Williams v. Williams

HENSHAW, J.

Plaintiffs are the children of defendant 'John

Z.

Williams. They pleaded that their mother, the wife of defendant John Z. Williams, died, leaving separate property in the county of Fresno; that by her will she devised the fee of this property to them, subject to a life estate in her husband; that their father was named as executor of this will and caused the will to be probated and administration under the will to be had upon the estate of their mother; that the decree of distribution in the matter of the estate was duly and' regularly made and given and has become final; that by this decree a life estate was awarded to the husband in the property in controversy, and undivided interests in the remainder over to them; that at the time of the making of this decree the land was subject to the lien of a mortgage which was due and unpaid; that the father induced his children to deed to him their respective interests, representing that it was necessary for them so to do to enable him, by borrowing money elsewhere, to pay off the mortgage debt; he represented that the deeds which they were so requested to make to him would never by him be considered as conveyances of title, saving for the sole purpose of protecting the property by payment of the mortgage debt, and that he would hold the legal title for them in trust, in accordance with the terms of their mother’s will. They then allege that after thus securing the deeds, in fraud of their rights, he asserted an absolute title in the property free of any trust in their favor.

This sufficiently outlines the cause of action. The other matters which are pleaded in addition to those mentioned do not need to be specifically set forth. Issue was joined and the court found the following facts, its findings being abundantly supported by the evidence. The property in question consisted of a thirty-acre tract of land, title to which originally stood in defendant John Z. Williams. It had been acquired during coverture and was the community property of himself and his wife Lydia. The husband planned to go and did go to Alaska. In contemplation of his trip he made a

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deed to Ms wife of the land. It thus became her separate property. After his deed and before his departure, while they were living upon tMs tract of land, which in fact was their ,home, she made a declaration of homestead in due form. The land continued impressed with this homestead characteristic up to and at the time of the death of the wife. She left a will. By tMs will she bequeathed and devised a life estate in all of her property to her husband with the remainder over to the children. The husband, named as executor in the will, caused it to be probated, and after administration in due course the decree of distribution was given, which in terms awarded to the husband a life estate in the property with the remainder over in undivided shares to the children. There was nothing else in the estate saving a small sum of money which came into the executor’s hands from the sale of crops produced upon the land after the wife’s death. The court further found against all of the allegations of fraud and misrepresentation charged against the father; found that the children did make deeds of their respective interests in the property to him, but found that these deeds were freely and voluntarily made, without deceit or misrepresentation, and in consideration solely of the fact that the property had originally been earned and acquired by their father, and that the cMldren desired him, therefore, to have it as his own. The court decreed judgment for defendant accordingly. Defendant had remarried, and his second wife is a nominal party defendant.