Phillips v. Kleinman
Phillips v. Kleinman
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
On March 29, 1906, Edward C. Kleinman conveyed to his wife, Emma Kleinman, three and one-half acres of land situated on Neville Island, Allegheny county. Two years and nine months afterwards he filed his petition in the United States court to be adjudged a voluntary bankrupt, and, in the following July, his trustee in bankruptcy filed a bill in the court below to set aside his conveyance to his wife, on the ground that it'was made for the purpose of hindering, delaying and defrauding creditors, and was, therefore, void under the statute of 13 Elizabeth. The main defense of the wife was that the beneficial interest in the land conveyed to her had never been in her husband, but was in her by way of a resulting trust. She and her husband have appealed from the decree that there had not been a resulting trust for her and that the conveyance was in fraud of his creditors.
Certain facts were found by the learned chancellor below which go to support the wife’s claim that the husband •had held title as trustee for her, and we shall first notice them. Edward C. Kleinman was married on September 6, 1881, to Emma Pluchel, a daughter of John Pluchel, who at that time resided in the state of Ohio. In the fall
It is clear to us that the court below should have found that the husband held the deed in trust for his wife. It did not find that there had been no agreement that the title was in her, or that the beneficial interest in the land was hers at the inception of the title. The finding is merely that there was no such definite agreement. In the face of the testimony, the finding ought to have been that there was such a definite agreement, and we now so find. The wife paid with her own moneys, obtained from her father and her father’s estate, the entire amount of the purchase money. Her father first paid $2,000 directly for her, and subsequently she handed over to her husband the $2,000 which she received from her father’s estate, saying to him at the time she did so, “Here is the balance of the $4,000.” In answer to the contention that, as the testimony of the husband and wife was uncontradicted, it ought to be taken as true, the first reason given by the court below for not agreeing to this was that, while it was not contradicted by any witnesses, it was contradicted by the facts in the case, because it was in conflict with the deed and bonds and mortgages which were executed and delivered at the time the purchase was consummated. It is well contended by the learned counsel for .appellants that there never was a resulting trust about which almost as much might not be said. Such a trust arises only when the grantee named in the deed is not the real owner of the property. Other findings of fact — with which we need not burden this opinion — were regarded by the court below as at variance with the claim that the husband had held the land in trust for his wife. What he did with
The decree of the court below is reversed and the bill dismissed with costs.
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- Trusts and trustees — Resulting trust — Husband and wife — Title in husband — Agreement to reconvey — Fraud—Evidence—Equity. On a bill in equity by the trustee of a bankrupt husband against the wife of the bankrupt to set aside a deed of conveyance alleged to have been in fraud of the husband’s creditors, the court is bound to find that the husband held the title as trustee for his wife and had properly executed the trust by the conveyance to her, where it appears that the land in question was purchased for $4,000 from the parents of the husband; that $2,000 thereof was paid by the wife’s father, who took a mortgage for that amount and the balance secured by a mortgage to the husband’s mother; that the title was taken in the husband’s name temporarily with an agreement by him to convey it to his wife; that subsequently the wife's father voluntarily satisfied his mortgage for $2,000 and upon his death left his daughter $2,000 which the latter gave to her husband, stating that-it was the balance of the $4,000 purchase money and that prior to this the husband had paid off the' mortgage to his mother. In such a case it is immaterial that the husband was insolvent when he executed the trust by the conveyance to his wife.