Pool v. Rutherford

84 N.E.2d 650, 336 Ill. App. 516, 1949 Ill. App. LEXIS 227
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 28, 1949
DocketGen. No. 9,633
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 84 N.E.2d 650 (Pool v. Rutherford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pool v. Rutherford, 84 N.E.2d 650, 336 Ill. App. 516, 1949 Ill. App. LEXIS 227 (Ill. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

Mr. Justice O’Connor

delivered the opinion of the court.

Sarah E. Jones died in 1926, leaving a last will and testament which was duly admitted to probate, by the terms of which certain real estate, located in Vermilion county, Illinois, was conveyed to Nina A. Pool, the plaintiff herein, as trustee, for the period of 25 years, with power to rent the property, collect the rents thereof, keep the same repaired, and to pay the taxes and insurance thereon. The trustee was to pay the net income annually to the testatrix’ grandson, Harry K. Jones. It was further provided that if he (Harry K. Jones) should die before said 25 years, “said trust shall cease and terminate at his death, and said trustee shall, thereupon convey the said real estate to the said Madelon Rutherford and Dorothy Pool, in fee simple.” The will further provided that on termination' of the trust, the trustee should have a reasonable time to wind up and settle the trust business. Nina A. Pool qualified and served as said trustee.

On January 5, 1945, Harry K. Jones died.

On June 13,1945, Nina A. Pool, as such trustee, executed a deed to said Madelon Rutherford Torres and Dorothy Pool Marker. Said deed recited the death of said life tenant, Harry K. Jones, and provided further, “and the real estate hereinafter described has vested in Madelon Rutherford . . . . ” Said deed also provided that it was “subject to all taxes, assessments, encumbrances, leases, and charges now outstanding, if any.”

On August 29,1945, said Madelon Rutherford Torres sold her undivided one-half interest in said property to the defendant, Paul V. Rutherford, for the sum of $5,000. This deed was recorded in Vermilion county on December 7, 1945.

For many years prior to 1945, the trustee had rented the property on shares to a tenant, and had collected the landlord’s half of the proceeds from the grain company.

On October 23, 1945, said Nina A. Pool collected the landlord’s share of said crop, for the year 1945, from the grain company. On December 7, 1945, the defendant, Paul V. Rutherford, being the owner of an undivided one-half of the fee, demanded one-half of the landlord’s share of said crops from the grain company, but was advised that they had already paid Nina A. Pool. Thereupon, Paul V. Rutherford demanded said money from said Nina A. Pool.

On January 6, 1946, said Nina A. Pool filed in the recorder’s office of Vermilion county, Illinois, a claim for lien against said real estate, for certain monies that had been expended by her, as trustee, in the administration of said trust.

This action was commenced in the circuit court of Vermilion county, to foreclose said lien. The defendant, Paul V. Rutherford, filed a counterclaim against the plaintiff to recover against her one-half of the landlord’s share of said crop, which she had collected from the grain company.

The chancellor entered a decree, decreeing that the plaintiff take nothing, and that the defendant, Paul V. Rutherford, have judgment, on his counterclaim, against the plaintiff, in an amount equal to one-half of the landlord’s share of said crops. Plaintiff has appealed from said decree to this court.

Two legal propositions are presented.

First: Is defendant entitled to one-half the landlord’s share of the crops produced on said land during the year 1945?

Second: Does plaintiff have a lien for monies expended by her in the administration of said trust, which can be enforced against this defendant?

By its terms this trust ceased on the death of the life tenant, Harry K. Jones. He died on January 5, 1945. This trust ceased at that time. Plaintiff’s title, as trustee, ceased at that time. Her rights to manage and control the trust property ceased at that time, and her rights to collect the rents from said trust property ceased at that time. By the terms of the trust instrument, she was given a reasonable time to wind up and settle the trust business, but this provision does not authorize her to enter into new leases for years following the termination of the trust, but is merely a provision for time for terminating what has theretofore been done. Plaintiff herself recognized that the title had passed, as shown by her deed, in which she conveys the property to the remaindermen, Madelon Rutherford Torres and Dorothy Pool Marker, in which she stated, “whereas said Harry K. Jones died before the expiration of 25 years from the date of the death of said Sarah E. Jones, namely, viz: on the 5th day of January, 1945, and in consequence thereof, the trust created by Paragraph Seventh of the will of said Sarah E. Jones, deceased, ceased and terminated, and the real estate hereinafter described vested in Madelon Rutherford, now known as Madelon Rutherford Torres, and Dorothy Pool, now known as Dorothy Pool Marker; . . . .”

Therefore, plaintiff had no title to the property after January 5,1945, and therefore, no interest in the crops grown on said real estate during the year 1945.

The title to growing crops passes to the purchaser as a part of the land. Firebaugh v. Divan, 207 Ill. 287; Chicago Joint Stock Land Bank v. McCambridge, 343 Ill. 456; Damery v. Ferguson, 48 Ill. App. 224.

This point was squarely decided in the case of Firebaugh v. Divan, supra, by our Supreme Court in 1904, in which the Supreme Court said on page 289 of its opinion:

‘ ‘ The law of this State is well settled that, as between vendor and vendee, growing crops produced by annual planting and cultivation are real estate, and pass to the vendee unless they are reserved in the deed or by other writing executed simultaneously with the deed.”

And at page 290:

“A deed, when delivered, transfers to the grantee all the interest of the grantor in the land not reserved and entitles the grantee to possession. The title to the crops then standing upon the land, not severed from the soil, whether ripe or unripe, passes to the vendee as a part of the land.”

The Supreme Court reaffirmed this position again in Chicago Joint Stock Land Bank v. McCambridge, supra, and stated on page 460 of the decision:

i < The general rule of the common law is that growing crops form a part of the real estate to which they are attached and follow the title thereto. ’ ’

This rule was also recognized by this court in the case of Damery v. Ferguson, supra, and the following appears on page 228 of the opinion:

“When the parties occupy the position of vendor and vendee the rule is well established in Illinois that growing crops unsevered from the soil are real estate and pass to the vendee by the deed, unless reserved in the deed.”

The defendant, Paul V. Rutherford, as the legal owner of an undivided one-half of the property, was entitled to one-half of the landlord’s share of the crops grown during the year 1945, and the chancellor was correct in entering in his favor a judgment, on the counterclaim, for one-half of the amount of the landlord’s share of the crops, which had been paid by the grain company to the plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
84 N.E.2d 650, 336 Ill. App. 516, 1949 Ill. App. LEXIS 227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pool-v-rutherford-illappct-1949.