88 Mo. App. 102 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1901
The contract for support upon which this suit is based, obligates the.two sons, in consideration of the grant from their parents, to support and comfort their parents during their future lives by rendering them shelter, clothing, food and ■dutiful behavior. It is also stipulated that failure to render these
The contract in question did not impose on Charles Jaeobsmeyer, Sr., the duty of changing his residence in order to realize its benefits. It was the plain duty of the two sons to contribute fully to his support and comfort, whether he lived with the one or the other. At the time of this trial, Charles Jacobsmeyer, Sr., was eighty-seven years of age. He had lost one of his arms since the grant of his estate to his children. The record shows he was comfortably and tenderly cared for by the one with whom he continued to reside. It also shows that the other had no home to which the father could have been taken until 1892, and, even thereafter, that it afforded scant accommodation, since Eritz Jacobsmeyer married in 1893 and his-house then consisted of only two rooms and an up-stairs or loft.
It follows that Charles Jacobsmeyer, Jr., was entitled to contribution from his brother, Eritz Jacobsmeyer, as co-tenant of the land conveyed to them by their parents, for the expenditures solely made by him in discharging the- lien created upon said estate by their joint act and in furnishing the consideration for which it was conveyed. It was admitted that twelve dollars per month was a reasonable charge for the support and sustenance of his father while at the home of Charles Jacobsmeyer, Jr. Pie was, therefore, entitled to a decree for one-half of the sum which would be due at this rate for the number of months for which he performed the contracted duties of the two towards their father.
II. The only remaining question is the correctness of the decree of the court in subordinating this right of contribution to a lien upon the land in the hands of defendant Brehe, to the claim of the latter as grantee of Massmann for a priority to the extent of a payment made by Massmann in satisfaction of a note and deed of trust given by Eritz Jacobsmeyer upon the tract allotted to him. Both the deed of the parents to their sons, and the counter-contract by the latter creating a lien on the land conveyed to them to secure its consideration, were duly recorded. The circumstances indubitably point to the conclusion thaf the sons assumed the payment of the mortgage based upon the tract of land conveyed to them by their father. After a division of the land between themselves, they gave their separate notes for one-half of the amount of the previous mortgage then due, securing these notes by separate deeds of trust on the
The decree of the learned trial judge in this cause, not being in conformity to the foregoing views, it is hereby reversed and the cause remanded with directions to enter a decree in accordance with this opinion.