Adams v. Storey

• Decision Date: 01 November 1890
• Citation: 26 N.E. 582,135 Ill. 448
• Parties: ADAMS et al. v. STOREY.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

135 Ill. 448

26 N.E. 582

ADAMS et al.

v.STOREY.¹

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 1, 1890.

Error to circuit court, Cook county; MURRAY F. TULEY, Judge.

Weigley, Bulkley & Gray, for plaintiffs in error.

Gregory, Booth & Harlan, for defendant in error.

BAKER, J.

This writ of error was sued out to reverse a decree of the circuit court of Cook county, assigning dower in a lot of ground fronting 20 feet and 4 inches on Dearborn street in Chicago, and being a part of lots 1 and 2, of block 57, in the original town of Chicago, to Maria P. Storey, the defendant in error. Prior to February 17, 1868, defendant in error was the wife of Wilbur F. Storey, and on that day was divorced from him by said circuit court, on the ground of his willful desertion. During the coverture he was seised in fee of the above-mentioned premises. The decree for alimony entered in said divorce suit was as follows: ‘And the cause further coming on to be heard on the question of alimony and maintenance of the said complainant, it is thereupon, by and with the consent of the said parties, plaintiff and defendant, ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the said defendant, Wilbur F. Storey, pay, or cause to be paid, to and for the use of the said complainant, for so long as she may be and remain sole and unmarried, the sum of two thousand dollars per annum, to be paid to her quarterly, in installments of five hundred dollars each, the first of which shall be payable on the 1st day of June, A. D. 1868, and the same sum every three months thereafter during the time aforesaid, at such place or places in Chicago as she shall from time to time appoint; and, further, that said sums of money shall be, and they are hereby, declared to be a lien and a charge upon the following premises and lands, but upon none other, situate in the city of Chicago, courty of Cook, and state of Illinois, viz.,’ (particularly describing the premises first above mentioned.) The decree further provided that the defendant therein should execute and deliver a mortgage or trust-deed to said premises, (to be approved by the master in chancery) to Sidney Myers, in trust for Maria P. Storey, as security for the payment of said alimony, and the performance of all the requirements of said decree; and that during the time and continuance of said lien and charge he should well and truly pay all taxes and assessments, ordinary and extraordinary, laid or assessed against said premises, and should at his own costs and charges keep the rents of the building on said premises in sured to the amount of $2,000 per annum for the benefit of the said Maria P. Storey, so long as her interest therein should continue. On the day of the entry of said decree, said Wilbur F. Storey executed to said Maria P. Storey a bond in the penal sum of $50,000, and therein bound himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators, for the payment of the same. The condition of the bond recited the provisions of the decree, and the obligor agreed therein to stand to, abide by, and perform the terms of such decree, and to pay all taxes and assessments, and to insure the rents of the building on the premises to the amount of $2,000 per annum, for the benefit of said Maria P. Storey, such insurance to be kept up as long as said sum of $2,000 per annum shall be payable as provided in said decree, and the duty of keeping up said insurance to be binding upon his heirs, executors, and administrators, and upon the grantees and assigns of said premises. On the same day said Wilbur F. Storey executed and delivered to said Sidney Myers a trust-deed for the premises above mentioned, which deed contained full covenants of warranty, and a covenant that the premises were free and clear from all liens and incumbrances whatsoever. Said deed was given to secure the bond above described, and the prompt and punctual performance of the conditions thereof; and in it the grantor again agreed to do and perform all and singular the matters and things specified in the decree, and in the bond and the conditions thereof. The trust-deed further provided that, in case of default on the part of the grantor, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, the trustee, or his successor in trust, might sell the mortgaged premises, or any part thereof, and convey the same to the highest bidder for cash, etc., and that he should apply the proceeds of sale- First, to the payment of expenses, etc.; second, should devote the residue to the payment, satisfaction, and performance, from time to time, of the conditions and agreements contained and set forth in the bond, while and so long as the same should remain in force, and to the performance of the requirements of the order and decree; and, third, after that shall have been done, then to render the overplus, if any, to the grantor, his heirs or assigns. On August 8, 1882, Wilbur F. Storey conveyed said premises by warranty deed to John Quincy Adams, one of the plaintiffs in error, subject, however, to the lien of the trust-deed to Sidney Myers. On July 1, 1884, said John Quincy Adams leased said premises to Lorenz P. Hansen, the other plaintiff in error, for a term of 99 years, at an annual rental of $6,000, and all taxes and assessments. Said Wilbur F. Storey died on the 27th day of October, 1884. Thereafter, on August 5, 1887, Maria P. Storey, his divorced wife, the now defendant in error, filed this petition against the plaintiffs in error, for the assignment of dower to her in the premises in question. Answers and replications were filed, and upon the hearing the circuit court decreed that the petitioner was entitled to dower in the premises, and that she have and recover dower therein; that the premises were not susceptible of division; that she have and recover, as an allowance in lieu of dower, the sum of $1,186, annually, from the date of the decree, and during her actual life; that she recover from Adams and Hansen the sum of $666.67 damages from the date of the filing of the petition; and, further, recover from Hansen the sum of $2,625 damages from the 20th day of December, 1884, to the commencement of suit, etc.

The matter of the decree of February 17, 1868, allowing to Maria P. Storey, the defendant in error herein, for her alimony and maintenance, the sum of $2,000 per annum, ‘for so long as she may be and remain sole and unmarried,’ was before this court at a former term, and it was held that the annual allowance of $2,000, to be paid according to the provisions of that decree, did not terminate with the life of the husband, but was binding upon his estate at his...