Adams v. Adams

MUSSELL, J. This is an action to quiet title to real property in San Diego. It was brought by plaintiff against her minor daughter, who is the record owner by deed, from plaintiff to her, bearing date of July 9, 1942, signed and acknowledged June 9, 1942, and recorded September 16, of the same year.

The principal issues presented to the trial court were whether plaintiff had executed and delivered the questioned deed to her daughter. These issues were determined adversely to plaintiff’s contentions and judgment was entered that plaintiff take nothing by her complaint. The stated grounds of appeal are, the insufficiency of the evidence to support the [655]judgment, irregularities in the proceedings preventing plaintiff from having a fair trial, and bias of the trial judge.

In May, 1942, plaintiff and her husband, Ben F. Adams, lived with their minor daughter (defendant herein) on the real property involved. Domestic tronble arose which led to the preparation of a property settlement agreement. However, this agreement was not signed or executed until July 20, 1942. Adams testified that before the settlement agreement was signed he had a conversation with plaintiff in which they agreed that the daughter should have the home property ; that plaintiff should have the furniture and that Adams would take a loan on the property; that the deed to the property would be taken in plaintiff’s name at the escrow; that plaintiff would give the child a deed at that time to be held in escrow until after Adams had left and a divorce had been granted. Adams further testified that plaintiff executed the deed involved in his presence on June 9, 1942; that he left the deed with the title company to hold until after the divorce decree had been obtained; that he and plaintiff executed a trust deed on the property for $2,500; that he received the money thus obtained and later purchased the trust deed. The record shows that on or about May 20, 1942, Adams attempted to sell the property involved to Augusta and Regina Melzer. The Melzers were unable to obtain possession of the property and the sale was not consummated. The property settlement agreement was signed by plaintiff and Adams on July 20, 1942. On September 3, 1942, a decree divorcing plaintiff and Adams was granted and the agreement was made a part of the decree. On September 16, 1942, the deed involved was delivered to Adams by the escrow agent and he had it recorded on the same day.

Plaintiff testified that she lived in the house from June 9, 1942, until sometime in 1946; that she discovered in 1943 that the property had been deeded to her daughter; that she did not execute or deliver a deed of the property to her daughter ; that Mr. Adams made quite a number of real estate deals and that she signed blank deeds for him on many occasions. She stated that she signed the deed to her daughter but did not appear before a notary public to acknowledge her signature thereto. However, a notary public testified that plaintiff signed the deed in question in her presence and that it was notarized by her; that her notary records (which were produced and shown to her in court) contained an entry showing the deed from plaintiff to defendant on June 9, 1942.