Scheer v. Scheer

• Decision Date: 07 March 1899
• Citation: 50 S.W. 111,148 Mo. 447
• Parties: SCHEER et al. v. SCHEER et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

50 S.W. 111

148 Mo. 447

SCHEER et al. v. SCHEER et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

March 7, 1899.

DEEDS — REFORMATION.

Land inherited by a wife was subject to an incumbrance which, on the request of her husband, his father paid. His son and wife had voluntarily joined in a warranty deed to the father, and he conveyed the same in trust for the benefit of the son and wife for life, remainder to their children. Held, that the deed from the son and wife would not be reformed to make it a mortgage to secure the advances by the father.

Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; Daniel Dillon, Judge.

Action by Annie and Phillip Henry Scheer against Jacob Scheer and others. There was a judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appealed to the St. Louis court of appeals (67 Mo. App. 371), which certified the case to the supreme court. Affirmed.

J. R. Meyers, for appellants. Chas. F. Krone and Lubke & Muench, for appellee Jacob Scheer. J. M. Holmes, for appellee guardian ad litem.

BURGESS, J.

Plaintiffs are husband and wife. The wife inherited from her mother the land described in the petition, subject to an incumbrance of $666.25. This was paid off by the defendant Jacob Scheer, the father of Phillip, at the latter's request, whereupon plaintiffs executed to him a warranty deed to the land, and he, in turn, conveyed the land to a trustee, for the benefit of plaintiffs for life, with remainder in fee to their children. The suit is for a divestiture of title under the latter deed, and a reformation of the warranty deed to the defendant Jacob Scheer, and to make it a conveyance in trust to secure the amount advanced by him at the request of Phillip to pay off the incumbrance on the land at the time Annie Scheer inherited it. There was judgment for defendants in the court below, and plaintiffs, having unsuccessfully moved for a new trial, took the case by appeal to the St. Louis court of appeals, and that court certified the case to the supreme court, upon the ground that the title to real estate is involved. Overton v. Overton, 131 Mo. 559, 33 S. W. 1.

It is impossible to read the record in this case without becoming firmly convinced that there is no merit in this case. Plaintiffs knew well, when they made the deed to the defendant Jacob Scheer, its object and purpose, which was for him to convey it to Adam Fuhrmann, as trustee, for their benefit during their lives, and for division upon the death of the survivor between their children. Jacob...