Rooker v. Rooker

75 Ind. 571
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided May 15, 1881·No. No. 8131·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinions

Franklin, C.

Suit by appellee, as guardian, against appellant, to enforce a parol, trust and quiet the title of appellee to a certain tract-of land. The complaint consisted of two paragraphs. A separate demurrer was filed to each ; overruled and excepted to. Issues were formed ; trial by jury commenced, and, upon the conclusion of the plaintiffs evidence, the defendant demurred to the evidence separately upon each paragraph of the complaint. The demurrer to the evidence was overruled, excepted to, and judgment against the appellant was rendered on each paragraph of the complaint.

' Errors have been assigned in this court upon these rulings. The first paragraph in the complaint alleges, substantially, as follows : That Susan Rooker (the mother of appellee’s ward) had two thousand dollars, in personal property, and one child, Mary, (appellee’s ward) ; that she turned said property over to her husband, Samuel P. Rooker, in trust, and requested him to invest the same in real estate, for the benefit and use of their said daughter Mary; that said Samuel took possession of the same, converted it into money, and invested it in the real estate in controversy; that the real estate consisted of a tract of land, described by metes [573]*573and bounds, of 36-fxl24 rods, making 28| acres ; that said Samuel took the deed in Ms own name, on tbe 22d day, of January, 1876, and had it duly recorded on the 29th day of January, 1876 ; that from that time to the day of Ms death said Samuel recognized said trust; and, for the purpose of fully executing said trust, and securing to said ward the benefits thereof , the said Samuel, previous to his death, to wit, on the 15th day of August, 1876, made and published Ms last will and testament, by the terms of which he gave and devised to the plaintiff’s said ward all his real estate, together with all his personal property of every nature; which will, after the death of said Samuel, in 1877, was duly proven and admitted to probate ; that the title to said land remained in him to the time of his death, and which was the real estate described in the will; that, during the lifetime of said testator, said real estate was sold on an execution to satisfy a judgment against said Samuel, in favor of the Farmers’ Friend Manufacturing Company, and was purchased by said company for $125, and was afterward by it sold to appellant, James I. Eooker; that the defendant now holds and asserts legal title thereto, under and by virtue of •said sheriff’s deed, which was recorded June 15th, 1878; that said defendant is the son of said testator, and, at the time he took said assignment of said certificate and procured said sheriff’s deed, had full knowledge of all the facts; and concluding by asking that the land be declared in trust for her, and that her title to the same be quieted.

Do these facts constitute a valid parol trust? The 1st section of the act concerning trusts and powers, 1 E. S. 1876, p. 915, provides that “No trust concerning lands, except such as may arise by implication of law, shall be created, unless in writing, signed by the party creating the same, or by his attorney, thereto lawfully authorized in writing.” The 8th section of said act establishes implied trusts in the following cases :

[574]*5741st. Where a conveyance is taken in the name of the alienee, without the consent of the party paying the purchase-money.

2d. Where the alienee, in violation' of some trust, has purchased the estate with money not his own.

3d. Where, by agreement, the party to whom the conveyance was made was to hold the land in trust for the party paying the purchase-money, or some part thereof.

The facts, as stated in this paragraph, do not clearly bring it within either of the foregoing provisions.

It is not alleged that Samuel P. Rooker took the deed in his own name without the consent of his wife, who, it is claimed, furnished the consideration money. It is not charged that he violated any trust by taking the deed iu his own name. And it is not averred that he agreed to hold the land in trust for his wife, who furnished the purchase-money. An implied or parol trust can not be created by putting money into the hands of another, to be invested for the use and benefit of a third person. This can only be done by an express trust in writing. Irwin v. Ivers, 7 Ind. 308 ; Botsford v. Burr, 2 Johns. Ch. 405 ; Barnard v. Flinn, 8 Ind. 204; Resor v. Resor, 9 Ind. 347 ; Gilbert v. Carter, 10 Ind. 16 ; Miller v. Blackburn, 14 Ind. 62; Bartlett v. Pickersgill, 4 East, 577 ; Hughes v. Moore, 7 Cranch, 176.

The facts alleged might create a parol resulting trust in favor of Susan, the wife, who furnished the purchase-money, but not in favor of Mary, the daughter, who did not furnish any part of the purchase-money. But whether this be so or not, the 2d section of said act reads: .“No such trust, whether implied or created, shall defeat the title of the purchaser for a valuable consideration, and without notice of the trust.”

There is no averment in this paragraph of the complaint that the Farmers’ Friend Manufacturing Co., at or before it purchased said land at said sheriff’s sale, had any notice [575]*575whatever of said trust. Alleging that appellant knew all the facts, when he purchased the land, is not sufficient. He had a right to appropriate to himself the innocence of his vendor, unless he, with notice, had previously sold the land to his vendor. But it is insisted that a good faith purchaser at a sheriff’s sale is not protected from secret equities and unrecorded Kens, for the reason that he takes no better title than the execution defendant held, and that he takes it subject to all the secret equities and unrecorded liens that attached to it in the hands of the execution defendant, and that he buys at his own risk.- As a general rule, the purchaser of land from another* individual gets no better title than his vendor had, and when he takes a quitclaim deed he also purchases at his own risk. But there aré well known exceptions to this general rule, and, if he purchases from another, in good faith, without notice, whether he takes a warranty or quitclaim deed, he is protected against secret equities and unrecorded liens. He stands, in equity, in no different light when he so purchases at a sheriff’s sale,, and there is no good reason why the exception should not apply to that kind of a sale, the same as if he had individually bought from the execution defendant instead of buying under the execution.

While it was formerly considered the law, that the purchaser of a judgment took it subject to all the secret equities and unrecorded liens that it was liable to in the hands of the original judgment plaintiff, now, by a well defined line of decisions, in this court, it is settled that a good faith assignee of a judgment, without notice, is protected from secret trusts and unrecorded liens. See Flanders v. O’Brien, 46 Ind. 284, where it was decided that a mortgage can not be reformed against a good faith assignee of a judgment. This case was approved, and the same point again decided in the same way, in the case of Wainwright v. Flanders, 64 Ind. 306. The [576]*576same question was so negatively decided, because the assignee had notice, in Houston v. Houston, 67 Ind. 276, and Evans Nealis, 69 Ind. 148, and was again affirmatively decided in the case of Tuttle v. Churchman,

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