Temple v. Ferguson

• Decision Date: 24 January 1903
• Citation: 72 S.W. 455
• Parties: TEMPLE et al. v. FERGUSON et al.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 455

72 S.W. 455

TEMPLE et al. v. FERGUSON et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

January 24, 1903.

Appeal from chancery court, Davidson county; H. H. Cook, Chancellor.

Suit by C. L. Temple and others against W. H. Ferguson and others. From a decree of the court of chancery appeals affirming a decree dismissing the appeal, complainants appeal. Affirmed.

Jas. L. Watts, for appellants. Smith & Maddin, for appellees.

McALISTER, J.

The controversy in this case is over a tract of land comprising 12 acres, situated in the Nineteenth civil district of Davidson county. It is claimed by complainants as heirs at law of Mrs. Anne Tennessee Temple, and by defendant as devisee under the will of Mrs. Temple. The settlement of the controversy depends upon the proper construction of a certain deed of settlement. It appears from the record that on the 26th of October, 1861, J. E. Gleaves, clerk and master of the chancery court of Davidson county, conveyed to John Taylor, trustee for Mrs. Anne Tennessee Temple, wife of C. L. Temple, the tract of land in question. The conveyance was made upon the direction of C. L. Temple, the husband. It conveyed "to the said John Taylor, as such trustee of Anne Tennessee Temple, and his heirs and assigns, forever, a certain tract or parcel of land in the county of Davidson and state of Tennessee, and on the south side of Neeley's Bend Turnpike, civil district No. 19, bounded as follows: * * *. To have and to hold the said real estate, with all the hereditaments and appurtenances thereto belonging, to the said John Taylor, his heirs and assigns, forever, as trustee, however, of Anne Tennessee Temple, and for her sole and separate use and benefit." John Taylor, the trustee, died many years ago, and no successor to him was appointed. C. L. Temple, the husband, also died, leaving his wife, the said Mrs. Anne T., surviving him. Mrs. Temple died in 1902, leaving a last will and testament, in which she devised the land in question to her granddaughter, Mrs. Bettie L. Ferguson. The present bill was filed by the four sons of C. L. and Anne Tennessee Temple, claiming the land by inheritance, and seeking to remove the devise made to Bettie L. Ferguson as a cloud on their title. The theory of the bill is that Mrs. Anne T. Temple was not vested with such title as she could convey by will or otherwise. Complainants allege that upon the death of John Taylor, trustee, the legal title to the land descended to his heirs, and the bill prays that the title be devested out of them, and that the land be sold for partition among the complainants as heirs of Mrs. Temple. A demurrer was interposed on behalf of defendant Bettie L. Ferguson, which was sustained by the chancellor, and the bill dismissed. The court of chancery appeals affirmed the decree of the chancellor.

The first question for determination is whether the conveyance to John Taylor, trustee, created an active or a mere naked, dry trust. The law is now well settled in this state that when the trust is created, and the property conveyed to a trustee to hold for the separate use and benefit of a married woman, an active trust is thereby created. As stated by Justice Lurton in Jourolmon v. Massengill, 86 Tenn. 81, 5 S. W. 719: "Trusts for the protection of the estates of married women during coverture against their husbands and his creditors, and the wife and her extravagance, as well as her contracts, are made every day. Such trusts are sustained upon the ground that they are intended to protect the estate during coverture, and are hence held special and active. Such a trust is not within the purview of the statute of uses, and is not executed by the statute."

The next question that arises is, what effect did the death of C. L. Temple, the husband, have upon the trust estate? The record discloses that the husband,...