Lyttle v. Fickling

SHINN, J.

This appeal is prosecuted by defendants from a judgment which declares that defendant Ava K. Pickling, as administratrix of the estate of Lulu E. Parmer, also known as Lulu E. Lyttle, deceased, holds in trust for plaintiff an undivided one-half interest in a small ranch property situated in the town of El Monte, in Los Angeles County, and directs said defendant to convey said interest to plaintiff; it also awards plaintiff $922.41 as half of the net proceeds from the property from the inception of the trust. In the caption of the complaint Ava K. Pickling is designated as administratrix of the estate of Lulu E. Lyttle, deceased. She is also named as a defendant individually with four other persons named Parmer, and all of the individual defendants are alleged to claim some interest in the property. There was a cause of action for the establishment of a trust, one for declaratory relief, and one to quiet title, and the defendants filed a cross-complaint to quiet their title, alleging that they were the owners of the land. It was not alleged in any of the pleadings that Lulu E. Lyttle had died, nor was it alleged that the defendants Ava K. Pickling and the defendants named Parmer are the heirs at law of Mrs. Lyttle. All of the questions of title were tried under the issues raised by the cause of action for the declaration of a trust and the answers thereto.

Plaintiff and Lulu E. Lyttle were husband and wife and resided together from 1912 until 1931, when plaintiff procured a divorce. They then owned the property in question as joint tenants. In addition to orchard trees, the property was improved with buildings, consisting of a residence, a grocery store, cafe, restaurant, garage, service station and dairy barn, and it had cost in the neighborhood of $12,000.

Plaintiff testified that at different times his wife had asked him to “please give her a divorce,” saying: “I think you ought to give me a divorce, because we are more like brothers and sisters than we are like man and wife.” Again asked to give his wife a divorce, plaintiff went to Las Vegas early in

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1931 and Ms wife went there soon afterwards to discuss the matter of property with him and to express her satisfaction with the proceedings for divorce. Plaintiff testified as follows as to the circumstances under which he transferred his interest in the property to his wife: “She says, ‘I will make .a proposal and see what you think of it. Now,’ she says, ‘Tom, I am there on the property and will be there right along; if you will deed me the property, you deed me all the property and I will take care of it; it will always be there, and at any time that you want your half of the property back, or your half of it, you can have it.’ She says, ‘I don’t want all the property; I don’t want any of it that belongs to you; only I would like to have it so that I could take care of it for you, because you don’t know what you want to do, you don’t know where you are going to be, and I am going to be right there.’ She says, ‘I don’t think that you would mistrust me or not trust me, because I have always taken care of things as we have gone along.’ I told her I didn’t mistrust her whatever, it was all right; and if she would-that if she wanted me to deed her the property and her take care of it, that is, look after it, that I would always keep my end of it up. I told her, I says, ‘I don’t want you to take the responsibility now of taking care of it or putting out for everything, because there is a mortgage on that property yet and I want to be there to help pay my part and I am not going to throw any hardship on you.’ She says, ‘I know you wouldn’t do that, Tom; I know you want to do the thing that is right.’ She says, ‘Ton are just too good for your own good.’ Now, this was our conversation that day.” Other conversations were to the same effect. On April 26, 1931, while the parties were at Las Vegas, and before the case was heard, plaintiff executed three deeds by which he conveyed his interest as joint tenant in the ranch property to his wife as her sole and separate property. Mrs. Lyttle returned to Los Angeles, while plaintiff remained at Las Vegas long enough to get his decree, after which he returned to the ranch. In July, 1931, Mrs. Lyttle conveyed to plaintiff her interest in an encumbered property in Orange County, from which plaintiff later realized the sum of $300. There was no written property settlement between the parties and no evidence that the Orange County property was transferred as a consideration for plaintiff’s interest in the ranch property. Plaintiff testified that he received no consideration. The parties remained on good terms until