Legal Opinion

Countryman v. Countryman

New York Supreme Court

Decided July 19, 1893PublishedCited by 4 opinions

Action to determine the ownership of real estate, and for an adjudication as to certain liens claimed thereon. It appeared that plaintiff had received from the government a sum of money on account of the pension for services rendered as a soldier in the war of the Rebellion. Plaintiff handed $700 of the pension money to his wife, who deposited it in bank in her own name.

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Action to determine the ownership of real estate, and for an adjudication as to certain liens claimed thereon. It appeared that plaintiff had received from the government a sum of money on account of the pension for services rendered as a soldier in the war of the Rebellion. Plaintiff handed $700 of the pension money to his wife, who deposited it in bank in her own name. Afterwards she bought the real estate in controversy, a vacant lot, for $250, took the title in her own name, and paid for it out of the $700 which had been handed to her by plaintiff. Plaintiff and his wife then' entered…

1Opinion of the CourtWilliams, J.

I think I must hold that there was, as between the husband and wife, no gift or transfer of the title to the $700 pension money, or the property purchased with it,—the lot and labor and materials put into the house. The business was very strangely done. From the first, the transaction had the appearance of a gift or transfer. The deposit of the money, the taking of the deed, the giving of the mortgage and bond, all in the name of the wife, with the knowledge and without objection of the husband, would lead naturally to the conclusion of a gift and transfer. If these parties had been…

2Cases cited1 opinion

  1. Yates County National Bank v. CarpenterNew York Court of Appeals · 1890

3Cited by4 opinions

  1. Frick v. ConeNew York Supreme Court · 1936
  2. In re the Accounting of EkinsNew York Supreme Court · 1925
  3. McMahon v. CookAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1905
  4. King v. WarrenNew York Supreme Court · 1903

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