190 S.W.2d 250 | Mo. | 1945
Lead Opinion
This case has been transferred to this court by the Kansas City Court of Appeals (187 S.W.2d 346), that court deeming its decision in conflict with that of the Springfield Court of Appeals in the case of Underwood v. Fortune, Mo. App., 9 S.W.2d 845.
A fire insurance policy was issued to Mary H. Crowley insuring a dwelling on her land. Insured died during the term of the policy, having devised a life estate to her husband, respondent; remainder to appellants, her nieces and nephews. After insured's death, the insurer at respondent's request attached a "rider" to the policy recognizing that the insurable interest of Mary H. Crowley "ceases, and the title of the property insured . . . is now vested in the name of J.O. Crowley (respondent) and the insurance subject to all conditions of the said policy to continue in force . . ." During Mary H. Crowley's lifetime, assessments were paid by respondent from a "common fund" derived from income on lands owned by Mary H. Crowley and other lands owned by respondent which were *651 operated as one enterprise. After the death of Mary H. Crowley, the assessments were paid by respondent.
Plaintiff insurance company filed and sustained its bill of interpleader and the trial court, examining the claims of the adversary claimants, respondent and appellants, found and adjudged respondent to be entitled to receive the entire proceeds of the policy.
Should respondent (a life tenant) be entitled to receive and use as his own the entire proceeds of the policy?
If a building has been insured prior to the creation of a life tenancy and is afterwards destroyed, the property is in effect converted into personalty and the life tenant is entitled only to a life estate in the proceeds of the insurance contract. Millard v. Beaumont,
It is the general rule that, in the "absence of any stipulation therefor in the instrument creating the life estate, or of any agreement by the life tenant to do so, he is not bound to keep the premises insured for the remainderman's benefit. Each can insure his own interest, but failing such stipulation or agreement, neither has any claim to the proceeds of the other's policy. Consequently, where no such agreement is shown, insurance procured on the property by the life tenant will be treated as a contract for his indemnity and he will be entitled to the proceeds to the exclusion of the remainderman." Vol. I, Tiffany, Law of Real Property, sec. 65, p. 96. And the rule has been stated in somewhat different scope, ". . . where a legal life tenant insures the property in his own name and for his own benefit and pays the premiums from his own funds, he is, at least in the absence of a fiduciary relationship between him and the remainderman existing apart from the nature and incidents of the tenancy itself, or of an agreement between him and the remainderman as to which of them shall procure and maintain insurance, entitled to the proceeds of the insurance upon a loss; and the fact that the insurance was for the whole value of the fee is not generally regarded as affecting the right of the life tenant to the whole amount of the proceeds." 33 Am. Jur., Life Estates, Remainders, and Reversions, sec. 332. p. 838; *652
Underwood v. Fortune, supra; Harrison v. Pepper,
A life tenant could not protect and preserve the corpus of the estate for the remainderman by insuring the property for the remainderman's benefit. Such an insurance contract would but indemnify the remainderman for his personal loss sustained by the destruction of the property. Now, broadly speaking, if the (respondent) life tenant had a contractual or legal duty, or a duty imposed by the instrument creating the life estate, to keep the property insured, then we would be confronted with the question whether the proceeds of the insurance contract which the life tenant had procured should, in equity and good conscience, also inure to the benefit of the remaindermen. But as we have seen, it is the general rule that a life tenant, absent an agreement or a provision in the instrument creating the life estate so to do, has no duty to keep the premises insured for the remainderman's benefit.
The insurance policy is a personal contract; both the life tenant and the remainderman have insurable interests in the property; if the life tenant procures the insurance for his personal indemnity, the remainderman, who did not procure the insurance, has no cause for complaint, even if the proceeds of the life tenant's insurance contract exceeds the sum which would indemnify him for his personal loss; the proceeds are of the insurance contract, not of the property, and *654 do not stand in the place of the property destroyed. See cases cited supra in support of the general rule, which we follow. For a more complete citation and analysis of the cases which undertake the solution of problems similar to that of the case at bar, see Annotation, 126 A.L.R., p. 336 et seq.
In the case at bar, the will of Mary H. Crowley did not provide that respondent, the life tenant, should insure the property for the benefit of appellants, the remaindermen; no agreement by respondent to insure the property for appellants' benefit was shown in evidence; respondent did not stand in any fiduciary relationship to the remaindermen other than the quasi trustee relationship of a life tenant; the respondent procured the contract of insurance in his own name as insured, and paid the assessments thereafter payable; and appellants were in no way parties to the contract of insurance.
The judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.
It is so ordered. Bradley and Dalton, CC., concur.
Addendum
The foregoing opinion by VAN OSDOL, C., is adopted as the opinion of the court. All the judges concur.
