Estates and Trusts Commons^™

Wills - Enforcement Of Parol Contract To Devise Real Property, John S. Slavens S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs and decedent made an oral agreement whereby plaintiffs agreed to pay decedent a yearly sum and to make repairs on certain real estate in return for which decedent agreed to devise the real estate to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs had been in possession of the property for several years and had vastly improved its value when decedent died, devising the property to third parties. Plaintiffs brought this action for specific performance against the devisees. The trial court, satisfied that the oral contract had been established, entered the decree for specific performance. On appeal, held, affirmed. A person can make a …

Contracts-Rights Of Third Party Beneficiary-Effect Of Michigan Beneficiary Contract Statute, Gordon W. Hueschen S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

On agreement to make mutual wills, Stephen and his two sisters entered into an agreement whereby the sisters agreed to will to Stephen, or in event Stephen predeceased them, to his wife, all property which they should receive from their father. Stephen did predecease the sisters, whereupon they executed new wills with no provision for Stephen's widow. Upon death of the last sister, the widow's bill for specific performance of the agreement was dismissed by the circuit court. In affirming on appeal, the Michigan Supreme Court held that the agreement as to Stephen and all other persons except the sisters …

Book Notes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

BOOK NOTES

The Law of Trusts

By Ralph A. Newman

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1949. Pp. xi, 452. $4.50

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Estate Planning

By Joseph Trachtman

New York: Practicing Law Institute. 1949 Edition. Paper bound. Pp. i, 170. $2.00

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BOOKS RECEIVED

The Case of General Yamashita

By A. Frank Reel

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. Pp. v, 324. $4.00

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Cases and Materials on Commercial Law

By Hugh W. Babb and Carl B. Everberg

Brooklyn: The Foundation Press, Inc., 1949. Pp. iii, 963. $6.00

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Cases and Materials on Law and Accounting

By Donald Schapiro and Ralph Wienshienk …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Bills and Notes--Fictitious Payee Known only to Fraudulent Employee of Drawer--Negotiable Instruments Law v. Fictitious Payee Act

Constitutional Law--Amendment and Revision--Power to Call Constitutional Convention Limited to Consideration of Specific Topics

Constitutional Law--Interstate Commerce--Dental of License to Ship Milk Held Invalid

Constitutional Law--Separation of Powers--Legislative Control over Admission to the Bar

Contracts--Recited Cash Consideration--Effect of Non-payment

Contracts--Statute of Frauds--Letterhead as a Signature

Criminal Procedure--Communication between Judge and Jury--Effect of Inquiry as to Pronounced Majority

Criminal Procedure--Constitutional Right to Public Trial--Power of Court to Order Courtroom Cleared of Spectators

Estates--Disability of Life Tenant to Purchase Tax Title to Exclusion …

Coming Into Equity With Clean Hands, Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

The most amusing maxim of equity is "He who comes into Equity must come with clean hands." It has given rise ,to many interesting cases and poor jokes. The maxim has been regarded as an especially significant manifestation of the ethical attitude of equity as contrasted with the common law. Pomeroy, for instance, argues that the principle involved in this maxim is "merely the expression of one of the elementary and fundamental conceptions of equity jurisprudence." Pomeroy's theory is that chancery has power to force a defendant to comply with the dictates of conscience as to matters outside the strict …

Quasi-Contracts-Taxation-Rescission Of Gifts Where Gift Fails To Achieve Donor's Purpose Of Minimizing Federal Income Taxes, Charles M. Soller S.Ed., Edwin F. Uhl S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A recent Michigan case, Stone v. Stone, presents problems of complexity and far-reaching importance. The plaintiffs, husband and wife, each owned a one-half interest in a family business partnership, and each apparently reported a proportionate share of the partnership earnings for federal income tax purposes. For the purpose of further reducing taxes on the income of the family unit, each parent transferred a one-quarter interest in the partnership to one of their two minor children, and thereafter each parent and child filed separate income tax returns reporting one-fourth of the partnership earnings as individual income. Each parent, under a …

Constitutional Law--Construction Of Constitutional Provision For Sale Of Land For School Fund--Right Of Redemption Restricted, R. G. S.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bills And Notes-Construction Of Negotiable Instruments And Contemporaneous Written Agreements, Ralph J. Isackson

Michigan Law Review

On April 12, 1938, M executed a demand promissory note, negotiable in form, payable to the order of his daughter, the plaintiff. Simultaneously M prepared and attached a written instrument to the note stating that the plaintiff agreed that she would not attempt to collect the note until M died. The attached instruments were delivered to plaintiff immediately after execution. M died May 23, 1945. Plaintiff, who held the instruments from the date of execution without making any demand for payment, filed the note with the defendant, M's administrator, as a claim against M's estate. The defendant objected …

Equity--Removal Of Cloud On Title--Right To Bring Suit When Defendant Has Possession, K. K. H.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Joint Tenancy-Effect Of Word "Jointly"-Parol Evidence As To Intent

Michigan Law Review

The common law rule was well settled that a conveyance to two or more, not husband and wife, made them joint tenants, not tenants in common, unless language was used to show an intent that they were not to be joint tenants. The reason for such a rule having passed, the modern rule is to the opposite effect-two or more conveyees, with certain exceptions, are presumptively tenants in common. The Illinois statute, for example, declares that "no estate in joint tenancy in any lands ... shall be held or claimed under any grant . . . unless the premises therein …

Future Interests--Powers Of Appointment--May Creditor-Appointee Of Testator Recover Damages For Breach Of Contract To Appoint In Any Future Will, Allen C. Holmes

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff made a contract with the donee of a power of appointment granted in these words: "I give and bequeath the principal of said trust fund unto such person or persons and in such estates, interests and proportions as the said Clarence C. Appleton shall in and by his Last Will and Testament in that behalf appoint. I give the said Clarence C. Appleton this power of disposition in order to enable him to make such legacies as he may desire, to his heirs, relatives, friends, or for charity." The donee agreed to execute and did execute a will in …

Resulting Trust-Statute Of Frauds-Advance Of Purchase Money In Exchange For Transferee's Promise To Furnish A Life Home For The Payor, Craig E. Davids S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, an illiterate sharecropper, advanced money to purchase an eighty acre farm, record title being taken in the name of defendant and wife with whom plaintiff had been living for more than a year pursuant to an agreement that defendant was to furnish plaintiff with a home for life. The arrangement worked satisfactorily for more than thirty years, during which time the premises were improved and a mortgage discharged by plaintiff. Defendant then remarried and the friction which followed was climaxed by defendant ordering plaintiff off the premises. Suit was filed in equity, under an Oklahoma statute to have defendant …

Powers -Testamentary Power - Enforceability Of Contract To Exercise, Hobart Taylor, Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Charles Wetmore and Morgan Kent, beneficiaries of a trust under the will of their mother which was probated in 1913, entered into an agreement whereby Kent agreed, inter alia, to devise one ninth of the corpus of the estate to Kent's children living at the time of his death in consideration of a promise by Wetmore to exercise a testamentary power of appointment given by the will of the testatrix over one sixth of the corpus in favor of Kent, or if he be deceased at the time Wetmore's will became effective, in favor of such persons as Kent should …

Charitable Subscriptions--Enforceability--Common-Law Consideration, K. J. V.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law - Impairing The Obligation Of Contracts - New York Decedents' Estate Law, Robert Walsh

Michigan Law Review

By a premarital agreement executed in 1922 the wife of decedent waived all rights in his estate. The waiver was signed but not acknowledged. In August, 1930, decedent executed a will leaving $2,000 to his wife. In September, 1930, there went into effect an amendment of the Decedents' Estate Law of New York, which gave to a widow an election to take under or against the will of her husband and provided that such election could be waived only by an instrument signed and acknowledged. The statute applied only to wills executed after September, 1930. The decedent executed a codicil …

Taxation - Gift Tax - Transfer In Pursuance Of An Antenuptial Agreement As A Taxable Gift, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff entered into an antenuptial agreement with his intended wife whereby she waived all rights which she might acquire by virtue of the marriage in certain stock which he owned. In consideration therefor, he transferred to her two annuities and an interest as tenant by the entirety in two parcels of real estate. Plaintiff contended that such transfers did not constitute taxable gifts, and the Board of Tax Appeals decided in his favor. Held, that the transfers were taxable gifts, for a waiver of marriage rights in the property of plaintiff pursuant to an antenuptial agreement did not constitute …

Wills - Joint And Mutual Wills - Contracts To Bequeath And Devise - Statute Of Frauds, Charles J. O'Laughlin

Michigan Law Review

The husband and wife made joint and mutual wills, each giving to the survivor a life interest in his or her separate property with the remainder to their foster daughter, the plaintiff. The wife died first, but the husband destroyed the entire will, and took possession of all the wife's property. The husband then died intestate, and plaintiff brought suit against the heirs to enforce the dispositions made by the joint and mutual will. Plaintiff introduced evidence to show that the will was the product of a contract, and therefore irrevocable. Defendant objected on the grounds that the agreement was …

Wills - Joint And Mutual Wills - Contracts To Bequeath And Devise - Statute Of Frauds, Charles J. O' Laughlin

Michigan Law Review

Husband and wife made joint and mutual wills, each giving to the survivor a life interest in his or her separate property with the remainder to their foster daughter, the plaintiff. The wife died first, but the husband destroyed the entire will, and took possession of all the wife's property. The husband then died intestate, and plaintiff brought suit against the heirs to enforce the dispositions made by the joint and mutual will. Plaintiff introduced evidence to show that the will was the product of a contract, and therefore irrevocable. Defendant objected on the ground that the agreement was not …

Contracts - Consideration - Moral Obligation To Pay For Services Rendered In Past, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

After decedent's wife died, claimants, her mother and sister, at the request of the decedent, broke up their home and came to live with him, to keep house for him and to care for his children. These services continued for ten years, at which time the decedent gave claimants his promissory notes aggregating $2,000. They entered these notes as claims against his estate. Held, the claimants' services, even if rendered gratuitously, were performed at the decedent's request and raised a moral obligation which was sufficient consideration for the notes. In re Schoenkerman's Estate, (Wis. 1940) 294 N. W. …

Public Policies Underlying The Law Of Mental Incompetency, Milton D. Green

Michigan Law Review

Mental incompetency, or legal insanity, has usually been studied in the patchquilt fashion. It appears as a sub-heading of incidental interest in such widely diversified subjects as crimes, contracts, domestic relations, torts and wills. It can, however, be conceived of as a single strand in the seamless web. So viewed, it may appear to wind in and out of the various artificial subdivisions of the law, cutting across each at one particular place or another. And so conceived, it can be studied according to the second and less orthodox method of analysis. Few are the isolated areas in the law …

Contracts - Wills - Third Party Beneficiary Contract As Testamentary Disposition, Harold M. Street

Michigan Law Review

The defendant executed a bond and mortgage to one Catherine McCarthy Jackman. Subsequently the parties entered into an extension agreement wherein it was provided that in the event of the death of the mortgagee prior to the .maturity of the mortgage, the interest and principal were to be paid one-half to a brother of the mortgagee and one-half to the heirs of a deceased sister. After the death of the mortgagee prior to the maturity of the mortgage, the plaintiffs (the brother and heirs of the deceased sister) claimed a right to the payment of interest as third party beneficiaries. …

Wills - Conveyances Conditioned On Grantor's Death - Contracts For Posthumous Performance, Charles Haines Jr.

Michigan Law Review

By an instrument entitled a lease, the owner of a country estate agreed with the Y.M.C.A. that the latter should have a lease of the land for his life in consideration of the payment of taxes and the maintenance and improvement of a boys' camp on the premises. Further, if at his death the lease were in good standing (a right of entry for condition broken having been reserved), then the Y.M.C.A. was to receive full title to the land. Pursuant to the agreement the camp was operated, and at the lessor's death the Y.M.C.A. was in possession in good …

Constitutional Law - Act Changing Pensions - Impairing Obligation Of Contracts - Due Process, Bertram H. Lebeis

Michigan Law Review

An Illinois statute provided for the compulsory retirement of teachers at the age of seventy with an annuity of $1500 a year for life, and an amendment thereto granted annuities on a sliding scale from $1000 to $1500 a year to teachers voluntarily retiring between the ages of sixty-five and seventy. These provisions were changed by an act of 1935 which abolished the provisions for voluntary retirement and .fixed compulsory retirement at the age of sixty-five, with annuities reduced to a flat rate of $500 annually. Plaintiffs, who either had retired or were eligible for retirement at the time the …

Associations - Massachusetts Trusts - Personal Liability Of Trustees On Contracts, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The trustees of a business trust, by their agent, accepted seven trade acceptances in which there was no stipulation against the personal liability of the trustees. The trust instrument under which the business was operating provided that the trustees were to be under no "personal obligation or liability of any kind," and that all having transactions with the trustees are put on notice that no trustee or subscriber is personally liable, and further, that in all contracts made by the trustees, "specific mention shall be made therein of this trust to the end that any and all parties must look …

Executors And Administrators -- Quasi-Contract Liability Of Decedent's Estate -- Administrative Expenses As A Prior Charge On The Estate, Ralph Winkler

Michigan Law Review

After the supply of feed for the decedent's livestock had been depleted and before the appointment of an administrator, the plaintiff furnished some grain at the request of the decedent's daughter and son-in-law, no other parties attempting to assist in any way. It was understood that the plaintiff would look to the estate for payment. In an action of contract against the administrator in his representative capacity for the value of the grain the court held that the plaintiff had a valid claim in quasi-contract against the estate, basing the decision upon "broad considerations of policy." Since the estate was …

Specific Performance - Contract To Make A Will - Right To Specific Relief For Breach Where Promisee Predeceases Promisor, Elbridge D. Phelps

Michigan Law Review

In September, 1930, Cornelius Powell died testate, leaving certain personalty absolutely to his wife, Elizabeth Powell, and devising certain realty to her for life, with a remainder over to his son, Clifford S. Powell. Subsequently, Elizabeth and Clifford entered into a written agreement whereby, in consideration that Clifford would convey all his interest in said realty to her, Elizabeth agreed to execute a will giving to Clifford "at her death all of the property then owned by her, whether real, personal, or mixed." Pursuant to this agreement, the requisite instruments were duly executed. On October 31, 1932, Clifford S. Powell …

The Effect Of Impossibility Upon Conditions In Wills, Lewis M. Simes

Michigan Law Review

Writers may discourse upon the danger of construing trees to mean raspberry bushes or cabbages, but the fact remains that written instruments are interpreted with the aid of something more than a dictionary. Circumstances existing both at the time the document is executed and at a subsequent period are considered in determining what it means. This statement applies to conditions as well as to other parts of a written instrument. Nor should we be surprised to find that impossibility of performance may modify legal consequences.

Deeds-Instrument In Form Of Contract For Sale Of Land As Gift

Michigan Law Review

Decedent executed and delivered to his sister, the petitioner, in a sealed envelope an instrument in the form of an executory contract for the sale of land by the terms of which the decedent promised to convey to the petitioner his undivided two-thirds interest in a certain building and lot. The execution of the instrument was not the result of any agreement and no consideration was paid, although receipt of payment in full was endorsed on the back of the instrument. After decedent's death the envelope was produced and the probate court under a statutory authority ordered a conveyance to …

Wills-Contract Not To Contest

Michigan Law Review

A testatrix left the bulk of her estate to the plaintiff whom she named as her executor. Defendant, dissatisfied with his bequest, threatened to contest the will. Thereupon, the parties entered into a contract whereby the plaintiff agreed to give the defendant a piece of land and a sum of money in addition to his legacy in consideration of defendant's promise not to contest the will. Shortly thereafter defendant joined relatives of the decedent in opposing probate. In an action in equity to specifically enforce the agreement, held, that the contract was valid and that the defendant be permanently …

Certain Evasive And Protective Devices Affecting Succession To Decedents' Estates, Alvin Evans

Michigan Law Review

In Anglo-American law for many generations the power of an owner of property to determine the disposal of his estate at death has met with but comparatively few limitations. The statute creating this power was motivated by the assumption that the interest of the owner, reaching even beyond death, is paramount to other social interests. This power is an important item in a capitalistic system. And even if he does not exercise his power, the decedent may rest assured that another statute will do for him approximately what he may be supposed to have desired.