133 Ga. 383 | Ga. | 1909
Wiley Vickers filed an equitable petition against his wife, Nancy Vickers, alleging; that she held the legal title to three parcels of land under such circumstances as to make her a trustee for him, and that she was violating the trust; and seeking to have the trust declared and the title decreed to be in him.' A general demurrer was sustained, and the plaintiff excepted. The plaintiff alleged, that in 1888 he conveyed to his wife a parcel of land
It is not contended that an express trust was created, but it is claimed that the legal title was placed in the wife under such circumstances as to raise an implied trust in favor of the husband as provided by the Civil Code, §3159. Where for any reason the legal title to property is in one person under such circumstances as to make it inequitable for him to have the beneficial interest, equity will imply a trust in favor of the person entitled to the beneficial interest. But an absolute gift will not be cut down by implication into a trust merely because the donor hoped and believed at the time the gift was made that the donee would share the beneficial interest of the property with him or with a third person. It must appear from the entire transaction that there is an obligation on the part of the holder of the legal title to hold it for the benefit of some one else. If a husband buys and pays for land and takes a deed in his wife’s name, a presumption arises that he intends to make an absolute gift to her, and in order to overcome this presumption he must show something which raises an obligation in her to hold the property in trust for him. Civil Code, §3160; Stokes v. Clark, 131 Ga. 583 (62 S. E. 1028); Kimbrough v. Kimbrough, 99 Ga. 134 (25 S. E. 176); Jackson v. Williams, 129 Ga. 716 (59 S. E. 776). No such obligation appears from the allegations of the plaintiff’s petition. On the contrary it is apparent that at the time the legal title was placed in the wife, he intended to make an absolute gift of the property to her, believing and hoping that their domestic life would continue peaceful, and that therefore she would allow
Judgment affirmed.