Stickney v. Stickney

by Stephen Johnson Field

United States Supreme Court

131 U.S. 227

Stickney  v.  Stickney

This suit was brought by the complainant below, appellee here, Jeannie K. Stickney, widow of William Stickney, who died in October, 1881, against certain of his heirs, to establish her claim as creditor for the sum of about $79,000 against the estate, real and personal, held in the name of her husband at the time of his death, and to obtain a decree that said estate be applied to its payment, except so far as may be necessary to discharge his just debts. Her contention is that all that estate was acquired by her husband with her moneys received by her as legatee under the will of her deceased father, Amos Kendall, and which were delivered to him to invest for her benefit and in her name, but which without her knowledge, and contrary to her directions, he used and invested in his own name. Complainant intermarried with William Stickney in January, 1852, and continued his wife until his death in October, 1881. They resided in the District of Columbia, and their married life was one of mutual confidence and affection, nothing ever occurring to mar its happiness. From his m rriage to 1857 he was, the greater part of the time, a clerk in the government service. In that year he became secretary of Mr. Kendall, and continued so until the latter's death, in November, 1869, receiving a monthly salary of $100, or, as supposed by one of his brothers, a yearly salary of $1,500; himself and wife living with and receiving their board from Mr. Kendall. While secretary of Mr. Kendall he received no salary from any other source. He had, however, accumulated a small amount of property, chiefly in lands, but it appears to have been acquired from moneys or proceeds of property given to his wife by her father, or from moneys furnished by him. It is not, however, important for the disposition of the present case to determine whether he had, previous to the death of Mr. Kendall, property in his own right, and, if so, the extent of it. The question is, did he receive moneys of his wife to invest for her benefit, which he used and invested in his own name, and, if so, whether the estate which he left standing in his name can be subjected to the payment of the amount thus received?

Mr. Kendall left at his death an estate worth nearly half a million of dollars. By his will he made his four daughters residuary legatees, and provided that payment of any debts which might be due to him from any of them should not be required in money, but should be adjusted in the distribution to them of certain specified bonds. He appointed as executors Mr. Stickney and Mr. Robert C. Fox, his sons-in-law. His will was admitted to probate, and letters testamentary were issued to them. The distributive share which came to Mrs Stickney from her father's estate amounted to nearly eighty thousand dollars in money or its equivalent. Mr. and Mrs. Stickney had one son, and to him Mrs. Stickney desired, in 1879, to make a Christmas present of $1,000. At her request Mr. Stickney sent her the money for that purpose. It appears also that Mrs. Stickney received from him at different times checks amounting to $600. No other sum except these is shown to have been paid by him to her of the means she received from her father. The whole went into his hands under directions, and with the understanding, as she asserts, that it was to be invested by him for her benefit and in her name. When she wanted the $1,000 mentioned, she wrote to him the following letter; 'December 23, 1879. Dear Will: I wish 'Will' to have $1,000 of the Chicago payment for his Christmas gift. Please bring check for the amount, and the balance invest in my name, as I have asked you to do with all other moneys accruing from my inheritance. JEANNIE.' The evidence that Mrs. Stickney expected that her husband would invest her money for her benefit, in her name, and that he understood that to make such investment was his duty, consists not merely in her declarations, but in the statements of Stickney himself, made at different times, to parties with whom he was dealing. The instances of this kind are numerous, and, in their combined force, considered with the presumption attendant on the receipt of money where there is no relation of debtor and creditor between the parties, that the receiver is to hold it subject to the other's order or to invest it for his use, remove all reasonable doubt on the subject. How far the presumptions thus raised are to be deemed rebutted by the fact that there is no proof of any express promise on Stickney's part to comply with her request, and by her failure to call for any account from him or statement as to the investments made, will be hereafter considered. It would seem that the confidence in her husband prevented any suspicion that her wishes as to the investment of her moneys had not been respected.

The illness of which Mr. Stickney died created no apprehension until within a few hours before his death. He then handed to his wife the keys to his box in the safe-deposit company, with instructions to retain them, and examine his papers. Upon their examination, after his f neral, none were found showing any property in her name; all the property which he held stood in his own name. He died intestate, leaving as his sole heirs and next of kin three brothers and four children of a deceased brother, two of whom were minors. She was appointed administratrix of his estate. The three brothers, upon being acquainted with the situation of affairs, and the fact that the moneys received by her from her father had been used and invested by the deceased in his own name, immediately relinquished to her all their claims to his estate, by a conveyance reciting that he had left in his individual name real and personal property acquired from the proceeds of her sole and separate estate, and formally recognizing her beneficial interest therein. By this conveyance Mrs. Stickney became the owner in her own right of three-fourths of her husband's estate absolutely, with a right of dower in the remaining fourth of the real estate, and her distributive share in the personalty. She thereupon, to avoid any litigation over the property with the relatives of her husband, offered to recognize the claims of the infant children of the deceased brother, and to make reasonable compensation to the adult children, provided they would execute a release to her of their claims The adults declined to execute such a release upon those terms, and the infants were incompetent to do so. Mrs. Stickney accordingly filed the present bill against the four children to determine the controversy, and the justice of her claim to be paid out of the estate of her husband as its creditor, the amount received by him from her separate property, after deducting the $1,600 mentioned, which she had received from him. The adult children answered the bill, denying the equities claimed, and pleading the statute of limitations against their assertion. The minor children, by their guardians ad litem, also answered the bill, claiming such interest in the premises as they might be entitled to, and submitting themselves to the protection of the court.

In October, 1882, on motion of the complainant, and with the cousent of the solicitors of the adult defendants, and of the guardians ad litem of the infant defendants, the case was referred to the auditor of the court to ascertain and report, upon the evidence to be produced before him, among other things, whether the complainant was a creditor of, or entitled to repayment out of, the estate of her deceased husband; and, if so, to what amount, liberty being given to state any special circumstances. Much testimony was taken by the auditor, and the books of account of the executors of the estate of Amos Kendall and also of William Stickney were produced before him. He reported that the proceeds of the estate of Amos Kendall which came into the hands of his executors were from time to time divided among the legatees, and upon the receipts of the complainant to the executors her share was delivered to her husband, who used and invested the same in his own name without the knowledge of the complainant, and in contravention of her express directions; that the books of William Stickney, deceased, showed in most instances the specific use made by him of the moneys which were the share of the complainant, derived from her father's estate; that the complainant never assented to or acquiesced in the use or investment of the property by her husband in his own pame; that she intended to retain the apparent as well as the real ownership,-the nominal as well as the equitable right; and that he considered himself as her trustee, and proclaimed himself as such. The auditor, in applying the act of congress passed on the 10th of April, 1869, commonly known as the 'Married Woman's Act,' to the facts of the case, held that Mr. Stickney received the moneys as her agent and trustee, and was liable to account to her as such, and that no appropriation or investment by him without authority from her relieved him from such accountability. He reported, also, that the amount whi h Mr. Stickney had received of the moneys belonging to her from her father's estate was $79,971.13, from which he deducted the $1,600 mentioned, and found a balance due to her of $78,371.13.

To the plea of the statute of limitations, which was urged by the defendants in bar of the complainant's claim, the auditor replied that there were several answers: First, the complainant's disability by reason of her coverture; second, the character of the indebtedness, which had its origin in a relation of trust; and, third, that not until the death of her husband did she discover that her property was not invested or held in her own name. He therefore reported that the complainant was a creditor, and entitled to repayment, out of the estate of her deceased husband, of the amount found to be due to her for moneys received by him which came to her from the estate of her father. Exceptions were taken to this report, which were heard at a special term of the court, and overruled, and a decree was entered thereon for the complainant that William Stickney, her husband, was justly indebted to her at the time of his death in the sum of $78,371.13; that no portion of it had been paid or satisfied; that, as administratrix of the personal estate of her deceased husband, she was entitled, in the regular course of her administration, to devote to the reduction of the said indebtedness, as against the defendants, and each of them, the undistributed balance of the personal estate in her hands, ascertained by the report of the auditor to be $32,202.08: that she be permitted to withdraw from the register of the court $2,650.26, previously paid into it by her, after deducting the clerk's fees; and that the real estate of the said William Stickney at the time of his death, or so much thereof as might be necessary, be sold for the payment of the commutation of her dower therein, and the balance of said indebtedness. On appeal to the court in general term this decree was affirmed. To review that decree the case is brought by appeal here.

S. S. Henkle, for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 232-235 intentionally omitted]

John Selden, for appellee.

FIELD, J.

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