Botts v. Gooch

• Decision Date: 04 March 1889
• Citation: 97 Mo. 88,11 S.W. 42
• Parties: BOTTS v. GOOCH et ux.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

11 S.W. 42

97 Mo. 88

BOTTS v. GOOCH et ux.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March 4, 1889.

HUSBAND AND WIFE — WIFE'S SEPARATE ESTATE — GIFT.

Where a married woman has received personal property, as a gift from her father, and, with her husband's consent, has always managed it as her own, and with it purchased other property in her own name, the property and the proceeds of its sale remain her property, and not her husband's.

Error to circuit court, Linn county; W. H. BROWNLEE, Special Judge.

A. W. Mullins, for plaintiffs in error. L. T. Collier, for defendant in error.

BLACK, J.

The plaintiff, Seth Botts, recovered a judgment against the defendant, Joseph Gooch, in 1873, for $1,086, and in the latter part of 1882 he purchased at a sale under an execution issued on the judgment a lot in Meadville, and two 40-acre tracts of land. The title to this property was in the defendant Nancy Gooch, who is the wife of defendant Joseph Gooch. It is alleged that the property was purchased and paid for by Joseph, and that he had the same conveyed to his wife to defraud his creditors. The prayer of the petition is that the title be vested in the plaintiff. The defense is that the property was purchased by Mrs. Gooch with her own means and property. Defendants were married in 1869, and the proof is conclusive that Mrs. Gooch, at the time of her marriage, received from her father, as a gift from him, a mare, a cow, two steers, and some household furniture. She kept the mare, and raised five colts, which she sold at fair prices. In 1880, she purchased one of the 40-acre tracts from Patterson for $410. One-third of this amount was paid in cash by her, and for the balance she and her husband made a deed of trust on the land. In 1881 she bought the other 40 acres from the railroad company for $411.20. She paid $250 from the proceeds of the sale of her mare and two colts, and the balance of the money she borrowed from friends and relatives on her individual notes. In 1882 she acquired the lot in Meadville, by trading therefor a parcel of land for which she had given a horse, valued at $80. This trade was negotiated for her by her brother, Mr. Evans. In 1881 she and her husband made a deed of trust on the two 40-acre tracts to secure $700, and the proceeds of this loan were used by her in paying off the Patterson debt on one 40-acre tract, and in paying the money which she had borrowed by her own notes in the purchase of the railroad 40 acres. This $700 debt is still unpaid, save the interest thereon. There is some conflict in the evidence, but the foregoing facts are well established; and they show that the payments made on these parcels of land have all been made out of...