Vanmeter's ex'ors v. Vanmeters

3 Va. 148
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedJuly 15, 1846
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Va. 148 (Vanmeter's ex'ors v. Vanmeters) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vanmeter's ex'ors v. Vanmeters, 3 Va. 148 (Va. 1846).

Opinions

Baldwin, J.

delivered the opinion of the Court.

It appears to the Court that the appellee Joseph Van-meter, on the 23d of April 1810, in order to secure several large sums of money which he owed to Jacob Vanmeter, the testator of the appellants, and to indemnify him for liabilities as his surety, executed a deed of trust by which he conveyed several tracts of land in the county of Hardy for those purposes; and after-wards, to wit, on the 1st of March 1824, the said Joseph Vanmeter, by way of fuvther security to said Jacob Vanmeter for all debts which he still owed him, and for all liabilities as his surety, executed to said Jacob a [161]*161deed in the nature of a mortgage, by which he subjected all his lands in the county of Hardy for such securily and indemnity. The said Joseph 'Vanmeter subsequently, to wit, on the 16th of March 1826, on a settlement with said Jacob of the debts aforesaid, and advanees on account of the liabilities aforesaid, executed to him his obligation for the sum of 14,992 dollars 81 cents, the balance then ascertained in favour of said Jacob. And thereafter the said Joseph Vanmeter becoming further indebted to the said Jacob, executed to him his obligations therefor, to wit, one for 812 dollars on the 26th of September 1826, and another for 688 dollars 81 cents on the 14th of August 1827, and a third, with his sons Abraham and Isaac Vanmeter as sureties therein, for 1387 dollars 31 cents on the 1st of December 1827.

It further appears that the said Joseph Vanmeter on the 17th of October 1827, by a deed purporting to be an indenture between him and his said sons Abraham and Isaac Vanmeter, hut executed by the grantor only, in consideration of their binding themselves to pay all debts doe and owing by the said Joseph, and to pay to him 500 dollars per annum during his life, conveyed to them in fee all his lands in the Stale of Virginia and the United States, with the exception of a tract in the county of Monongalia: and that said Abraham and Isaac Vanmeter accepted said deed, and have held and enjoyed the property thereby conveyed.

And the Court is of opinion that the said Abraham and Isaac Vanmeter, by their acceptance of said deed and enjoyment of the subject, have acknowledged their personal liability for the debts of the. grantor existing at the time of the execution of said deed, and the creditors have a right to enforce it. The condition was one which it was the right and the duty of the grantor to exact for the benefit of his creditors, and is equivalent to a covenant on the part of the grantees. If it was at [162]*162all revocable by the grantor, he has in no wise attempted to revoke or resist its execution; and it cannot be resisted by the grantees, who, so far from shewing any ground of objection thereto, have expressly admitted in answer the contract on their part,

And the Court is further of opinion that the said Abraham and Isaac Vanmeter are not only personally liable for the payment of such debts, but the creditors have a right to resort in a Court of Equity, to the lands conveyed by said deed, while in the hands of said grantees, in order to obtain satisfaction of their demands. It is true there is no trust expressly created by said deed, and that bona fide purchasers of the property thereby conveyed might not be bound to see to the application of the purchase money to the payment of said debts; but it is also true that such payment was a part of the consideration for the conveyance, and it is against equity and good conscience that the grantees should be permitted to hold the property without making such payment ; nor can it be presumed that such was the intention of the parties, as that, under the circumstances, would have been fraudulent as against the creditors of the grantor; or that they did not regard the property conveyed as a means of enabling the grantees to make such payment, and to be resorted to if necessary for that purpose. A Court of Equity will therefore treat the subject as in the nature of a trust, and establish a lien on the property while in the hands of the grantees and their representatives as a means of compelling its performance.

It further appears that the said Jacob Vanmeter in his lifetime instituted his suit in the late Chancery Court of Winchester, against the said Abraham, Isaac and Joseph Vanmeter, in order to recover the moneys due him as aforesaid; and to subject to the payment thereof the lands embraced by the said deed of trust of the 23d of April 1810, and the said deed in the nature of a mortgage of the 1st of March 1824, to wit, the lands of said [163]*163Joseph in the county of Hardy. By the interlocutory decree rendered in that suit in April 1830, the said Abraham, Isaac and Joseph Vanmeter were directed to pay to the executors of said Jacob Vanmeter, in whose name the cause after his death had been revived, the sum of 24,831 dollars 12 cents, with interest on the greater part thereof till paid, and the plaintiffs’ costs; and in the event of their default, the marshal of the Court was directed to make sale of the lands embraced by said deeds of the 23d of April 1810, and 1st of March 1824, and convey the same to the purchasers, The marshal, in conformity with said decree, sold the lands situate in the county of Hardy, consisting of twelve distinct tracts, for the amount of 12,465 dollars. And by a further decree rendered in said suit in June 1831, the marshal’s report of his sales was confirmed, and the proceeds thereof applied towards the satisfaction of the amount due to the plaintiffs.

And the Court is of opinion that the last mentioned decree of the Winchester Chancery Court was a final decree. It had the effect of confirming the previous personal decree, disposed of the whole subject, gave all the relief that was contemplated, and nothing more remained to be done in that cause.

It further appears to the Court that on the 25th of February 1825, the said Joseph Vanmeter executed a deed of trust, by which he conveyed to Abraham Inskeep, as trustee, a tract of land in the county of Hampshire, called Claypoles, to indemnify the said Jacob Van-meter and a certain Isaac Vanmeter the elder, as endorsers for the said Joseph Vanmeter in the Bank of the Valley at Romney, and as additional security for the purposes of the aforesaid deed in the nature of a mortgage, of the 1st of March 1824; by the provisions of which deed to Inskeep the proceeds from the sale of the land in Hampshire, thereby conveyed, were to be applied first to the payment of the bank debt, and then to[164]*164wards the discharge of the mortgage debt. The said Claypole land was sold by the trustee under the provisions of that deed.

It further appears that besides the twelve tracts of land in Hardy sold by the marshal under the decree of the Winchester Chancery Court, the said Joseph Van-meter was, at the date of his said deed to his sons of the 17th of October 1827, the owner of other lands lying in the counties of Hardy, Hampshire and Preston, and in the States of Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois.

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3 Va. 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vanmeters-exors-v-vanmeters-va-1846.