Grandsons Stated Cause Of Action That Grandmother Intended Step-Grandfather To Hold Property In Trust For Grandsons
05/20/08
A constructive trust is an equitable devise employed by “courts of equity to remedy a situation where a party has been wrongfully deprived of some right, title or interest in property as a result of fraud or violation of confidence or faith reposed in another.” The touchstone for imposition of a constructive trust is injustice or unfairness, which may be the product of undue influence or abuse of a confidential relationship. It is “imposed where a person who holds title to property is under a duty to convey it to another on ground that he would be unjustly enriched if he were permitted to retain it.” A constructive trust arises without regard to the parties’ intention. Alternatively, a resulting trust is implied by law to “meet the requirement of justice that a legal status be given to what is the clear intention of the parties.” It arises where “property is transferred under circumstances that raise an inference that the person who makes the transfer or causes it to be made did not intend the transferee to take the beneficial interest in the property. If the owner of property “gratuitously transfers it and properly manifests an intention that the transferee should hold the property in trust but the trust fails, the transferee holds the trust estate upon a resulting trust for the transferor of his estate.”
Plaintiff grandsons seek to have a trust provision voided for alleged undue influence or violation of confidence, not for the failure of the trust. By requesting the imposition of a constructive trust on assets that the defendant step grandfather’s trust is to receive, plaintiff grandsons pled an appropriate remedy. The dismissal of their cause of action prior to conduction of discovery was therefore in error. If grandsons can prove the necessary facts to show that they are entitled to share in the trust’s assets, the imposition of a constructive trust is a proper remedy. Grandsons should have been given this opportunity. Lynch v. Lynch, Docket No. SC88923 (Mo.S.Ct. May 20, 2008).
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