53 S.C. 350 | S.C. | 1898
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
Plaintiffs bring this action for partition of land, an accounting for rents and profits, and to have certain of the defendants to account for advancements. Sarah E. Cain died intestate in June, 1883, seized of one of the tracts of land described in the complaint, leaving as her heirs at law, her husband, T. C. Cain, and the plaintiffs, Charlton and Sallie Cain, her children. T. C. Cain and the plaintiffs, who are still minors, lived on and received their support from the land until February, 1888, when T. C. Cain married the defendant, Hattie C. Cain. The family, including the plaintiffs, continued to reside on the place and to derive their support therefrom until the death of T. C. Cain, in 1896. Hattie C. Cain became ad-ministratrix of T. C. Cain. Four of the defendants are minor children of T. C. Cain by his second wife, Hattie. A few days before his death, T. C. Cain conveyed a tract of land said to be worth $1,600 to his wife, Hattie C. Cain, for life, and at her death to her said four children. Plaintiffs now seek an accounting by the administratrix of T. C. Cain for rents and profits of the tract inherited from Sarah E. Cain, from the death of Sarah E. Cain in 1883 to the death of T. C. Cain in 1896, and an accounting by the four children of Hattie C. Cain for the value of their estate in remainder in the tract conveyed to them by T. C. Cain just before his death.
7 In reference to the fact that the life tenant furnished $600 of the money with which T. C. Cain originally purchased the land under an agreement that T. C. Cain would convey the land to her and her children, we would say that this ought not to control in determining whether there was any advancement at all. The consideration expressed in the deed to Hattie C. Cain and children, was $1,600, no part of which was paid by the grantees, except as the $600 originally furnished by Hattie C. Cain may be regarded as entering into that consideration. The remaining $1,000 of the original purchase money was paid by T. C. Cain; and if there was an understanding, as Mrs. Cain testi.fies, that the land was to be conveyed to her and the children in the manner it was done, then T. C. Cain intended to make provision for the children in the land when he bought it, and this intention he carried out in the deed executed a few days before his death. Having died intestate, if he had not conveyed this land as he did, it would have been distributable among all his heirs at law, subject at most to a resulting trust in favor of Hattie C. Cain, to the extent of the purchase money furnished by her. The testimony shows that the original purchase price of the land was $1,600, and that the land was worth that sum. If, therefore,
The judgment of the Circuit Court is modified so as to recommit the case to the referee to take the accounting and determine the question as to advancements, in accordance with the principles herein announced.