## Facts

- Paul and Allene Frambach held record title to two parcels of real property (referred to in the litigation as Parcel A and Parcel B), including the home where they lived.
- After the families met during a hurricane, Stanley Dunihue, a widower with seven children, moved with his family into the Frambachs’ home; the Frambachs had five children, creating a combined household of twelve children.
- The adults agreed to live together and share the costs of raising the children and running the household; over time, the household operated financially as a single family unit.
- Both Dunihue and the Frambachs contributed money used for household expenses, and Mrs. Frambach managed the household and did the cooking and related domestic work for the group.
- During the approximately nineteen years of cohabitation, Dunihue performed substantial labor and paid for or assisted with improvements to the home and property.
- After the last of Dunihue’s children left the household, the relationship deteriorated, and the Frambachs required Dunihue to leave the home on very short notice (about 30 minutes).
- Dunihue claimed the Frambachs had promised he could live in the home for the rest of his life and sought an interest in the property based on his long-term contributions.
- The trial court awarded Dunihue an undivided one-half interest in the property, including imposing a resulting trust on Parcel A; the Frambachs appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Dunihue’s long-term cohabitation with the Frambachs and his contributions of labor and funds toward household expenses and improvements justified awarding him an undivided ownership interest in property titled solely in the Frambachs’ names (including by a resulting trust).
2. If an ownership interest was not supported, whether Dunihue could still obtain restitutionary relief (such as an equitable lien) based on the value of benefits conferred, offset by the value of benefits he received.

## Decision

- The Fifth District Court of Appeal reversed the judgment awarding Dunihue an undivided one-half ownership interest and reversing the resulting trust imposed on Parcel A.
- The court held the record did not support treating Dunihue as a co-owner of the real property merely because he contributed to improvements and participated in a long-term shared household arrangement.
- The court remanded for further proceedings to determine whether an equitable lien or similar restitutionary remedy should be awarded, measured by the value of Dunihue’s contributions and improvements after accounting for the value of what he received from the arrangement (including housing and household services).

## Legal Principles

- A resulting trust in real property generally requires proof that the claimant furnished consideration for the purchase at or before the time title was taken in another’s name, together with evidence showing an intent that the claimant have a beneficial interest.
- Expenditures for, or labor on, improvements to property titled in another’s name do not by themselves establish co-ownership or justify a resulting trust absent purchase-money contribution or a proven agreement to share title.
- Informal family-style cohabitation arrangements and pooled finances, without clear proof of an agreement to convey an ownership interest, do not create a legal or equitable transfer of title.
- Where one party may have conferred value on another’s property, equity may permit restitutionary relief (including an equitable lien) to prevent unjust enrichment, with the award limited to the net benefit conferred after offsets for the benefits the claimant received from the living arrangement.

## Conclusion

Frambach v. Dunihue holds that nearly two decades of cohabitation, shared household finances, and substantial improvements by a non-titleholder did not justify awarding him a one-half ownership interest or imposing a resulting trust when he did not fund the purchase price and the evidence did not show a definite agreement to transfer title; on remand, the trial court could consider a restitution-based remedy such as an equitable lien, calculated by valuing Dunihue’s contributions and improvements and subtracting the value of the housing and other benefits he received.


Frambach v. Dunihue, 419 So. 2d 1115 (1982)