Grantor'S Intent

35 Florida cases classified under this topic · sorted by citation count · see the citation graph · browse and sort

• Smith v. Owens
  91 Fla. 995· Fla.· 1926-05-24 ·cited 57×
  In this deed delivery case, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the chancellor's finding that a grandfather effectively delivered a recorded deed to his son through a dying declaration to a third-party intermediary (the former housekeeper) moments before his death, even though the
• Ansley v. Graham
  73 Fla. 388· Fla.· 1917-02-20 ·cited 52×
  A deed's description is sufficiently certain to identify the land if a surveyor can locate it by applying surveying rules and reference to named tracts and landmarks mentioned in the deed. The grantor's clear and specific intention, as expressed in the introductory clause naming
• Franc W. Lord v. Curry
  71 Fla. 68· Fla.· 1916-01-26 ·cited 50×
  This ejectment action involves disputed land boundaries in Sarasota, Florida. The court held that an unsurveyed tract of land beyond Government Lot One, which the defendant occupied, was not included in the government patent and therefore not owned by the plaintiff corporation. T
• Brown v. Hutch
  156 So. 2d 683· Fla. 2d DCA· 1963-09-25 ·cited 33×
  Bessie Brown appealed a decree confirming a deed of conveyance from her deceased father, W.J. Brown, to her sister Doris Brown Hutch. The court upheld the deed, finding that the property was not homestead property at the time of Brown's death and that valid delivery of the deed h
• Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Newman
  159 F.2d 848· 2d Cir.· 1947-02-20 ·cited 26×
  The dissenting judge believes the power to 'alter or amend' did not allow the trustee to divert trust income to himself.
• Little River Bank & Tr. Co. ad Litem of the Est. of D. A. Eastman v. Eastman
  105 So. 2d 912· Fla. 3d DCA· 1958-10-28 ·cited 19×
  Little River Bank & Trust Company, as creditor of a deceased estate, appealed a decree interpreting a deed executed by Donald A. Eastman to his wife Karen. The court affirmed that the deed created a right of survivorship in Karen despite technical defects in the estate-by-entiret
• Zwakhals v. Senft
  206 So. 2d 62· Fla. 4th DCA· 1968-01-22 ·cited 18×
  The court held that a prior order vacating a judgment did not resolve the substantive issues of the case, and summary judgment was improperly granted.
• Holt v. Werbe
  198 F.2d 910· 8th Cir.· 1952-09-09 ·cited 18×
  The court held that the district court erred in finding that the deed was effectively delivered because the grantor retained control and dominion over the deed, and the grantee did not accept delivery. The court also held that the district court did not err in taking jurisdiction
• Haynes v. Fred Carbonell for Strand Theater of Key W., Inc.
  532 So. 2d 746· Fla. 3d DCA· 1988-10-11 ·cited 16×
  Mary Joyce Haynes appealed a judgment awarding ownership of a 50-foot waterfront strip to Strand Corporation (through its trustee), claiming she inherited the strip as part of property conveyed to her through a chain of deeds dating to 1953. The court reversed, holding that ripar
• Kasey v. Molybdenum Corp. OF Am.
  336 F.2d 560· 9th Cir.· 1964-08-28 ·cited 12×
  The court held that the action for recovery of mining properties was barred by California's five-year statute of limitations because the appellants were neither seised nor possessed of the property within the statutory period, and the deeds conveyed absolute title.
• Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Katz
  139 F.2d 107· 7th Cir.· 1943-11-24 ·cited 12×
  The court held that the income from the trusts was not taxable to the grantor under Sections 22(a), 166, or 167 of the Revenue Act of 1936, affirming the Tax Court's decision.
• Bronstein v. Bronstein
  83 So. 2d 699· Fla.· 1955-11-16 ·cited 8×
  In this declaratory judgment proceeding regarding the construction of a 1940 deed, the Florida Supreme Court held that when examining a deed's language, courts must consider the entire instrument to discern the grantor's intent, rather than applying the rigid common-law rule that
• Arab Corp. v. Bruce
  142 F.2d 604· 5th Cir.· 1944-05-08 ·cited 8×
  The court adopted the reasoning of the lower court, which held that the deed conveyed all the land in question and that plaintiffs had no interest therein.
• MacMANUS v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
  131 F.2d 670· 6th Cir.· 1942-12-03 ·cited 8×
  The court held that the grantor's clear intent to maintain four separate trusts, as expressed in his letter and the trust declaration, overrides any administrative convenience or ambiguity suggesting a single trust for tax purposes.
• Jervis v. Tucker
  82 So. 3d 126· Fla. 4th DCA· 2012-02-08 ·cited 7×
  Donald Jervis, as limited guardian and beneficiary of Bernice Meikle's trust, appeals a summary judgment order invalidating a second amendment to the trust executed while Meikle was under a court order of incapacity. The court affirmed, holding that the plain language of the trus
• Florise C. Whittimore v. Truman Clyde Cruce, Jr.
  479 So. 2d 761· Fla. 1st DCA· 1985-10-18 ·cited 6×
  The court held that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because the grantor's intent regarding deed delivery presented a genuine issue of material fact.
• Rogers v. The United States
  184 So. 3d 1087· Fla.· 2015-11-05 ·cited 5×
  The Florida Supreme Court answered a certified question from the Federal Circuit regarding whether Florida law limits a railroad's property interest to an easement when deeds on their face convey fee simple title. The Court held that the unambiguous language of the deeds conveyed
• Thompson v. Ruff
  75 Fla. 476· Fla.· 1918-03-28 ·cited 5×
  Thompson appealed a demurrer sustaining dismissal of his bill seeking to remove a cloud on title to Florida lands allegedly conveyed by Ruff to Hodges and O'Hara in 1904. The court held that the deed conveyed only timber rights to the disputed lands, not the lands themselves, and
• Lauri F. Parker v. Shullman
  843 So. 2d 960· Fla. 4th DCA· 2003-04-16 ·cited 4×
  Lauri Parker sought to remove Steven Shullman as personal representative of her mother's estate and trustee of her mother and stepfather's trusts, alleging vindictive and questionable conduct. The trial court denied the removal petition, finding that while some of Shullman's acti
• Lutgarda F. Kerr and Sylvia M. O'Neal Sheppard v. Fernandez
  792 So. 2d 685· Fla. 3d DCA· 2001-08-29 ·cited 4×
  The Third District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court judgment that invalidated a deed transfer on the grounds of ineffective delivery. The court held that J.M. Fernandez, Jr. effectively delivered the deed to his sister and daughter through constructive delivery, as evidence
• Mann v. Cooke
  624 So. 2d 785· Fla. 1st DCA· 1993-09-17 ·cited 4×
  Georgia Mann appeals a summary judgment dismissing her legal malpractice action against attorney A. Hamilton Cooke, who drafted a revocable trust agreement for her deceased husband. Mann, as an intended third-party beneficiary of the trust, claimed Cooke negligently drafted the t
• Norman Cohen under that certain Land Tr. Agreement dated June 15 v. PAN Am. Aluminum Corp.
  363 So. 2d 59· Fla. 3d DCA· 1978-10-10 ·cited 4×
  Plaintiffs appealed a summary judgment dismissing their attempt to enjoin defendants from using their property as a railway right of way, claiming an easement had expired due to non-use. The court affirmed, holding that the easement language was unambiguous and that non-use of tr
• Peninsular Point, Inc. v. S. Ga. Dairy Co-Op, Inc.
  251 So. 2d 690· Fla. 1st DCA· 1971-08-24 ·cited 4×
  Peninsular Point, Inc. sought to enjoin South Georgia Dairy Co-Op from obstructing an abandoned platted street and to quiet title to the street. The court reversed the trial court's judgment, holding that the grantor's clear reservation of reversion rights in the dedication on th
• MacMANUS' Estate v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
  172 F.2d 697· 6th Cir.· 1949-01-31 ·cited 4×
  The grantor retained the power to change beneficiaries, thus the trust corpus is includible in his gross estate for federal estate tax purposes.
• Doyle v. Stanolind OIL & GAS Co.
  123 F.2d 900· 5th Cir.· 1941-11-29 ·cited 4×
  The court held that the trial court properly granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs, as the series of conveyances and surrounding circumstances demonstrated the grantor's intent to convey all his interest in the land, preventing the belated claim of a reserved strip.
• Brown v. Miller
  2 So. 3d 321· Fla. 5th DCA· 2008-10-17 ·cited 3×
  This case involves a dispute over a $7 million transfer from the Elinor Estes Miller Trust to the Bill Miller Trust by trustee Thomas W. Miller, Jr. The trial court invalidated the transfer, but the appellate court reversed, holding that the transfer was authorized under the trus
• Mason v. Martina R. Roser
  588 So. 2d 622· Fla. 1st DCA· 1991-10-14 ·cited 3×
  The appellate court reversed a lower court's decision to void a deed, finding that the trial court erred in allowing parol evidence to challenge the stated consideration of "love and affection" when the purpose was to defeat the deed's operation.
• Hale v. Dominion NAT. Bank
  186 F.2d 374· 6th Cir.· 1951-01-18 ·cited 2×
  The court held that the trust instrument created a single trust, not multiple trusts, based on the grantor's intent derived from the instrument as a whole.
• James v. Mabie
  819 So. 2d 795· Fla. 1st DCA· 2002-05-13 ·cited 1×
  Eugene James appeals from a declaratory judgment determining that an unrecorded deed conveying real property from Lefferts Mabie to Work Enterprises and James was ineffective because the grantor did not intend to deliver it. The trial court found the deed was merely held for show
• Howarth v. Moreau
  430 So. 2d 576· Fla. 5th DCA· 1983-05-04 ·cited 1×
  Mary Howarth appeals a jury verdict finding that her niece Mary Moreau received a valid gift of real property through a quit claim deed executed by Moreau's grandmother. The court reverses, holding that there was insufficient evidence of delivery of the deed, which is essential t
• Kevin Cook AND Nichole Cook v. C.A. No. 2021-0522-SG Deep Hole Creek Assocs.
  Del. Ch.· 2024-07-24
  The court held that the plaintiffs own the property up to the centerline of Deep Hole Creek. The court found that the grantor's intent, as evidenced by the language in the deeds and the priority of calls favoring natural monuments, was to convey title to the centerline. This inte
• Golian v. Polhironakis
  390 So. 2d 187· Fla. 2d DCA· 1980-11-19
  In this property dispute, the court upheld the enforceability of deed restrictions in a subdivision despite a provision allowing the original grantor to amend them. The court held that the reservation of amendment rights is merely one factor in determining whether a common plan o
• The Pekin Wood Prods. Co. v. Afflick
  228 F.2d 816· 8th Cir.· 1956-01-10
  The appellant was convicted of breaking and entering a dwelling with intent to commit grand larceny, and the appellate court considered the reliability of an accomplice's testimony and the defendant's possession of stolen property.
• Lake v. Peck
  7 Fla. Supp. 112· Pasco Cty. Cir. Ct.· 1955-02-02
  In this probate dispute, the court determined that a document executed by a deceased intestate mother purporting to convey her home to her son-in-law was an incomplete deed that failed for lack of delivery, and therefore could not transfer property or be construed as a testamenta
• Smith v. Wilson
  171 F.2d 824· D.C. Cir.· 1948-11-08
  The court held that the trial court's finding of fact regarding the grantor's intent was not clearly erroneous and thus affirmed the decision.