Nininger v. Peirez

25 Fla. Supp. 55
CourtCircuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Broward County
DecidedJanuary 29, 1965
DocketNo. C-60-387
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Fla. Supp. 55 (Nininger v. Peirez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Broward County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nininger v. Peirez, 25 Fla. Supp. 55 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1965).

Opinion

GEORGE W. TEDDER, Jr., Circuit Judge.

Final decree: This cause came on to be heard at the hearing set for November 24, 1964 as specified in the order of October 12, 1964. There was present at the hearing the attorney for the plaintiff and the attorneys for each of the defendants.

The items set forth in the petition for rehearing were duly considered. The defendants’ exhibits were offered and received in evidence. At the conclusion of the hearing the attorneys for the plaintiff and defendants announced that they had no further evidence to offer.

By her first amended complaint in this case Gertrude S. Nininger, widow of A. R. Nininger, seeks to have a trust established in certain real estate on which she and her husband made their home, legal title to which had been conveyed and was still vested in the husband at the time of his death, or, in the alternative, a lien on the property for the amount of her contribution to the purchase and improvement of it.

Defendants are two adult daughters of the husband by two previous marriages, who are his only living lineal descendents. Their separate answers deny the material allegations of plaintiff’s complaint.

The sole basic issue is a question of fact: who furnished the consideration that paid for the property and the improvements that later were put on it?

Plaintiff has established by clear and convincing evidence that she furnished a substantial portion of the moneys paid for the property. On the 8th of June, 1942 Mr. and Mrs. Nininger simultaneously executed wills, leaving to each other all real and personal property. In 1949 Mr. Nininger changed his will to give Mrs. Nininger but a life estate in the property in question. Mrs. Nininger did not know this until after Mr. Nininger’s demise. Plaintiff is the owner of the property in question and the court now so declares.

Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence, §981, defines the law on this subject as follows—

“. . . in all the transactions of men concerning land, — their transfers and bargains — the consideration is the essential fact that determines the real beneficial ownership, wherever the legal title may be vested. The consideration draws to it the equitable right of property; the person from whom the consideration actually comes, under whatever form or appearance, is the true and beneficial owner.
[57]*57“This grand principle extends not only to dealings which are intentional and rightful, but to those which are fraudulent, or in any manner wrongful or unconscientious.”

This equitable doctrine underlies the decisions of our Supreme Court in an unbroken line of cases. Thus, in the early case of Booth v. Lenox, 45 Fla. 191; 34 So. 566 (1908), it is held that—

“Where the proofs show clearly that a husband, during his lifetime, purchased real estate exclusively with the separate property and money of his wife, but without her knowledge or consent took the title thereto to himself in his own name, a trust results in favor of the wife in and to such property, and upon bill filed by the wife against the heirs-at-law of the husband subsequently to his decease, under the circumstances stated, the property should be decreed to be her separate property.”

Again, in the comparatively recent case of Pyle v. Pyle, 53 So.2d 312, 313 (1951) —

“. . . It is well settled that where the purchase-money of land is paid by one person, and the title is taken in the name of another, the party taking the title is presumed to hold it in trust for him who pays the purchase price. Frank v. Eeles, 152 Fla. 869, 13 So.2d 216.”

A resulting trust always arises in favor of a wife who has furnished the consideration for land, “title to which had been taken in the name of one who was her husband at the time of purchase and when the deal was made.” Williams v. Williams, 2 So.2d 725.

There is no evidence that the moneys turned over by plaintiff to her husband were a gift.

“Since marriage creates a confidential relation, the burden is on the husband to show that the transfer of the wife’s funds to the husband was a gift.” Allen v. Allen (Fla.), 123 So.2d 355.
“. . . where, as here, the wife furnishes the consideration, and the husband only contributes his time and efforts in the acquisition and management of the property, which is held in the* joint names of the husband and wife, the presumption of a gift by the wife to the husband does not arise. On the other hand, a resulting trust is created in favor of the wife unless the husband is able to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the wife’s action, in allowing the property to be placed in their names jointly, was intended to be such as to convey to the husband an interest in the property by way of a gift.” Forde v. Forde (Fla.), 10 So.2d 919, 921; concurring opinion by Chief Justice Brown.

[58]*58Thus, when the original plan was to put the title in the joint names of husband and wife, as plaintiff thought had been done, so that plaintiff would have the property if anything happened to her husband, as the broker testified was the purpose, Tr. 32, the result would be the same today. An estate by the entirety would have been created, and plaintiff would now be holding the title exclusively.

This was the situation in Picchi v. Picchi (Fla.), 100 So.2d 627, where the spouses contracted to acquire property as husband and wife. It was intended that the deed should be issued in their joint names. Instead, title was taken in the husband’s name alone. The court held that he took as trustee for the benefit of his wife and himself.

In the case of Murchison v. Fogleman, 165 N.C. 397, 81 S.E. 627, which is cited in Foster v. Thornton, 131 Fla. 277, 179 So. 882, a deed was taken in the name of the husband for land paid for in part by the husband and in part by the wife. The court held that the wife was entitled to a conveyance jointly to herself and husband, and to have the deed reformed, the effect of which would be to create an estate by the entirety.

Nor is the fact that the husband commingled plaintiff’s money with his own in his own private checking account, from which the mortgages on the property were paid, helpful to defendants. For plaintiff gave him much more money than the property and the improvements cost. But even if that were not so—

“When a man mixes trust funds with his own money, the whole will be treated as trust propery, except so far as he may be able to distinguish what is his own.” Central Nat’l Bank v. Conn. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 104 U.S. 54, 24 L. Ed. 693.

Nor was there laches in the bringing of this suit. Plaintiff did not learn the facts about the title until long after the death of her husband. The husband did know the facts, so did both defendants, during his lifetime. This is disclosed by his letters to defendants, years before his death.

Whether the husband knew it from the beginning, or learned of it in 1949 just prior to writing to his daughters, is immaterial. All three knew that plaintiff did not know the facts. None of them told her the facts. Neither did the husband tell her he was claiming title adversely to her, or that he was treating her payments of money as gifts to him.

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

Related

Railway Co. v. McCarthy
96 U.S. 258 (Supreme Court, 1878)
National Bank v. Insurance Co.
104 U.S. 54 (Supreme Court, 1881)
Picchi v. Picchi
100 So. 2d 627 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1958)
Allen v. Allen
123 So. 2d 355 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1960)
Grable v. Nunez
64 So. 2d 154 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1953)
Pyle v. Pyle
53 So. 2d 312 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1951)
Dale v. Jennings
107 So. 175 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1925)
Walker v. Landress
149 So. 545 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1933)
Williams v. Williams
2 So. 2d 725 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1941)
Foster v. Thornton
179 So. 882 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1937)
Forde v. Forde
10 So. 2d 919 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1942)
Frank v. Eeles
13 So. 2d 216 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1943)
Murchison v. . Fogleman
81 S.E. 627 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1914)
Campbell v. Owen
132 So. 2d 212 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1961)
Anderson v. Northrop
30 Fla. 612 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1892)
Booth v. Lenox
45 Fla. 191 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1903)
Logan v. Arnold
89 So. 551 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1921)
Blount v. Blount
48 So. 581 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 Fla. Supp. 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nininger-v-peirez-flacirct17bro-1965.