Proctor v. Redfern

185 S.E. 255, 182 Ga. 175, 1936 Ga. LEXIS 310
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 14, 1936
DocketNo. 10929
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 185 S.E. 255 (Proctor v. Redfern) 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
Proctor v. Redfern, 185 S.E. 255, 182 Ga. 175, 1936 Ga. LEXIS 310 (Ga. 1936).

Opinions

Beck, Presiding Justice.

On December 10, 1928, W. J. Proctor executed and delivered to Wesleyan College a deed conveying certain described real estate in Muscogee County, Georgia, in -which is the recital: “W. J. Proctor hereby reserves the rents, issues, and profits and possessions from, in, and to land hereby conveyed for his natural life, but the title to all the real estate is hereby vested in said college eo instanti. A part of the consideration of this deed is the agreement on the part of Wesleyan College that it will pay to the brother of W. J. Proctor, said brother being J. B. Proctor of Meigs, Thomas County, Georgia, the sum of one hundred dollars per month from the rents, issues, and profits of said realty from the date of the death of W. J. Proctor to the date of the death of J. B. Proctor. And in accepting this deed said college hereby agrees to make such payment.” W. J. Proctor died on February 22, 1932, and Wesleyan College went into possession of the land under the deed referred to. On February 27, 1932, J. B. Proctor, for the stated consideration of one dollar and his love and affection for the children of his deceased brother, W. J. Proctor, executed a deed containing the following recital: “I hereby convey and quitclaim unto the children of my brother, W. J. Proctor, to wit, Ernest C. Proctor, George W. Proctor, Frank B. Proctor, and Henry S. Proctor, all of my equity, right, title, or interest in all of [the property referred to above], . . and all my rights are transferred and quitclaimed to the parties aforesaid; and while quitclaiming it all to them, I do not guarantee or warrant anything or any rights under said instruments whatever.” On October 7, 1932, Wesleyan College, for the stated consideration of one dollar “and in settlement of any and all obligations or responsibilities on the part of Wesleyan College to said J. B. Proctor, aforesaid, and the acceptance of said deed by the party of the first part,” [177]*177released and quitclaimed the land unto Mrs. Katie Proctor Red-fern. The children of W. J. Proctor above mentioned, to whom J. B. Proctor had executed his quitclaim deed, brought suit against Wesleyan College, Mrs. Katie Proctor Redfern, and John G. Cozart as executor of the last will of W. J. Proctor, alleging the facts set forth above, and in addition alleging that no payments had been made to J. B. Proctor or to plaintiffs, as stipulated in W. J. Proctor’s deed, either by Wesleyan College or by Mrs. Katie Proctor Redfern, although the rents, issues, and profits from said land amounted to some four thousand dollars each and every year. They prayed for judgment against Wesleyan College and Mrs. Red-fern for $100 per month from the date of the death of W. J. Proctor to the date of verdict, and from the date of verdict until the death of J. B. Proctor; that this judgment be made a special lien on the land described; and for other equitable relief. Each of the defendants filed a general demurrer to the petition. The demurrers were sustained and the case was dismissed. The plaintiffs excepted.

The judge, in rendering his opinion sustaining the general demurrers, said: <eWhere A deeds land to B, part of the consideration being a promise by B to A to pay an annuity to C, a stranger to the contract, suit may be maintained by A against B for failure to pay the annuity, but can not be maintained by C in his own name. C being an utter stranger to the contract, furnishing none of the consideration, and no trust being created for his benefit under the terms of the contract, he can not maintain a suit for the breach of the contract;” citing Shropshire v. Rainey, 150 Ga. 566, 574 (104 S. E. 414), and Code of 1933, § 3-108. The case before us presents this question: Where A conveys land to B, reserving in the deed the rents, issues, and profits to himself for life, and providing in the deed that after his death B shall pay to C for life one hundred dollars per month from the rents, issues, and profits from the land, can C enforce the provisions made for him in said deed? And if C can enforce the provisions made for him in the deed, can his assignee of these rents, issues, and profits maintain a suit against B and any grantee in a deed made by B conveying the land, to enforce and collect the annuity provided out of the rents, issues, and profits? In Story’s Equity Jurisprudence (3d ed.) 524, § 1244, in chapter 32 dealing with implied trusts, the author [178]*178says: “Another class of implied liens or trusts arises, where property is conveyed inter vivos, or is bequeathed or devised by last will and testament, subject to a charge for the payment of debts, or to other charges in favor of third persons. In such cases, although the charge is treated, as between the immediate parties to the original instrument, as an express trust in the property, which may be enforced by such parties or their proper representatives; yet, as between the trustees and cestuis que trust, who are to take the benefits of the instrument, it constitutes an implied or constructive trust only; a trust raised by courts of equity in their favor, as an interest in rem, capable of being enforced by them directly by a suit brought in their own names and right. Thus, for example, if a devise is made of real estate, charged with the payment of debts generally, it may be enforced by any one or more creditors against the devisee, although there is no privity of contract between him and them.” In 3 Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence (4th ed.), § 1244, it is said: “Another species of equitable lien not growing out of contract directly between the parties arises when specific property— a lot of land, a fund or securities, or the land contained in a residuary devise — is conveyed, devised, or bequeathed subject to or charged with the payment of debts, legacies, portions, or annuities in favor of third persons given by the same instrument. The legal title to the property vests in the grantee, devisee, or other recipient, but a lien thereon is created in favor of the beneficiary named, which can be enforced in equity. . . Such charges may be contained in conveyances inter vivos, and are sometimes found in family settlements, real estate settled upon sons being charged with the payment of portions in favor of daughters, and the like. The)'are much more frequently, especially in this country, found in wills.” In Eedfearn on Wills, the author says; “A charge is most often found in cases where the testator has given property to one person with the provision that he pay a certain sum to another person, or furnish a support to some one for a named period of time.” This court has often considered and enforced such provisions.

In Dallas v. Heard, 32 Ga. 604, Lucinda Lane conveyed certain real and personal property to the defendants upon the consideration that they would pay her debts and pay her an annuity of $350 a year. A suit was brought by a creditor to enforce that provision. This court, after holding that the life-estate of Lucinda Lane in [179]*179the .property was bound for the payment of this debt while in her hands and before assignment to defendants, said: “The next question, as to whether the plaintiff, he being no party to the agreement, can enforce this agreement against these defendants, in equitjq is one which is no longer open, for it is controlled by the decision of. this court” in Bell v. McGrady, 32 Ga. 257.

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Bluebook (online)
185 S.E. 255, 182 Ga. 175, 1936 Ga. LEXIS 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/proctor-v-redfern-ga-1936.