Walker v. Provident Trust Co.

10 Pa. D. & C. 104, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 276
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County·Decided October 21, 1927·No. No. 10087·Published

Opinion

Taulane, J.,

This case came on for hearing before the late President Judge Bartlett on June 8, 1927, but he died before he had an opportunity to prepare an adjudication.

Counsel for all parties have agreed that Taulane, J., may dispose of the matter with the same force and effect as if the testimony had been taken before him.

H. Horace Dawson, Esq., appeared for the plaintiff, and J. Charles Mur-tagh, Esq., and Arthur Littleton, Esq., for the defendants.

The bill alleges that the late William J. McMullin during his lifetime purchased a property at Ventnor, New Jersey, for his daughter, the plaintiff, using her funds to pay for it, but took title thereto in his own name to protect her, as she was then in litigation with her husband, and prayed that the [105]*105trustees and devisees under his will he ordered to convey the legal title of said property to the plaintiff.

From the pleadings and proofs, the court make the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

Findings of fact.

1. Since the filing of the bill, the plaintiff has remarried, and is now known as Mabelle P. Yarrow.

2. The full name of Marion Reineke, one of the defendants, is Marion Reineke Bretherton.

3. Sophie Jane Reineke, one of the defendants, and described as a minor, is now of age.

4. In February, 1921, and prior thereto, the plaintiff had marital difficulties with her then husband, H. Leslie Walker. She separated from her husband in February, 1921.

5. At the time of the separation, the plaintiff’s husband owed her $10,000, which she had borrowed on a mortgage on her house at Rosemont, Penna., and loaned him.

6. Immediately upon the separation, the plaintiff, through her father, the late William J. MeMullin, retained John R. K. Scott, Esq., to collect the $10,000 and represent her in her marital troubles with her husband.

7. Some time prior to March 31, 1927, the exact date does not appear, Mr. Scott succeeded in collecting from the plaintiff’s husband the $10,000 due her, with interest, aggregating $10,477.17.

8. On March 31, 1921, Mr. Scott paid the plaintiff the amount so collected by handing to William J. MeMullin, plaintiff’s father, his several checks aggregating $10,477.17, drawn to the order of William J. MeMullin, attorney in fact for Mabel P. Walker, which cheeks William J. MeMullin endorsed and deposited to his credit in his bank account with the Provident Life and Trust Company.

9. At the time of the separation, the plaintiff and her three children were living in a cottage on Amherst Avenue, Atlantic City, owned by her husband. Her husband notified her to vacate the cottage.

10. Plaintiff’s father then purchased for her a cottage situate at the southwest corner of Ventnor and Vassar Avenues, Ventnor, New Jersey, by entering into an agreement of purchase in his own name, dated March 24, 1921, whereby he agreed to pay $17,500 for the cottage, to be settled for within thirty days, and to be paid for as follows: $1000 upon the execution of the agreement, $2000 on or before April 19, 1921, $5000 in a first mortgage then thereon and to remain, and the balance of $9500 in cash.

11. William J. MeMullin apparently paid out of his own funds the deposit of $1000 made on the execution of the agreement.

12. Mr. MeMullin was represented in the purchase of the property and the preparation of the deed by John O’Neill, of Atlantic City.

13. Mr. MeMullin informed Mr. O’Neill that he was buying the property for his daughter, and Mr. O’Neill advised Mr. MeMullin that title should not be taken in the daughter’s name on account of the trouble she was having with her husband, which might prevent her from selling, as her husband would have to join in the deed.

14. Mr. MeMullin stated to Mr. O’Neill that he would consult his lawyer.

15. Thereafter and before the deed was made and practically about the time Mr. Scott gave the money to Mr. MeMullin, Mr. MeMullin told Mr. Scott that he was buying a property at Ventnor for his daughter and inquired [106]*106whether the deed should he in the name of a third person instead of his daughter. Mr. Scott advised him to put the property in his own name and not in his daughter’s name, as the daughter might have difficulty in selling if the title was in her name, due to her differences with her husband.

16. Mr. MeMullin made the second payment of $2000 on account on April 6, 1921, and the final payment of $9482.01 on April 23, 1921, when settlement was made and the deed taken in the name of Mr. MeMullin.

17. Neither Mr. MeMullin nor his estate has ever repaid to the plaintiff the said sum of $10,477.17 which Mr. MeMullin received from Mr. Scott as plaintiff’s attorney in fact.

18. From the time of the purchase in 1921 to the present time, the plaintiff has been in exclusive control and possession of the property, has paid all interest on the mortgage, taxes, water rent and repairs. She resided in it until 1924, since when she has rented it and collected the rents.

19. Mr. MeMullin, in 1922, consulted Mr. Benjamin F. Jones, of the Provident Life and Trust Company, about a codicil to his will. He explained to Mr. Jones that he had bought the property at Ventnor for his daughter Mabel; that his daughter’s money had paid for it, and that he had taken the title in his own name to protect his daughter against any interference of her husband, from whom she was separated, and requested Mr. Jones to prepare a codicil to his will to the effect that, upon his death, the Ventnor property should go to his daughter Mabel free and clear of all inheritance taxes. Mr. Jones prepared the codicil, but it was never signed.

20. Mr. MeMullin died on March 26, 1923. On the day he died, Mr. Jones was requested to call and bring with him the codicil for Mr. MeMullin’s signature. Mr. Jones called to see Mr. MeMullin with the codicil, but Mr. MeMullin refused to sign it, stating that he would go to Mr. Jones’s office in a few days to sign it. At the time, Mr. MeMullin did not realize his condition, for he died within fifteen or twenty minutes thereafter.

21. Mr. MeMullin repeatedly told divers persons that the property at Vassar and Ventnor Avenues, Ventnor, belonged to his daughter Mabel; that her money went into its purchase, and that he had the title put in his own name for her protection against her husband.

22. Mr. MeMullin used the sum of $10,477.17, being the amount of plaintiff’s money received by him from Mr. Scott, in the purchase of the Ventnor property.

23. Mr. MeMullin, in purchasing the Ventnor property, acted as plaintiff’s agent.

24. Mr. MeMullin advanced or loaned to the plaintiff, to complete the purchase, $2004.84, representing the difference between $12,482.01, the amount in cash paid for the property, subject to a $6000 mortgage then thereon, and $10,477.17, the amount of plaintiff’s money in Mr. MeMullin’s hands.

25. Mr. MeMullin had no interest in the property, and the title was in his name solely for the plaintiff’s protection.

26. Neither Mr.

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Walker v. Provident Trust Co., 10 Pa. D. & C. 104, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 276 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1927).

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