Kneeland v. Cowperthwaite
| Decision Date | 10 April 1908 |
| Citation | 115 N.W. 1026,138 Iowa 193 |
| Parties | CARRIE L. KNEELAND, Appellant, v. MRS.W. H. COWPERTHWAITE, ET AL |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Mills District Court.-- HON. A. B. THORNELL, Judge.
ACTION in equity to enforce the specific performance of a land contract. There was a judgment for the defendants, from which the plaintiff appeals.-- Affirmed.
Affirmed.
D. E Whitfield and A. E. Cook, for appellant.
H. J Baird, for appellees.
In 1905 the plaintiff bought the property in question of the defendant Mrs. W. H. Cowperthwaite for $ 1,500, $ 100 of which was paid to Mrs. Cowperthwaite in cash and the balance was to be paid when the plaintiff was given possession of the property. In 1903 Mrs. Cowperthwaite, who was then a widow, executed a deed of the same property making her codefendants, who are her children, the grantees therein. That deed in terms conveyed a present estate, contained a warranty of title, and reserved to the grantor a life interest in the property. After its execution, it was left with the grantor's attorney, who had prepared it, and it was not recorded until after the sale of the property to the plaintiff. The sole question for determination is whether the deed conveyed to the children of the grantor a present interest in the land, and the answer thereto depends on the question of delivery.
The question of delivery is generally held to be one of intent and ordinarily, where it appears that the grantor intended to part with the control of the deed and to pass the present title, the delivery is sufficient for that purpose, even though there be no physical delivery of the deed to the grantees. Saunders v. Saunders, 115 Iowa 275, 88 N.W. 329; White v. Watts, 118 Iowa 549, 92 N.W. 660; Foreman v. Archer, 130 Iowa 49, 106 N.W. 372. A deed placed by the grantor in the hands of a third person with unconditional instructions to deliver it to the grantee named therein at some specified time in the future will, unless the grantor reserves the right to recall or revoke the same, vest in the grantee a present interest in the land. White v. Watts, supra; Hinson v. Bailey, 73 Iowa 544, 35 N.W. 626. The record shows that Mrs. Cowperthwaite executed the deed in question shortly before her second marriage, and for the avowed purpose of giving the property to her children before it became subject to the marital rights of her second husband; she reserving...
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