Kauffman v. Kauffman

Citations

• 266 Pa. 270
• 109 A. 640
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 550

Syllabus

<p>Trusts and trustees — Parol agreement — Enforcement—Statute of frauds — Confession of trust by trustee — Enforcement of trust against judgment creditor of trustee — Equity.</p> <p>1. Where a parent and next friend of his minor child, invests the child’s money in real estate, the title to which is taken in the name of the parents with the express oral agreement that the property belonged to the child and would be conveyed to her upon her marriage, a trust may be enforced against the parents and against their judgment creditor where the parents, in the course of litigation to have the trust declared, confess the trust.</p> <p>2. Although an express trust of land resting in parol, cannot be enforced against the trustee if he elects to avoid it, a parol trust is valid where the trustee confesses it in open court; and where the trustee confesses the trust it may be enforced against a judgment creditor of the trustee.</p> <p>3. A mortgagee who entered a general judgment upon the bond secured by mortgage is not protected by the recording laws against trusts of which he has no notice, upon lands of the mortgagor not covered by the mortgage; nor is he allowed to hold against the cestui que trust, inasmuch as the lien of the judgment attaches merely to the mortgagor’s interest in such lands.</p> <p>Trusts and trustees — Resulting trusts — Act of June k, 1901, P. L. 1$5 — Protection of judgment creditor — Applicability where cestm que trust is minor — Equity.</p> <p>4. The Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 425, declaring that resulting trusts arising from the payment of purchase money of land by one person and the taking of the legal title in the name of another, shall be void as to bona fide judgment creditors unless a declaration of trust be recorded or action of ejectment has been commenced by the person advancing the money, is not applicable to a case where the person advancing the money is a minor without capacity to contract.</p> <p>5. Where the father and next friend of his