Rosengrant v. Rosengrant case brief

Rosengrant v. Rosengrant case brief summary
629 P.2d 800 (1981)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellant, a grantee of a deed, sought review of a decision by an Oklahoma District Court in favor of the appellee heirs in an action to cancel and set aside for want of legal delivery a warranty deed that had attempted to vest title in the grantee to certain property that was owned by his deceased aunt and uncle.

CASE FACTS
The decedents had executed a warranty deed to their property and instructed their banker, who was their agent, to hold the deed and, upon the death of the decendents, to deliver the deed to the grantee so that he could record it and take ownership of the land.

DISCUSSION

• The court affirmed the district court's judgment that declared the deed null and void for failure of legal delivery and found that the judgment was not fully against the weight of the evidence. 
• Because the envelope that contained the executed deed bore the names of both the grantee and one of the decedents, the court held that the deed, in fact, was retrievable by that decedent at any time before he died. 
• There was at least an implied agreement between the decedent and the banker that the grant was not to take effect until both decedents died and the recordation of the deed. 
• There was evidence that showed that, after the deed was filed, the latter of the decedents to die had continued to control and use the property, pay taxes on it, and claim it as his homestead. 
• The decedents attempted to employ the deed as if it were a will, which was prohibited under Oklahoma state law.

CONCLUSION
Judgment affirmed.

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