

The decree found that the amount furnished by; Beulah L. Ketchum in making the loan of $5200, and [414]*414in purchasing the $600 note of Calvin and in paying taxes and making repairs, amounted1 to $6817, and adjudged that amount as a first lien on the property in favor of Ketchum and adjudged that Helen V. Elbert has a second lien on the property, subordinate to the lien of Ketchum, for $1881, the amount of her judgment. The decree then found that at the time of the foreclosure sale under which Groble purchased as trustee for Ketchum, Mrs. McMurray was of unsound mind and incapable of protecting her interest. The decree then annulled that foreclosure sale and the trustee’s deed to G-oble, and also annulled the warranty deed from Mrs. McMurray to Younger, and the warranty deed from Younger to Lyons. The decree then proceeded as follows:

“It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that said Mary McMurray be and she is hereby granted a period of five months, from and after this date, in which to redeem such property from such liens,- during which period of time, H. D. Kissenger, the guardian of the person and estate of said Mary McMurray, a person of unsound mind, may sell such real estate, and apply the proceeds of such sale first in satisfaction of such lien in favor of said Beulah L. Ketchum, next -in satisfaction of such lien in favor of the said Helen V. Elbert and the residue shall be retained by the said H. D. Kissenger, as the guardian of said Mary McMurray, provided that no such sale shall be made except by approval of this court and no such sale shall be made for an amount less than the amount necessary to satisfy in full the lien herein given to said Beulah L. Ketchum.
“It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court, that said H. D.

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

Related

Metropolitan Life Ins. v. Erdwins
83 S.W.2d 597 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1935)
George v. Surkamp
76 S.W.2d 368 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1934)
Hellweg v. Bush
74 S.W.2d 89 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1934)
Kelvinator St. Louis, Inc. v. Schader
39 S.W.2d 385 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1931)
Kansas City Granite & Monument Co. v. Jordan
295 S.W. 763 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1927)
Tillotson v. Independent Breweries Co.
268 S.W. 425 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1925)
State ex rel. Combs v. Staten
187 S.W. 42 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 S.W. 513, 258 Mo. 405, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 350, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmurray-v-mcmurray-mo-1914.