## Facts

- Abel Rasdall executed and delivered a deed conveying his land to his brother, William Rasdall, shortly before Abel fled after seriously injuring another man.
- The deed recited a \$2,000 cash consideration and was absolute on its face, conveying title in fee to William.
- No money was actually paid.
- Abel’s family later claimed the deed was given on an oral understanding that William would hold the land for Abel’s wife and children; no written trust instrument existed.
- Abel later died intestate, and the deed had not been set aside or reformed.
- Abel’s administrator (Jarius Fairchild) and Abel’s widow (Lydia Rasdall) sued in equity to recover the land, asserting an oral trust and invoking an administrator statute aimed at transfers void as against creditors.
- The trial court granted relief to the administrator and widow, effectively treating the land as belonging to Abel’s family; William appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether parol evidence may be used to convert an absolute deed into a trust for the grantor’s wife and children when fraud, accident, or mistake in procuring the deed is neither pleaded nor proved.
2. Whether an administrator and widow may recover land under a statute permitting avoidance of transfers void as against creditors on the pleadings and proof presented.
3. Whether the court may grant relief on a vendor’s lien theory when the bill did not plead or proceed on that theory.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the decree for the plaintiffs and directed dismissal of the bill.
- The court held parol evidence was inadmissible to establish a trust inconsistent with an absolute deed absent pleaded and proved fraud, accident, or mistake.
- The court held the plaintiffs were not entitled to relief under the creditor-protection statute on the record and pleadings.
- The court declined to award relief based on a vendor’s lien because the case was not pleaded or tried as a vendor’s lien action.

## Legal Principles

- A trust concerning land must be evidenced by writing; parol evidence cannot be used to impose an express trust that contradicts an absolute deed.
- Parol evidence may be admitted to affect the operation of a deed only when fraud, accident, or mistake in the procurement of the instrument is properly alleged and proved.
- Equitable relief depends on the theory pleaded; a court will not reframe a case to grant a different form of equitable relief (such as a vendor’s lien) not presented by the pleadings.
- Statutory remedies allowing administrators to set aside conveyances void as against creditors require a properly pleaded and supported creditor-based avoidance theory; they do not automatically permit recovery in intra-family disputes over beneficial ownership.

## Conclusion

The court enforced the deed as written and refused to impose an oral family trust or grant alternative equitable relief, reversing the trial court and dismissing the administrator’s and widow’s attempt to recover the land.


Fairchild v. Rasdall, 9 Wis. 379 (Wis. 1859)