103 Va. 73 | Va. | 1904
delivered the opinion of the court.
The bill in this case was filed by Charles G. Trumbo and Hattie L. May, who aver that in October, 1875, John Paul, assignee in bankruptcy of George W. Fulk, a bankrupt, pursuant to an order of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, entered at its place of session at Harrisonburg, Virginia, sold to the bankrupt, George W. Fulk, certain real estate, which constituted a part of his assets; and, thereafter, the purchase money having been fully paid to the assignee, the bankrupt court ordered that a deed be executed and delivered by the assignee, conveying to George W. Fulk the real estate purchased and paid for by him; that some time thereafter Fulk filed with the assignee his written request that the deed, so ordered to be executed, be made to Eve Fulk, his wife, and on the 8th of December, 1881, the United States District Court, by its further order, reciting the fact of its former order for the execution of a deed to George W. Fulk, and of his written request aforesaid, directed that the assignee make a deed, in accordance with said request, to Eve Fulk; and the assignee having prepared a deed to Eve Fulk, the same
These being the facts averred, the plaintiffs claim that under a proper construction of the deed to Eve Fulk, she took a fee simple estate, and that if such be not the true construction of
To this bill a demurrer was filed, which the court sustained, and from that decree an appeal was allowed.
We cannot concur in appellants’ interpretation of the deed. In language too plain to admit of construction, the conveyance is made to Eve Eulk, for her lifetime, and at her death to go to the children of the marriage of Eve Eulk and George W. Eulk. W e know of no case which holds, and of no rule of interpretation which justifies us in holding, that this language clothed Eve Eulk with a fee simple title. So to decide would be in the teeth both of the spirit and the letter of the instrument.
Eor can we concur in the contention of appellants, that because Eve Eulk, out of her separate estate, paid the purchase money for this land, and George W. Eulk requested that a deed be made to her in fee simple for the same, under the circumstances disclosed in this record, it created a resulting trust in her, by virtue of which, she being dead, the real estate so purchased passes to her heirs general, instead of'to the issue of her marriage with George W. Eulk, as declared in the deed.
It is true that, as a rule, where property is purchased and the conveyance of legal title is taken in the name of one person, while the purchase price is paid by another, a trust at once results in favor of' the party who paid the price, and the holder of the legal title becomes a trustee for him. Pomeroy’s Eq. (2 Ed.), sec. 1037. Bui the same author says that in every species
“Wherever the real purchaser — the one who pays the price— is under a legal, or even in some cases a moral, obligation to maintain the person in whose name the purchase is made, equity raises the presumption that the purchase is intended as an advancement or gift to such recipient, and no trust results. If, therefore, a purchase of either real or personal property is made by a husband in the name of his lawful wife, or in the joint names of himself and his wife, or such a purchase is made by a father in the name of his legitimate child, or in the joint names of himself and child, no trust results in favor of the husband or father, but the transaction'is presumed to be a gift or advancement to or for the benefit of the wife or child. It appears to be now settled that the same rule applies to a mother who purchases property in the name of her child, or in the joint names of herself and child, and pays the price with her own separate funds; no trust results.” 2 Pomeroy’s Eq. (2 Ed.), sec. 1039.
How the case before us upon this point is as follows: George W. Eulk, a bankrupt, purchased at the sale made by his assignee, a part of the real estate which had theretofore belonged to him. His wife, out of her separate funds, paid the purchase price, and he gave a written request, to use the language of the Judge of the District Oourt, “asking that the deed be made to the said Eve Eulk,” or, in the language of the deed itself, “George W. Eulk having filed with said assignee a paper asking the deed to be made to Eve Fulk,” in compliance with that request the deed filed in the record was duly executed, conveying the property to Eve Fulk, for her life, and at her death the same to go to the children born of the marriage of the said Eve
It will be observed that the court directs the deed to be delivered to Eve Fulk for recordation. It was delivered and' recorded. She survived that event about two years, and died as the bill avers in 1888.
Upon the facts set out in the bill, there was no resulting trust. The consideration, it is true, was paid by Eve Bulk, but the fact that the deed was made to her for life, with remainder to her children by her husband then living, in the absence of any other controlling fact or circumstance, is sufficient to repel any presumption of an intention upon her part that a trust should result in favor of herself or of her heirs general.
And again, the title to that land was, by law, vested in the assignee in bankruptcy. Every step which the assignee took with respect to that title was taken by direction of the District Court of the United States, and was reported to and confirmed by the court. By order of that court, the property was sold, by its order the deed was made, and by its decree of December, 1881, every act which we are now called upon to review was expressly and finally adjudicated. Eve Bulk, the purchaser, became, as numerous authorities hold, a quasi party to that proceeding; and it appears from the decree that the deed was seen and inspected by the court, that no exception to it was taken, with respect to either form or substance, and it was, therefore, “in every respect approved and confirmed, and leave
There is no error in the decree and it is affirmed.'
Affirmed.