Andrus v. Vreeland
| Decision Date | 01 May 1878 |
| Citation | 29 N.J. Eq. 394 |
| Parties | MARY E. ANDRUS and her husband v. MATILDA VREELAND and others. |
| Court | New Jersey Court of Chancery |
A conveyance of the fee to a mortgagee will not merge his mortgage, where such intention on his part does not exist, and no detriment to other encumbrancers is shown.
On bill to foreclose. On final hearing on pleadings and proofs.
Mr. G. Ackerson, Jr., for complainant.
Mr. S. R. Demarest, Jr., for defendant Matilda Vreeland.
THE CHANCELLOR.
The question presented for decision is, whether the mortgage of Mrs. Matilda Vreeland is, under the circumstances, merged by the conveyance of the mortgaged premises to her in fee. The mortgages on the property are: first, a mortgage held by Quackenbush, for $600 and interest; second, the mortgage held by Mrs. Vreeland, dated May 2d, 1870, for $1,000 and interest; third, the mortgage of the complainant, Mrs. Andrus, dated June 25th, 1874, for $2,500 and interest; and, last, a mortgage held by Gilliam Rutan, for $764.22 and interest, dated July 6th, 1874.
Peter B. Vreeland, the mortgagor, with his wife, in or about December, 1875, executed a deed of conveyance for the mortgaged premises to Mrs. Vreeland, she being then the holder of her mortgage. The complainants insist that the effect of this conveyance was to merge her mortgage. It appears clearly from the evidence that, although she assented to the conveyance, it was merely for the accommodation of her son, the mortgagor, and without any intention on her part to extinguish her mortgage. On the other hand, she swears that she never had or saw the deed; that she did not pay for recording it, and that the first she knew of its existence was a notice of it among real estate transfers in the village newspaper. She swears that when her son spoke to her on the snbject, she did not understand anything about the matter, nor what his intentions were; that he said it would be better for both him and her, and should cost her nothing, and that he said it would be better for her: but she says she did not understand why. She further swears that she never made any claim to the property under the deed; that it was never her intention to merge her mortgage, and that she thought her mortgage would not be affected by the conveyance to her.
Her son, the mortgagor, testifies that he spoke to her about taking the property; that he told her he wanted to sell it, and thought he could sell it better if it was in her name than if it was in his own; that she said she did not see how she could buy it, that she had no money; that he told her that that made no difference, that it would not cost anything;...
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