Blackburn v. Webb

CHIPMAN, C.

Action to quiet title. The cause was dismissed as to all the defendants except Dorn. James H. Blackburn died testate, and in his will he provided as follows: “ I give, devise, and bequeath to Frank Blackburn, Harry Blackburn, Daniel Blackburn, and Frederick Blackburn, children of Daniel and Cecilia Blackburn, my dairy ranches, part of the Rancho San Jeronimo, in San Luis Obispo, state of California, together with all the personal property thereon; and for the better preservation of said property I hereby appoint their mother, Mrs. Cecilia Blackburn, trustee for said children and property, to have and to hold said property, and the whole thereof, and to manage the same, until the youngest of said children shall have attained his majority, at which event said property shall vest absolutely in the four children in this devise mentioned, and not before.” On August 17, 1888, the

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property in question was distributed, in accordance with the terms of the will, to the said Cecilia Blackburn, “ as such trustee, to have and to hold said property, and the whole thereof, and to manage the same, until the youngest of said children shall have attained his majority, at which event said property shall vest absolutely in said four children.” No appeal was taken from the decree. The trust was accepted, the trustee went into possession under the decree, and ever since has been in possession, “ and every year during her said possession she has collected and received the rents, issues, and profits of said real property.” All the devisees are adults, except Frederick Blackburn, who is a minor. On December 20, 1895, Harry Blackburn, one of said devisees, conveyed to defendant Dorn, by deed of grant, bargain, and sale, for a valuable consideration, an undivided one-sixteenth of all the said real property, “ together with all and singular the tenements, . . . rents, issues, and profits thereof,” and said Dorn is still “ the owner of the property, estate, and interest, rents, issues, and profits, so conveyed to him,” being an undivided one-fourth of the aforesaid interest of said Harry Blackburn. Defendant Dorn, ever since the delivery to him of said deed, has claimed, and now claims, to be entitled to the rents, issues, and profits accruing since the date of his deed, and is entitled to have the same paid to him from time to time as they accrue. From the foregoing facts, taken from the findings, the court found as conclusions of law that plaintiff, as trustee of the devisees of the will and their successors in interest, “ owns an estate in the above-described land, with its tenements, . . . during the minority of said Frederick Blackburn; that she has a right to hold, possess, and manage the whole of said property during said minority for the purposes of the trust; that she has no other or greater estate ... in or to said property; . . . and that she has a right to have her aforesaid estate and title quieted, in accordance with this conclusion.” As to defendant Dorn the court found, in accordance with the foregoing facts, that, “upon the termination of said estate during minority, he or his successor in interest will be entitled to the possession •of said real property (as tenant in common with whoever may then own the other undivided interest or interests in said property),” and it was adjudged in the judgment that he would be entitled to his proportion of the rents, issues, and profits “ which will accrue after the termination of said estate during