Shipley v. Shipley
Shipley v. Shipley
Opinion of the Court
Appellee began this suit in the court below against appellant, demanding a divorce.
The questions here presented for decision and not waived are predicated on the ruling of the court in sustaining appellee’s motion to strike out a part of appellant’s second paragraph, and in sustaining appellee’s demurrer to the third paragraph of his cross-complaint. Appellant’s second paragraph avers their marriage in 1873; that they lived together as husband and wife in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, with certain exceptions, until the latter part of January, 1902, and, after averring grounds for a divorce, alleges in substance the following, which on motion was stricken out: That at the time of the marriage appellee was the owner of three and one-fourth acres of land in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, of the probable value of $30 per acre; that after said marriage appellant purchased from time to time tracts of real estate adjacent to that of appellee, aggregating fifty-three acres, and has by his individual means fully paid for the same; that the title to all of said real estate so purchased was, at appellee’s request and upon her promise to hold the same as trustee, conveyed to her, with and upon the express understanding, contract and agreement made and entered into by and between appellant and appellee at the time the conveyances and each of them were procured and so made, that she would take and hold the title to the same in trust as trustee for appellant until the same was fully paid for, and upon payment by him- of the full purchase price she would convey to appellant, by proper and sufficient deed or deeds of conveyance, all said real estate so purchased, and vest in him the absolute title thereto; that also, as a part of said contract and agreement, appellant,'from the time of such purchases, was to have the full possession, use and control thereof; that said agreement was entered into without any fraudulent intent on the part of either, and at the time of' such agreement appellant was not indebted'to any person in any amount in excess of the
The third paragraph avers practically the same facts as are averred in the second, relative to the marriage, the purchase of and paying for the property, manner in which the title was held, demand and refusal to convey, etc.
From the facts appearing in the case at bar, we are not advised as to the time when the agreements and conveyances set out in the cross-complaint were. made. If prior to the legislative enactment in force September 19, 1881 (Acts 1881, p. 521), then clearly the cases of Montgomery v. Craig (1891), 128 Ind. 48, and Murray v. Murray (1899), 153 Ind. 14, would control the decision of this case.
It has been judicially declared that a married woman may, in writing, become trustee for her husband and be compelled to execute her trust (Moore v. Cottingham [1883], 90 Ind. 239); but by the cases of Montgomery v. Craig, supra, and Murray v. Murray, supra, it is held that as between husband and wife there can be no resulting or implied trust. The two cases last cited‘were considered and decided long after the legislature had abolished all disabilities of married women to contract except' in two classes of cases, neither of which includes the case at bar. One of these cases exhibits a contract made prior to said legislative enactment, while the opinion in the latter does not disclose the date of the contract then under consideration. Applying the law as announced in the latter two. opinions to the facts in this ease, together with the elementary principle that all presumptions must be indulged in favor of the proceedings and judgment of the trial court, our conclusion must be with the appellee.
The question of the rights of the parties upon the facts as disclosed by this record, limited to our present statutory provision relative to the ability of married women to contract, is not before us, and on this question we therefore express no opinion.
If we are correct in our theory of this case, there is no error in the record.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.