Court Opinion

ID: 9612006
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:02:35.711039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:28:46.615920
License: Public Domain

MILLER, Senior Judge,
dissenting:
It seems to me the question before us upon review of the chancellor’s order of reconveyance is not what may be done but what should be done. When we review the act of a chancellor, we stand in his shoes, and review the record for ourselves, de novo. Stephenson v. Burton, 246 S.W.2d 999, 1000 (Ky.1951). It is true, however, that as to findings of fact we give deference under Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure (CR) 52.01, and such will not be disturbed unless clearly erroneous. Price v. Pike, 458 S.W.2d 440, 442 (Ky.1970).
The record is clear that Jackie retained no hen on the property. As such, the chancellor’s findings of fact on that issue are to be given deference. Jackie initially sought payment of the balance due; then sought the equitable relief of reconveyance. Without a lien and no adequate remedy at law, I am of the opinion that the chancellor acted correctly in ordering the equitable remedy of reconveyance. The chancellor was only remiss in not recognizing Barbara’s equity in the property, if any she has. I would remand, therefore, only for consideration of her equity.
This is a family matter which can best be adjudicated by the wisdom of the chancellor in assigning the respective equities in the property. The sale and transfer of the property was a less than arm’s-length transaction, with little or no negotiation as to the terms and conditions of the transfer. It was a family matter designed to extricate a sibling from an unhappy situation. Jackie required no down payment, and because of rental income from the trailers the transaction was essentially self-liquidating.
It is undisputed that Jackie’s sister, Mabel, called him at three o’clock one morning asking “are you going to let me have these trailers so I won’t have to die down here in this hole in Florida ... you know you ain’t going to let me die down here in this hole.” Touched by her emotional distress, Jackie returned her call within an hour and advised her that she could have the trailer-park for $55,000.00, “in order to get her out of Florida.” Jackie asked Mabel how much she could pay, and he accepted her offer of $500.00 by the fifth of every month, which amount was paid by Mabel and her husband Andy for more than three years.
This is a sad and unfortunate end to the natural devotion of an uncle to his sister and her family. In a time of need he came to their aid, conveying his small trailer-park to them, thus providing them with a meager income and a home. Following the unfortunate circumstances of two deaths and a bankruptcy, Jackie was *66forced to seek the equitable relief of a reconveyance of the property. In defense, Jackie’s niece Barbara (the sole survivor of the original transaction) claimed entitlement to the property with no obligation to complete payment by reason of her bankruptcy. Neither party sought the ill-afforded expense of a judicial sale of the trailer-park which would only result in a casting of the property outside the Bolen family.
There is little doubt in my mind that the parties entered into this vague and unartful transaction without aid of counsel in an effort to save money. Had they employed counsel, the transaction would doubtless have been handled in one of two ways. First, the purchasers would have executed a series of promissory notes. Jackie would have retained a purchase money lien in the deed of conveyance to secure payment of same. Or, a second method would have been for a sale on an “installment land sales contract” with Jackie retaining legal title pending payment of the installments. In either case, the purchaser would have acquired an equity in accordance with payments made.
Under such circumstances, the legal remedy for Barbara’s default would have been a breach of contract action by Jackie and potentially the forced sale as concluded by the majority opinion that would result in both parties getting credit for their respective interests. The parties’ actions in this transaction did not follow either of the above alternative legal routes. With no legal remedy such as that above, it is a classic case for equity to intervene.
In concluding that an adequate legal remedy exists, foreclosing an equitable remedy, the majority opinion leaves no option to Jackie and Barbara but a judicial sale of the property, something neither has sought.
It will serve no useful purpose to either of these parties to sell the property and divide the equities, where no lien existed and the parties did not seek enforcement of the default through judicial sale. The equities should be determined without sale. It seems to me sale should be avoided if at all possible.