There are many situations in which Tennessee courts have been able to impose resulting trusts to recover property for aggrieved parties when no other legal avenue was available to help. The law of resulting trusts, to boil it down to the point of over generalization, allows a court “to follow the money” of the party taken advantage of to property purchased with that money, and then to place a resulting trust on the property. Once a resulting trust is imposed on property, a court can provide relief to the injured party by divesting title to the property out of the titled owner and/or vesting it in the aggrieved party.
In an opinion involving a decision of the Davidson County Probate Court, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee declined to allow a resulting trust to be imposed to undo a son’s ownership of an expensive home for which his mother paid almost the entire cost of construction. The opinion provides a helpful analysis of the limitations on a court’s ability to impose a resulting trust to assist a wronged party.
A mother (“Mother”) sold her house in Nashville for a net gain of $395,719. Her son (“Son”) owned a farm in Pegram, Tennessee. Mother moved to the farm and lived with Son in a farmhouse. At the time of Mother’s move, and at all times thereafter, Son was the only owner listed on the deed to the farm. After moving to Son’s farm, Son and Mother signed a construction contract to have a new home constructed on the farm. Both signed the construction contract as owners.