Riddle v. Cutter

49 Iowa 547
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 4, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 49 Iowa 547 (Riddle v. Cutter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Riddle v. Cutter, 49 Iowa 547 (iowa 1878).

Opinion

Seevers, J.

The petition states that the deed of trust was executed in 1868, under the following circumstances:

1. trust: revocation: death of trustee. “The said Joseph Riddle hawing been, and being at that time, of intemperate, reckless and extravagant habits, and hawing heretofore sqitandered and wasted, through and by reason of said habits, all of a large patrimony save and except the above described real estate, which was an improved farm, and being on a visit to the city of Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, where reside most . of his friends and relatives, Alpheus Cutter, his brother-in-law, the trustee named in said deed of trust, and his wife, a sister of your petitioner, with whom your petitioner was visiting, joined in persuading and inducing your petitioner, Joseph Riddle, to execute some sort of instrument whereby he should temporarily divest himself of the title of said farm; and they represented to him that in view of his circumstances and habits such execution of such instrument would be for his benefit, and preserve him from want; that it would enable him to support and take care of himself and wife, and to support and educate the child, Ada May Riddle, who had [549]*549been born to him, and such children as might thereafter be born to him; that if he and his wife, Minerva T., would join in the execution of an instrument which would divest him temporarily of the title to said farm, and place it where, while he would have the full benefit of the rents and profits thereof for the use of himself and family, he would not be able to encumber or squander it, he would thereby preserve the last remnant of his fortune, and have a sure provision for himself and family against poverty and want. ”

The material portion of the trust deed is as follows:

“The said Cutter is to hold the same as a trust estate for the sole use and benefit of Ada May Riddle, now the only child of the said Joseph and Minerva T. Riddle, and for such other children as may be born to them during the continuance of this trust.
“This trust is to continue only until the said Joseph and Minerva T. "Riddle and the said Alpheus Cutter jointly shall hereafter agree in the selection of a trustee to hold the property permanently, and shall agree upon the length of time of the trust, the mode and power of revocation, the descent and distribution upon the decease of the parties concerned, and other details incident to a trust estate; it being the object and intent of this instrument to create the present trust temporarily, until a trustee who is a resident where the property is can be selected and accepts, and the creation, scope and duration of the trust can be fully settled and expressed, and this instrument is to be construed accordingly. When such selection is made and details established, the said Cutter is to be at liberty to resign, and is hereby authorized to convey the property aforesaid directly to his successor, without the intervention of the grantors herein, and is authorized in said deed to clothe the trustee succeeding with all the powers, rights and authority which may be necessary to carry out the terms of the new trust when it shall have been agreed upon, and the said grantors hereby ratify and confirm said deed, when made, the same as if now and herewith executed.”

[550]*550In the foreging extract from the petition and deed of trust will be found the gist of this controversy. The plaintiffs claim the trust was of a temporary character, and that it was not the intention that the title to the real estate should vest in a trustee for all or an indefinite period of time, but that the same was to be reconveyed to the plaintiff Joseph at some future day, which was to be fixed when the new trustee was selected, and the terms and conditions of the permanent trust declared.

It is further claimed by the plaintiffs that the trust deed does not contain certain provisions agreed upon, but which by mistake have been omitted therefrom, and that there was no consideration for its execution, and that it was executed by mistake. The guardian ad litem of the minor defendants insists that the trusts were fixed and declared in the conveyance ; that all that was intended to be temporary was the trustee, and that it is not competent to prove by parol that other and different trusts were contemplated than those set forth in the deed.

The deed sufficiently shows that the trust was temporary in the following particulars: Another trustee was to be agreed upon, and then the plaintiffs and Cutter were to agree “upon the length of time of the trust, the mode and power of revocation, the descent and distribution upon the decease of the parties concerned, and other details incident to a trust estate; ” that is to say, a present trust was created, and power reserved to agree upon another trustee, and settle and adjust the details of the trust.

If no trustee could be agreed upon, and the parties were unable to agree upon the details of the trust, the one then created must stand-in the place of what was designed to be the permanent trust, or, for want of such joint action and agreement, it became void, or voidable, or the courts, if they possessed the power, could be called upon to do what the parties were unable or unwilling to do.

Conceding that all the circumstances surrounding the exe[551]*551cutionof tbe deed, including tbe object and intent of the parties thereto, and tbe understanding of tbe plaintiffs as to tbe scope and meaning of tbe proposed trust, and their understanding of tbe one executed may be shown by parol, we proceed to state as briefly as may be tbe facts established by tbe evidence:

At tbe time the trust deed was executed tbe plaintiff Joseph Biddle was twenty-two or three years of age. He was married, and the father of the defendant Ada May Biddle. Some considerable property, in addition to the real estate in controversy, came into his possession when he reached his majority. The value of such property is not shown. But whatever it was he had squandered it. His habits, character and disposition at that time and previously are briefly but fairly stated in the foregoing extract from the petition. The defendant Cutter had been his guardian and the administrator of liis father’s estate. Cutter’s wife was Joseph Biddle’s sister. There were frequent conversations between these parties pas to the habits of said Joseph, his property, and as to the propriety of his so placing the title to his remaining property (the real estate in controversy) that he could not sell or encumber it, but so the same, under the direction of a trustee, could be devoted to the support of the family.

Cutter and his wife were urgent and persistent in this respect, and finally Gutter consulted his attorney as to how the desired object could be effected. The execution of a trust deed wTas advised. The plaintiff Joseph consulted with Mr. Logan, the attorney, and the deed of trust was prepared. Mr. Logan testifies: “Joseph Biddle was then largely in debt, and his habits were such as to confirm the belief that he would continue to become involved in debt. Many of the debts he had already contracted were debts which were simply the result of his profligacy. Under these circumstances, and after full discussions with the parties as to the best shape in which to put the deed, and of a full explanation to them of it and its effects, before its execution, I drew the instrument. [552]

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Bluebook (online)
49 Iowa 547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riddle-v-cutter-iowa-1878.