Torrent v. Torrent

188 N.W. 508, 218 Mich. 381, 1922 Mich. LEXIS 591
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 5, 1922
DocketDocket No. 66
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 188 N.W. 508 (Torrent v. Torrent) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Torrent v. Torrent, 188 N.W. 508, 218 Mich. 381, 1922 Mich. LEXIS 591 (Mich. 1922).

Opinion

Sharpe, J.

The plaintiff is the widow of John Torrent, long a resident of Muskegon county, who died on October 21, 1915. They were married in 1858. He became active in the lumber business and gradually acquired considerable property. In 1875 he purchased certain real estate in the city of Muskegon, now known as lots 5 and 6 of block 334, the title being [382]*382taken in the name of plaintiff. The consideration paid therefor was $8,000. In 1893-1894, a stone dwelling house was erected on this property, costing nearly $100,000. Opinions as to its present value range from $35,000 to $50,000. On September 28, 1908, John Torrent executed a last will and- testament. By the third paragraph he bequeathed to the plaintiff all the household furniture and certain other articles of personal property. The ' fourth paragraph provided:

“I give, bequeath and devise to my wife, Caroline Torrent, the use and occupation for the period of her natural life, of any dwelling house in the city of Muskegon and county of Muskegon of which I shall die seized of and possessed of. The selection of such dwelling house to be made by her. And it is my will that the provisions in this instrument in regard to my wife, Caroline Torrent, shall be in lieu of dower and of all and any claims and demands of every name, nature or kind she might have or urge against my estate.”

After some minor bequests, the residue of his property was left to the Michigan Trust Company of Grand Rapids and its successors, in trust, to hold and manage the estate and distribute the income thereof as therein provided. The trust company was also named as executor of the will. This will was. admitted to probate in Muskegon county on December 13, 1915. On March 13, 1916, the plaintiff filed an election to take as widow under the statute. The estate was administered by the trust company, final account filed and allowed, and order assigning residue made. ' A representative of the trust company, in searching among the papers of the deceased, found in a vault in the residence, in which the papers of both Mr. and Mrs. Torrent were kept, a conveyance from her to him of the residence property and other real estate, dated August 9, 1898, duly witnessed and acknowledged. [383]*383This property was thereafter treated by the executor and trustee as a part of the estate.

In the meantime, on March li, 1916, an agreement was entered into between the plaintiff and the defendants Squire Torrent, Ray H. Torrent and John Torrent, three of her children, and H. Monroe Dun-ham, an attorney of Grand Rapids, by which Mr. Dun-ham was to institute proceedings to set aside or modify the trust provision in the will. Proceedings were begun by him in the circuit court for the county of Muskegon, in chancery. Later, a bill was filed in the district court of the United States for the western district of Michigan, northern division, in which Ida M. Lange, John T. Stever and Helen Stever Everington, three of the defendants herein, who are children of Nellie Torrent, a daughter of the plaintiff and her husband, then deceased, weré made plaintiffs and the trust company as executor, the plaintiff and the other heirs of the deceased were made defendants. A decree was rendered in this suit on January 11, 1917, construing the will and holding certain of the trust provisions void and of no effect. As before stated, the plaintiff had theretofore elected not to take under the will. Soon after the beginning of this suit, Mr. Dunham as her attorney filed a bill of complaint in the Muskegon circuit court to set aside the deed of the stone house property, and this was pending when the decree in the Federal court was made.

After the filing of this decree, conferences were held by all the parties in interest, or their attorneys, looking to a settlement of all matters in controversy - between them relative to the estate. As a result thereof, a trust deed was executed on May 18, 1917. In it the plaintiff, in her own right and as widow of John Torrent, and all the heirs of the deceased, one of them a minor by his guardian, were first parties and the Grand Rapids Trust Company the second party. [384]*384Its length, covering more than 30 pages of the printed record, precludes our quoting it in full. All of the assets of the estate are specifically set forth in it, and these were all transferred by it to the trust company. The stone house property was included therein. By its terms, the beneficial interests under the trust thereby created were divided into 1,400 shares, represented by the respective interests of the parties, and the form of the share certificates to be issued to each of them was set forth. The plaintiff was not named in or treated as a beneficiary. The undertaking on the part of the trust company was to convert the assets of the estate into cash, then to pay the expenses of the trust, to pay to plaintiff $200 per month during her natural life, to purchase and erect a suitable monument to the memory of the deceased, and to divide and distribute the balance in conformity with the trust share certificates to be issued. In addition to the monthly payment to plaintiff, the deed provided that she should occupy the stone house property without payment of rent and that in case it should be sold the trustee should, if requested by her, construct upon other property of the estate a suitable and convenient dwelling house to cost not more than $5,000 and permit her to occupy it during her lifetime without rental therefor, or, at her option, pay to her an additional $50 per month in lieu of such occupancy. Taxes and repairs were also to be paid by the trustee. The other provisions of the trust deed are not material to the issue here presented.

The bill of complaint herein, filed on November 3, 1919, alleges that the plaintiff at the time the trust deed was executed was about 78 years of age and infirm in body, that she—

“did not know, nor was she informed, that same included her own individual property (that described in her deed to her husband) but was expressly in[385]*385formed by said Dunham and the conspiring defendants that her individual property was not included in said instrument; that she only recently became cognizant that her said individual property was included ;”

that its execution by her was procured by “false and fraudulent representations,” and that such deed is a cloud upon her title to such real estate. In her prayer for relief she asks: That the deed from her to her husband, found among his papers, and the trust deed executed by her be set aside and decreed to be null and void and the trustee be required to account for all moneys received by it under the trust and the estate distributed to the persons legally entitled to the same.

The defendants Lewis Torrent, Squire E. Torrent, John Torrent, Ray H. Torrent and Russell Torrent in their answers admit the truth of the allegations in the bill and say that plaintiff is entitled to the relief prayed for. The infant Fred Torrent, appearing by his guardian, leaves plaintiff to her proofs, but denies that she is entitled to any relief. The trust company and the defendants Ida M. Lange, John Stever and Helen Stever Everington admit certain allegations in the bill but deny those on which plaintiff’s claim' for relief rests.

The proofs were taken in open court. The trial court found that the plaintiff signed the trust deed relying on the advice of her attorney; that she did not know that her individual property was included therein.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 N.W. 508, 218 Mich. 381, 1922 Mich. LEXIS 591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/torrent-v-torrent-mich-1922.