Thomas v. Thomas

• Decision Date: 22 December 1891
• Citation: 18 S.W. 27,107 Mo. 459
• Parties: THOMAS et al. v. THOMAS.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

18 S.W. 27

107 Mo. 459

THOMAS et al. v. THOMAS.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 22, 1891.

GIFTS BY HUSBAND TO WIFE — VALIDITY AS AGAINST HEIRS OF HUSBAND — DECLARATIONS BY GRANTOR.

1. The grantee in a deed of land, by direction of the grantor, gave his promissory note for the consideration to the wife of the grantor, and took from the grantor an agreement by which he retained the right to reconvey and have his note returned. After the grantor's death, the grantee, upon the surrender of his note by the wife, conveyed the land to her. Held, that there was a valid gift by the grantor to his wife; that the agreement for reconveyance did not make the gift depend upon a future contingency; and that, in the absence of the agreement or specific proof of its contents, it would be assumed that it directed the conveyance to the wife, and that the husband retained no rights in the note or contract.

2. A statement by a grantor that he conveyed property to prevent its application to the payment of a note does not, as to his heirs, tend to invalidate the conveyance.

Appeal from circuit court, Howell county; J. F. HALE, Judge.

Action by Sarah Thomas, Jane Henry, Lita C. Hoover, and others against Sarah L. Thomas to set aside a deed of conveyance. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

A. H. Livingston, for appellants. M. B. Clarke, for respondent.

MACFARLANE, J.

This is a suit in equity to set aside and annul certain deeds vesting in defendant the title to an undivided one-third of lot 1, in block 2, in the city of West Plains. One of these deeds was made by Julien H. Thomas, husband of defendant, to F. L. Winkler, dated the 2d day of December, 1886, and the other by said Winkler to defendant, dated February 11, 1887. The grounds upon which plaintiffs seek the relief are substantially, as stated in the petition, as follows: Plaintiffs are the mother and brothers and sisters of Julien F. Thomas, who is deceased, and defendant is his widow. That the said Julien F. Thomas died January 17, 1887, without children. That the deed made by deceased to Winkler, dated December 2, 1886, was without consideration, and was made at a time when deceased was in extreme ill health, and with the express agreement that in case he should recover his health said real estate should be reconveyed to him; and if he did not recover his health then it should be conveyed to plaintiffs, his heirs at law. That after the death of said Thomas, on the 3d day of October, 1887, the said Winkler, in disregard of said agreement, conveyed said real estate to defendant without any consideration whatever. That said deeds are therefore in fraud of the rights of plaintiffs, as heirs of the said deceased. The answer was a general denial and a special defense, as follows: "Defendant, for further answer, states that on the 2d day of December, 1886, Julien R. Thomas, husband of this defendant, executed and delivered to F. L. Winkler a general warranty deed to the premises described in plaintiffs' petition, in consideration of which said Winkler executed and delivered to this defendant, at the request of her husband, his certain note for the sum of two [three] thousand dollars, and that it was the request and understanding of said J. R. Thomas that said Winkler should either pay defendant said note, or, at the death of said J. R. Thomas, convey the said premises to this defendant. That the same was a gift of said J. R. Thomas to his wife, the defendant, for no other consideration than love and affection. That on the 11th day of February, 1887, and after the death of said J. R. Thomas, said F. L. Winkler made, executed, and delivered to this defendant a deed to said premises, and in consideration thereof this defendant delivered to said Winkler said note for $3,000, which was in her name and her absolute property, as a gift from her said husband."

The evidence was without conflict, and establishes the following facts: F. L. Winkler and J. R. Thomas were intimate friends, the former being the family physician of the latter. Thomas died January 17, 1887. On December 3, 1886, Thomas made to Winkler the deed in question, for which Winkler gave his note, payable to defendant, the wife of Thomas. One reason...