Trigg v. Trigg

22 P.2d 119, 37 N.M. 296
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedApril 20, 1933
DocketNo. 3735.
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 22 P.2d 119 (Trigg v. Trigg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trigg v. Trigg, 22 P.2d 119, 37 N.M. 296 (N.M. 1933).

Opinion

ZINN, Justice.

Appellee, plaintiff below, brought suit against appellant, defendant below, to cancel deeds of conveyance made on August 27, 1927, executed by the appellee and -appellant to one J. H. Barwise, an attorney, for a stated consideration of $1, which deed of conveyance transferred the property in question, consisting of a large ranch located in San Miguel county, to the said J. H. Barwise, who -then and at the same time conveyed the property to the appellant by a deed of conveyance for a stated consideration of $1. The deeds were in the usual warranty deed form. The primary and -admitted purpose of this transfer of the property from the appellee to appellant, through J. H. Barwise, was to place the property in dispute in the name of •the appellant, the wife of the appellee.

: The allegations of the complaint material to the issue are that the appellee and appellant are husband and wife, and that the appellee was the owner of a large ranch in ■San Miguel county, N. M., which was of the community property of appellee and appellant; that the appellant threatened the appellee to abandon his bed and board unless he did convey this ranch property to her, and -that on August 27, 1927, worried by the constant importunities and “nagging” of the appellant, and relying upon the agreement of the appellant that the property would remain community property, appellee executed a deed of conveyance vesting title to the property in appellant, but intending the same to remain the community property of the appellee and appellant, and that subsequent to the conveyance the appellant did abandon and desert the appellee, refusing to live with him as his wife; the complaint alleges that it was the deliberate purpose of the appellant to defraud the appellee by inducing him to convey the property to her and thereafter, to desert and abandon him. The appellant contended that the conveyance of the property was a gift, in lieu of a home, and as the donee of such gift she was the sole owner of said property.

The case was tried before the district court of San Miguel county, where the issues were found for the appellee, and the court ordered that the deed from appellee and appellant to J. H. Barwise and the deed from J. H. Bar-wise to the appellant be canceled, and -the property was held to be community property of the appellee and appellant, from which judgment and decree the issue is here on appeal.

It appears from the record that the means adopted by J. H. Barwise, a reputable and respected member of the bar of the state of Texas, in having the appellant and appellee join in a deed of conveyance to him of the property in question, and thereafter by deed from him to appellant, conveying the property to her, was a method employed and intended to obviate the common-law disability of husband and wife to convey to each other directly. The common-law disability of husband and wife to convey, the one to the other, has, however, been expressly removed by statute in this state, and the husband may convey real estate directly to the wife and the wife directly to the husband without the other joining in the conveyance. 1929 Comp. St. § 68-403. That the circuitous transfer of the property in question in this case through J. H. Barwise was intended to effect a transfer from the appellee to the appellant is admitted by all parties, and the legal effect of the method employed in conveying the property need not be considered, though ably briefed by counsel for appellee. The evident purpose and legal effect was to transfer the community interest of the appellee to the appellant.

The sole question is whether or not the court below erred in concluding as a matter of fact and law that the actions of the appellant in pursuading the appellee to have the land in question placed in her name, and thereafter abandoning appellee, nullified and vitiated the deed, and the appellant’s counsel in their brief admit that the issue in this case being merely whether the deed made by the appellee to appellant was made by him under duress of fear of abandonment, and whether the appellant induced the appellee to make the deed fraudulently, with the intention of abandoning the appellee later. Able counsel for appellant claim that the deeds are absolutely controlling in this case, unless they are vitiated by fraud upon the part of the appellant as against the appellee, or unless the appellee executed said deeds under duress by reason of the threat of abandonment.

By statute in New Mexico, 1929 Oomp. St. § 68-401, it is provided that, where real estate is conveyed to a married woman, the presumption is that title is thereby vested as her separate property. However, 1929 Comp. St. § 68-201, provides that either husband or wife may enter into any engagement or transaction with the other, or with any other person respecting property which either might, if unmarried; subject, in transactions between themselves, to the general rules oí common law which control the actions of persons occupying confidential relations with each other.

An examination of the rules of the common law which control the actions of persons occupying confidential relations with each other as applicable to the case at bar, where the transaction is between husband and wife, we find the rule stated in Thompson on Real Property, as follows: “In equity an inquiry will be made into the motives, consideration, and objects to be accomplished by such conveyance. If the conveyance is from the wife to the husband, there may be a presumption against its validity on account of the confidential relation of husband and wife, and the supposed dominant influence of the husband; but this presumption is overcome by proof that the wife received adequate consideration ; that the conveyance was to her advantage, and was not obtained by duress or undue influence. When, however, the conveyance is from a husband to his wife, there is a presumption that it was intended for the wife’s support, and is valid in equity, unless it was made in violation of the rights of creditors. While neither equity nor law denies the possibility of valid conveyances between husband and wife, yet whenever one of the parties obtains a possible benefit thereby, equity raises a presumption against its validity, and casts upon the one asserting it the burden of proving affirmatively his compliance with the equitable requisites in order to overcome the presumption.” Thompson on Real Property, vol. 3, § 2823.

That conveyances and other instruments may be set aside because procured by the exercise of undue influence upon the party executing them is not questioned, and the exercise of such undue influence does not necessarily mean the infliction or threat of any physical injury or mischief. In the general sense of the term, undue influence would seem to be a species of duress, or, if this be not quite accurate, the two would at least seem to run together so that the precise line where one begins and the other stops is not easily definable.

Thompson on Real Property says: “Relief may sometimes be had in equity against threats which do not amount to legal duress. Such relief may be granted when a deed has been fraudulently procured through the fears, affections, or sensibilities of the grantor excited by threats; as, for instance, where the grantor has made a conveyance in consequence of threats of a criminal prosecution of his brother. Equity will grant relief in such cases, though there would be no remedy at law.

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Bluebook (online)
22 P.2d 119, 37 N.M. 296, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trigg-v-trigg-nm-1933.