Mayfield v. Forsyth

• Decision Date: 10 November 1896
• Citation: 45 N.E. 403,164 Ill. 32
• Parties: MAYFIELD et al. v. FORSYTH et ux.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

164 Ill. 32

45 N.E. 403

MAYFIELD et al.

v.FORSYTH et ux.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 10, 1896.

Appeal from circuit court, Logan county; George W. Herdman, Judge.

Action by Lucy F. Mayfield and others against Robert N. Forsyth and wife for partition, for an accounting, and for general relief. From a judgment in favor of defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

W. D. Wyatt, for appellants.

Beach & Hodnett, for appellees.

CRAIG, J.

This was a bill in equity, brought by appellants against Robert N. Forsyth and Anna Forsyth, for partition, and for an accounting, and for general relief. It appears from the record that on the 25th day of May, 1864, one Robert N. Forsyth died, intestate, in Logan county, leaving, him surviving, 11 children or descendants of children as his heirs at law. The deceased, at the time of his death, owned the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of section 24, and the S. 1/2 of the N. E. 1/4 of the N. E. 1/4 of section 24, both in township 20 N., range 3 W., Logan county, containing 100 acres. The complainant Lucy F. Mayfield, as daughter and heir at law of the deceased, claims an undivided one-eleventh of the land; Rebecca T. Beidler, daughter and heir at law, claims an undivided one-eleventh; and the other complainant, Cora Belle Riggs, an heir at law of Emeline Warner, who was a daughter of the deceased, claims an undivided one-eleventh. All the other heirs of the deceased, prior to the filing of the bill, conveyed their respective interests in the land to the defendant Robert N. Forsyth, who was also a son of the deceased. There is therefore no controversy over eight-elevenths of the land, and it will not be necessary to make reference to that interest. The controversy is over theree-elevenths claimed by the complainants. The defendant interposed a demurrer to the bill, which the court sustained. Complainants then amended their bill, and a demurrer was filed to the amended bill, which the court sustained; and, complainants electing to abide by their bill, judgment was entered dismissing the bill.

The bill and amended bill are quite voluminous, but it will not be necessary to set out in detail the various allegations. The question, and the only one which it will be necessary to consider, is whether, under the allegations of the bill and amended bill, the facts therein stated are sufficient to entitle complainants to relief in a court of equity. And, first, it is claimed that the transaction established a resulting trust, and a court of equity will compel the defendant, as trustee, to convey or account for the land. A resulting trust does not arise by contract, but by implication of law from acts independent of an agreement. Sheldon v. Harding, 44 Ill. 68; Holmes v. Holmes, Id. 171. Where lands are purchased by one, and paid for by him, but the title is taken in the name of another, the lands will generally be held by the grantee in trust for the person who pays the consideration. Emmons v. Moore, 85 Ill. 304. Here it appears from the allegations of the bill that on the 6th day of June, 1864, Lucy F. Mayfield, Rebecca F. Beidler, and Emeline Warner, the mother of Cora Belle Riggs, the parties who then owned the three-elevenths of the land now in controversy, by deed of that date conveyed all their right, title, and interest in and to the land in dispute to the defendant Robert N. Forsyth. The deed was duly acknowledged before a notary public, as required by law, and recorded in the recorder's office of Logan county. It is alleged in the bill that, soon after the death of Forsyth, the defendant Robert N. Forsyth had caused to be prepared a quitclaim deed, and, for the purpose of defrauding them, called on complainant Lucy F. Mayfield, and said ‘that father's estate was terribly tangled up and involved, and, if it is settled up in the courts, it will be eaten up by the lawyers and costs, and the only way this misfortune and trouble can be averted and prevented is for the heirs to convey and assign to me their respective rights and interests in the estate, so I can settle up the estate without its having to be taken into the courts, and so save the costs and lawyer's fees which would be incurred if it goes into the courts; and so soon as I can do it, or make the money or arrangements to do so after settling up the estate, I will pay you. If you sign this writing, which is merely formal, it will be the best thing for all of us concerned.’ And, relying upon his acting in good faith and earnestly, she signed said written instrument, without reading it or its being read to her, or knowing what it contained, only as stated by him. It is further alleged that, after Lucy F. Mayfield had signed said instrument in writing, said Robert N. Forsyth took the same to orator Abram Mayfield, presented the same to him for his signature, whereupon orator Abram Mayfield asked of him why he wished such...