Long v. Long

• Decision Date: 20 February 1917
• Docket Number: No. 18283.,18283.
• Citation: 192 S.W. 948
• Parties: LONG et al. v. LONG.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

192 S.W. 948

LONG et al. v. LONG.

No. 18283.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

February 20, 1917.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Cedar County; B. G. Thurman, Judge.

Suit by Stephen A. Long and others against Charles A. Long. Decree for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

J. W. Collins, of Stockton, and R. N. Banister, of Eldorado Springs, for appellant. A. L. L. Hamilton and B. R. Leydig, both of Eldorado, Kan., and S. E. Osborn, and W. R. Hawkins, both of Stockton, for respondents.

BOND, P. J.

I. This is a suit in equity to declare a resulting trust in certain land in favor of the heirs at law of one Salina Long, who died intestate August 13, 1912. It is alleged that defendant, Charles Long, son of Salina Long, purchased the land in controversy in March, 1911, taking title in his own name, plaintiffs claiming that the money with which said purchase was made belonged to their mother, and that thereby a trust was created in her favor, which, she having failed to have declared, they may now have adjudged. The defendant elected to stand on the defense that the money which he used to purchase this land was his own, alleging in support of that position that his mother, Salina Long, delivered to him "as a gift and as an advancement in anticipation of his interest in her estate upon her death, the sum of $6,000," derived from the sale of her farm in Kansas. The material facts as shown by the record are that on the death of her husband some 25 years ago, Salina Long, under the law of Kansas, acquired a half interest in certain land near Douglas. As her several children reached their majorities she purchased their interests, and thus became the owner of the full fee. From about 1902 to 1910, defendant, Charles Long, was tenant of the Kansas farm, and Salina Long made her home with him and his family. During the latter year family disagreements caused Charles Long to purchase a farm in Oklahoma, to which he moved with his family, his mother going to live with her daughter Gertrude Freeman in New Mexico. Later Charles Long wrote his sister to bring his mother to Oklahoma, insisting that if she did not bring her he would come after her. Salina Long then went to the home of her son Charles, where she remained until her death. In the meantime Charles Long advised his mother to sell the land in Kansas, which she did, Charles acting as her agent. On the completion of the sale of the Kansas land Charles Long immediately went to Missouri, where he contracted to purchase the land in controversy for the sum of $6,000, taking the title to same in his own name and paying for it with the money which his mother received from the sale of the Kansas farm. After the death of Salina Long in 1912, her son Charles was appointed administrator of her estate, which consisted of the sum of $160, which was on deposit in a bank at Humansville, Mo. At the close of the trial the court adjudged and decreed that a resulting trust existed in, to, and upon the real estate in controversy in favor of the heirs of Salina Long, naming...