Opinion ID: 1123296
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: property held in trust.

Text: In view of the immediately preceding discussion, this seems to be the appropriate place to consider the argument of counsel for appellants that plaintiffs and respondents have not pleaded or proved either a resulting trust or a constructive trust. That is substantially a contention that Mrs. Dixon holds the property in question legally. As far as pleading is concerned, the plaintiffs sufficiently pleaded the ultimate facts giving rise to a trust. In view of what has already been heretofore stated, we need not indulge in too lengthy a dissertation on the subject of evidence in this connection. If a person does not hold the title to property rightly as against a person lawfully entitled thereto, then according to the terminology usually employed, he holds it (not considering an express trust) either under a resulting trust or a constructive trust. Situations may arise in which a trust may be called either a resulting or a constructive trust. 3 Scott on Trusts, page 2243. There is an element present in the trust involved in this case which is present in one type of resulting trusts, namely the type where a purchase has been made and the legal estate is transferred to one party, but the purchase price is paid by another party. See 65 C.J. 363, Section 139. Counsel for appellants say that while at first glance the situation here presents a case of a resulting trust, the distinguishing feature here is that Rosemary Dixon in this case gave up a valuable right by signing the mortgage deed and releasing her homestead rights therein, in return for which her name was placed upon the deed; in this case part of the consideration came from Rosemary Dixon. We have already shown that Mrs. Dixon gave up no valuable right and we need not consider that point any further. Counsel further cite us to Sections 441 (e), 442 and 458 (c) of the Restatement of Trusts, referring to the purchase in the name of a relative or a joint purchase, and holding substantially that in such case no resulting trust arises in the absence of a manifestation of an intention to the contrary, but that a gift is presumed. We have no fault to find with these holdings. But they do not apply in this case. They are based on the assumption, as clearly indicated in Section 458 (c), that the conveyance of the property in the manner indicated was made by the consent, permission or direction of the purchaser of the property. In the case at bar there was, at least in the judgment of the trial court, no such consent, permission or direction on the part of Alvy Dixon, the actual purchaser of the property involved herein. It is said that a resulting trust arises in favor of the person who transferred the property or caused it to be transferred under circumstances raising an inference that he intended to transfer to the other a bare legal title and not to give him the beneficial interest. 3 Scott on Trusts 2165, Section 404.2; 2 Restatement of the Law of Trusts 1244-1245, 1249, 1341; Millard vs. Green, 94 Conn. 597, 110 Atl. 177; 9 A.L.R. 1610, 1614. It implies the consent of the party furnishing the money to buy property that title be taken in the name of another. That consent is absent in the case at bar, and it would seem accordingly that the trust herein does not fall within the definition of a resulting trust as generally understood by the authorities. Thus it is said in 2 Restatement of the Law of Trusts supra, page 1341 that: where a person's money with his consent is used by another in purchasing property, but he does not consent that the title to the property shall be taken in the name of the other constitutes a constructive trust. So it would seem that in view of the predominant factors herein the trust herein is properly called a constructive trust. In 2 Restatement of the Law of Trusts, page 1249 it is stated: A constructive trust is imposed not because of the intention of the parties but because the person holding the title to property would profit by a wrong or would be unjustly enriched if he were permitted to keep the property. In 54 Am. Juris. Trusts, 167 Section 218 it is stated: A constructive trust, or, as it frequently is called, a trust ex maleficio, ex delicto, a trust de son tort, or an involuntary or implied trust is a trust by operation of law which arises contrary to intention and in invitum, against one who, by fraud, actual or constructive, by duress or abuse of confidence, by commission of wrong, or by any form of unconscionable conduct, artifice, concealment, or questionable means, or who in any way against equity and good conscience, either has obtained or holds the legal right to property which he ought not, in equity and good conscience, hold and enjoy. It is raised by equity to satisfy the demands of justice. And in Section 219, page 169 of the same work it is stated: A constructive trust is substantially an appropriate remedy against unjust enrichment. It is raised by equity in respect of property which has been acquired by fraud, or where, although acquired originally without fraud, it is against equity that it should be retained by the person holding it. Pomeroy, Equity, Jurisprudence, Volume 1, Section 155, page 210 states: Constructive trusts are raised by equity for the purpose of working out right and justice, where there was no intention of the party to create such a relation.    If one party obtains the legal title to property,    in any    unconscientious manner, so that he cannot equitably retain the property which really belongs to another, equity carries out its theory of a double ownership, equitable and legal, by impressing a constructive trust upon the property in favor of the one who is in good conscience entitled to it, and who is considered in equity as the beneficial owner   . In 3 Scott on Trusts 2317, Section 462.2, the author states: A constructive trust, as I have said, is imposed in order to prevent unjust enrichment. This unjust enrichment may arise out of the wrongful acquisition of the title to property   . A constructive trust may arise, however, even though the acquisition of the property was not wrongful. It arises where the retention of the property would result in the unjust enrichment of the person retaining it. So it is said that to establish such a trust it is not necessary to show intentional fraud. Tate vs. Emery, 139 Ore. 214, 9 P.2d 136. See also Teuscher vs. Gragg, 136 Okl. 129, 276 P. 753, 66 A.L.R. 143, Ryan vs. Plath, 18 Wash.2d 839, 140 P.2d 968. See Cook vs. Elmore, 27 Wyo. 163, 169, 192 P. 824. When, as in this case, the name of a wife as grantee is inserted in a deed wrongfully and unlawfully by the agent of the husband purchaser on insistence by the wife, without the consent and contrary to the intention of the husband who was the purchaser of the property and paid the purchase price, then we think it to be clear that the person whose name is so inserted holds the property as a constructive trustee. To hold otherwise would be to hold that Mrs. Dixon could profit by an unlawful and wrongful act and that she could legally be unjustly enriched. That plainly cannot be the law. In the case of Allen vs. Allen, 198 Ga. 269, 31 S.E.2d 483, 489 it is held that whenever the husband acquires the separate property of his wife, with or without her consent, he must be deemed to hold it in trust for her benefit, in the absence of any direct evidence that she intended to make a gift of it to him. The same rule must apply when a wife acquires the separate property of her husband, at least when she acquires it in the manner as is shown in the case at bar. Counsel for appellants, in a burst of eloquence or indignation, vehemently argue that there is no fraud in wanting one's name to be put in a deed; that Mrs. Dixon was not a deceiver but was deceived; that she acted honorably and within her rights. We should perhaps let that go without comment. However, we might say in passing that we agree with counsel that she had no intention to deceive or defraud; that she did not mean to act dishonorably. But the fact remains, as found by the trial court, that her name was inserted in the deed wrongfully and without the consent of Alvy Dixon. In fact, she knew that to be the fact or should have known it. That makes it unconscionable and unjust for her to have any part of the title under the deed in question, since she was unjustly enriched, unless we should be willing to hold  as we are not  that wives may deprive their husbands of property by unlawful means. Much can be overlooked when wives seek to protect themselves, but conduct of wives such as here involved cannot be overlooked even though no evil was intended. The statutes of this state protect them fairly well. It is possible that had Mrs. Dixon known the contents of the will of Alvy Dixon, she would not have insisted on her name being inserted in the deed in question, but that, of course, is conjecture.