Cameron v. Parish
| Decision Date | 08 June 1900 |
| Docket Number | 18,825 |
| Citation | 57 N.E. 547,155 Ind. 329 |
| Parties | Cameron v. Parish et al |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Oct. 11, 1900.
From the Warren Circuit Court.
Reversed.
C. V McAdams, for appellant.
E. F McCabe, for appellees.
Appellee instituted this action in the lower court against appellant to quiet his title to the undivided one-half of a certain tract of real estate situated in the town of Williamsport, Warren county, Indiana. There was an answer in denial and a cross-complaint upon the part of the defendant. The latter, by her cross-complaint, alleged that she was the owner in fee of the entire premises in dispute, and she sought thereby to quiet her title as against the plaintiff, appellee in this appeal. Upon the issues joined under the pleadings there was a trial by the court, and a special finding of facts and conclusions of law thereon, to the effect that the appellee was the owner in fee of the undivided one-half of the premises described in the complaint, and was entitled to have his title quieted; and, over the exceptions of appellant to the court's conclusions of law upon the facts found, judgment was rendered accordingly.
The question presented is: Did the court err in its conclusions of law in favor of appellee upon the facts embraced in the special finding? The pertinent and material facts disclosed by the finding are substantially as follows: William Cameron, prior to the year 1889, had been a farmer, and resided upon a farm, which he owned, in Warren county. On October 1, 1889, he purchased the real estate in controversy, paying therefor the sum of $ 2,100, and caused it to be conveyed in fee simple to his wife, Matilda Cameron. A short time after the purchase of said real estate, he and his wife moved onto the same, and continued to make their home thereon until the death of each. After taking up their residence upon said land, William Cameron purchased other real property in the town of Williamsport of the value of $ 800, the title of which he took in his own name, and continued to own and hold the same until his death. He and his wife had one child, James Cameron, who died in the year 1887, leaving surviving him as his only child the appellant, Lena Frances Cameron, and at the time of the execution by William Cameron of the will hereinafter mentioned she and her grandmother, Matilda Cameron, were the only heirs of the said William. The appellee, George Parish, was taken by the said Cameron and his wife, Matilda, into their family when he was a mere child, and was made a member thereof, but was never in any manner legally adopted as their child; and at the death of William Cameron he was of the age of thirty-one years, and was still residing with the said William and his wife as a member of their family, and was not possessed of any property or estate of any kind whatever. On October 10, 1891, Matilda Cameron still owned the real estate in dispute, which had been conveyed to her in 1889, as heretofore stated, and continued to own the same until her death, but was not the owner, on said October 10, 1891, of any personal property save and except her wearing apparel and some household goods. On said date William Cameron was the owner of personal property of the probable value of $ 4,500, and he also owned ten acres of real estate situated without the town of Williamsport, Warren county, Indiana, of the probable value of $ 1,000, and was still the owner of the real estate heretofore mentioned as being purchased by him for the price of $ 800. On the said October 10, 1891, William Cameron executed his last will and testament. By said document he directed, first, that all of his just debts and funeral expenses be paid by his executor as soon after his death as possible.
The second and third clauses of the will are as follows: (2) "I give, devise, and bequeath to my beloved wife, Matilda Cameron, all my property, real and personal, of every character and description, wherever the same may be situated, to use and dispose of as she may desire, with power to sell and convey the same, or do with the same as she may desire." (3) 'At the death of my wife I will and direct that all of the property which she may then own shall be equally divided between my granddaughter, Lena Frances Cameron, and my foster-son, George Parish, share and share alike, except as herein otherwise provided to one acre of real estate."
By the fourth clause he directed that, in the event his said wife, Matilda, had not, during her life, disposed of the one acre of land owned by him and situated near the Indiana Mineral Springs--being the one acre mentioned in the third clause of the will--then, and in that event, the title thereto was to vest in his said grandchild, Lena Cameron, her mother, Sue Cameron, and the said George Parish during their lives, and at their death the title thereto was to vest in fee simple in their surviving heirs.
The fifth clause of the will provided that, in case the said Parish or the said Lena Frances Cameron died without issue of their bodies, or either of them, alive, then the property which they received from his wife at her death was to go to and vest in George Cameron, his nephew, and Thomas Moore, a nephew of his wife; it being provided therein that the said property in all cases should be responsible for the funeral expenses of his said wife before vesting in his said granddaughter and the said Parish, and also responsible for her debts.
On December 16th following the execution of the will, William Cameron died, leaving surviving him his wife as his widow, and his will was duly admitted to probate in the Warren Circuit Court; and C. V. McAdams, the executor therein named, duly qualified as such, and continued to administer his trust until he was regularly discharged as such executor on the 13th day of March, 1893.
The court finds that the said widow, Matilda, at no time after the death of her husband, filed any written election with any one to take her interest in her husband's property pursuant to the laws of Indiana in preference to the provisions of her husband's will, but that she elected to and did take all her husband's property under his said will. The executor, pursuant to the will, turned over to her money, household goods, and a decree of foreclosure to the amount of $ 2,334.21. From this sum the executor paid out, under directions from her, the sum of $ 55.19 on taxes due upon her real estate, and the further sum of $ 182.71 upon a school fund mortgage existing against her real estate at the time the same was purchased and conveyed to her.
It is further found by the court in its special finding that, after the death of William Cameron, his widow, Matilda, took possession of all the real estate of which he died the owner, and that she converted all the personal property turned over by said executor into cash, and loaned and used the same as she felt disposed; that she sold one piece of real estate owned by the testator at the time of his death, situated in the town of Williamsport, for the sum of $ 800, and caused a portion of the other lands, owned and held by her husband at his death, to be platted, and during her lifetime she disposed of sixteen other tracts or lots by warranty deed made by her as widow of the testator, and received for such conveyances the sum of $ 730; and at the time of her death the real estate which she had acquired under the will of her husband remaining undisposed of by her was but the one acre of land heretofore mentioned, which was of the value of $ 150.
On the 13th day of July, 1898, Matilda Cameron died intestate, and the value of all the personal property then owned by her, all of which came to her under her husband's will, was $ 1,682.28, and consisted of household goods, horse and carriage, notes, and money. After her death, to wit, on July 20, 1898, appellant and appellee, out of the moneys on hand at her death, fully paid and settled all her debts and funeral expenses, which amounted to $ 293, leaving a residue of her personal estate amounting to $ 1,389.22, which was then and there equally divided between appellant and appellee. At the time appellant and appellee made the division of the property acquired by Matilda Cameron under her husband's will, and which remained undis posed of at her death, as heretofore stated, they each supposed that the title to the real estate in controversy in this action was in William Cameron at the time of his death, and, thereupon, acting under this supposition in regard to the title of said real estate, they leased the same to one Johnson for a term of one year at an agreed rent of $ 10 per month, one-half of which, by the terms of such lease, to be paid to each of them. And the said tenant took possession of the property, and has ever since held and is now in possession thereof pursuant to said lease.
A short time before the commencement of this suit, appellee, George Parish, discovered the fact that the title to said real estate had always been in Matilda Cameron from the time it was conveyed to her, as heretofore stated, up to the time of her death, and was never at any time owned by William Cameron; and thereupon he communicated the information to the appellant, Lena Frances Cameron, and demanded of her that she execute to him a deed of conveyance for one-half of said real estate, which she refused to do, but, on the contrary, asserted, and still asserts, her entire ownership to the said realty as the only surviving heir at law of her grandmother, Matilda Cameron; and has demanded of said tenant that all the rents of said real estate be paid to her. At the time William Cameron executed his will he was sixty-nine years old, and his wife, Matilda, was sixty-eight.
Upon the...
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