Seaman v. Cook

14 Ill. 501
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJune 15, 1853
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 14 Ill. 501 (Seaman v. Cook) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seaman v. Cook, 14 Ill. 501 (Ill. 1853).

Opinion

Scates, J.

Cook sued out an attachment; which was levied on the land in question ; and after obtaining a judgment against Seaman, filed this bill, to subject Seaman’s interest in the land to sale, for the satisfaction of the judgment.

The question presented is, Whether Seaman has any interest in the land upon a resulting trust; and if so, its extent.

Thomas Drake died in New York City, in 1800, leaving real and personal estate there worth $23,000, and Susannah, his widow, a son, and three daughters.

The widow administered, and managed the whole estate and its proceeds for thirty-seven years, investing and reinvesting the proceeds in real estate and securities, in the joint names of herself and children. During their lives, the children lived with their mother until her death, after this suit was instituted. She survived all the children but Ann, the wife of Seaman, and during her lifetime kept house and supplied the family with every necessary, both provision and clothing. The son and one daughter died before 1837 ; when the survivors made a deed of partition, as it is called in the pleadings, though it is merely a declaration of their respective interests, in effect; and they continued to hold in common an undivided third. In 1837, Seaman intermarried with Ann, when he became a member of the same household, in which the same management and control of the mother continued, as before, and in like management of all the property. But after this period, she invested, with the knowledge of the others, the proceeds of the joint property, in stocks, and in lots on West and Water streets, in New York city, in her own name." One of these investments was in the stock of the Manhattan Co.

Seaman failed in business, and became insolvent. He after-wards purchased, in 1844, the property in question, lying in Chicago, and gave his notes for $2,200, in part payment. The land was subject to a mortgage for $3,750, which was to be paid off by his vendor.

Seaman and wife sold this land to Susannah, the mother, for $7,000, and conveyed it to her, in her own name.

The bill charges, that the consideration of $7,000 paid by Susannah, was paid out of moneys belonging in equal parts to Seaman and wife, Susannah, and to Susan, the other surviving daughter. That $2,500 of the amount was derived from a sale of the Manhattan stock; $3,000 from the rents of the West and Water street lots; and $1,500 from other rents of the joint property. That she also paid off the notes given by Seaman for the purchase-money for $2,200, out of moneys arising from rents, &c., of other real estate.

The answer admits these facts, but does not specify the amount derived from each of these sources. Susannah gave her notes for part of the purchase-money of said land ; but they were afterwards paid out of moneys derived as before stated.

Before the hearing, Susannah, the mother, and Susan, the daughter, died, each having made a will, bequeathing and devising all their respective estates and property to the sole and separate use of Ann Seaman. The parties all lived in New York, where all the property was situated, except the land in question. Cook was not a creditor at the time of the purchase of this land.

Do these facts raise a resulting trust to Seaman ? and if so, for what interest? For if Susannah acquired by this purchase a sole estate, it has passed by her devise to Ann Seaman, as a separate estate, and in which her husband is not even entitled to an estate by the curtesy.

Our statute of frauds provides, that all declarations or creations of trusts or confidences of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, shall be manifested and proved by some writing, signed by the party who is, by law, enabled to declare such trust, or by his last will, in writing; or else they shall be utterly void, and of no effect: provided, that resulting trust, or trusts, created by construction, implication, or operation of law, need not be in writing, and the same may be proved by parol. Rev. Stat. 45, p. 259, § 4.

The facts in this case show a resulting trust under this act, to Seaman, to the extent and in the proportion of his interest in the purchase-money. Parol evidence is admissible to show a resulting trust; but it is inadmissible to show a contract for a trust; and so ruled in Hovey et al. v. Holcomb et al., 11 Ill. R. 660, and Perry v. McHenry, 13 Ib. 237. This being of the former character, the admissions in the answers fully prove the sources whence the purchase-moneys were derived, and presents the question of their ownership in whole or in part, which must determine the quantum of the estate resulting to Seaman.

In determining this question, we must look to the condition of the parties in New York, and the situation, in part, at least, of the property there. But I need not examine the vexed question of the law of the domicil in relation to contracts affecting the right or title to personalty. But I will, under the facts of this case, treat it as transitory, and when it is brought within the jurisdiction of our laws for investment, they must govern and determine the question of title and ownership.

Mrs. Brake, in 1800, came into the possession, control, and management of this estate, as administratrix, in a trust character, as quasi trustee.

When this trust ended,if ever before her death, does not appear. She continued this possession, control, and management uninterruptedly for a period of forty-eight or forty-nine years, long after the children became of age, and after Ann’s intermarriage, and until the death of all her children, except Ann, and her own death. And during all this period she provided for all their wants, out of the common fund, and bought, sold, invested, and reinvested as she thought proper. Until 1837 the titles were taken in their joint names, and afterwards some, if not all, were taken in her own. The reason of this change is not apparent to us. There was no division made by the deed of 1837, nor does it appear that the rights, titles, or interests of the parties were in the least changed by it. The only changes that appear to have been made, were the addition of Seaman to the family circle, by bis intermarriage with Ann, and in making new investments in the name of Susannah alone. These facts will not divest her of her trust character. She still sustains a fiduciary relation in the possession, control, and management of the property. Any application or appropriation of these funds, to her sole use and benefit, would be, by our law, a violation of her trust; and it will not lie in her mouth, or avail to allege a breach of confidence, and a violation of her trust and duty, as the ground of title to her principal’s estate. For if these investments were not made for the use of the principals, but her own, it was a breach of trust, a misapplication of their money, and a violation of her duty. This, the law will not presume to have been the intention, but will treat it as a resulting trust to the owners of the money. 11 Ill. 660; 13 Ill. 237; Jackson v. Matsdorf, 11 John. R. 91; Jackson v. Seely & Morse, 16 John. R. 196; Botsford v. Burr, 2 John. Ch. R. 405; 2 Story, Eq. Juris. § 1210.

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Bluebook (online)
14 Ill. 501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seaman-v-cook-ill-1853.