Speakman v. Speakman
Speakman v. Speakman
Opinion of the Court
Bill in chancery. The complainants were the children of Stephen S. Speakman and Mary, his first wife, both of whom are deceased. Sarah Speakman, his second wife, and their children, being the issue of the second marriage, are the defendants.
The cause was submitted on the bill, answers, exhibits and depositions. The Court, upon final hearing, dismissed the bill.
The facts are believed to be as follows:
Stephen S. Speakman owned the undivided three-fourths, and Mary, his first wife, the undivided one-fourth of a tract of land in Dearborn county. They sold and conveyed it to one Thomas Folbre. At the time of the conveyance,
The present bill prays that one equal undivided one-fourth of said land be set apart to the complainants as heirs, &c., of said Mary, or that it be sold for the payment of the purchase-money, or such portion thereof as may be coming to them.
Stephen S. Speakman died seized of the premises. Then, the inquiry arises: What are the respective rights of the parties? Are the plaintiffs entitled in equity to one-fourth of the land in right of their mother, or does the whole tract descend equally to all his children? The effect of the conveyance to Folbre, and of his contract to re-convey must govern the solution of this question. By the deed from Speakman and wife, the whole legal and equitable title to the land described in it, vested in the grantee. Talbott v. Dennis, 1 Ind. R. 471. It must be conceded that the notes and mortgage were Speakman’s
The plaintiffs insist there is but one question in the case. It is this: If tenants in common convey land belonging to them, and the grantee, at the time of the conveyance, stipulates in writing, that if the purchase-money be not paid by a day named, the contract shall be can-celled, and that he will re-convey the land to one of the tenants in common, and the contract is accordingly can-celled and the land re-conveyed to such tenant, whether such conveyance does not inure to the benefit of both? The position assumed in this inquiry does not, in our opinion, apply to the case before us. The contract of sale to Folbre never was cancelled. And whether such conveyance would so inure might depend on the terms of the stipulation as understood and assented to by the parties. In this case, Mary Speakman was a party to the sale and conveyance of the land. Therefore, it must be presumed that she knew of, and assented to, the contract of re-conveyance. There is nothing in the record tending to rebut this presumption. Then she intended just what the whole contract imports, viz.: if Folbre failed to make the first payment, Speakman was to have the land
But, it seems to us, the law arising upon the facts presented by the record, is fully stated in Talbott v. Dennis, supra. That case is in point. And upon its authority the decree of the Circuit Court must be affirmed.
The decree is affirmed with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Speakman and Others v. Speakman and Others
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- 1 case
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- Published