## Facts

- Lillian W. Cheney executed a warranty deed in 1958 conveying Weber County, Utah real property to Flora Cheney as grantee.
- Lillian placed the deed in a sealed envelope inside a safety deposit box titled in the names of Lillian and Francis E. Wiggill.
- Lillian retained the only key to the box and maintained sole control over access; Wiggill had no key and no access during Lillian’s life.
- Lillian instructed Wiggill that after her death he should access the box and deliver an envelope to those concerned, which included the deed.
- After Lillian died, Wiggill accessed the box and handed the deed to Flora.
- As executor of Lillian’s estate, Wiggill sued to determine the deed’s validity and the proper disposition of the property.
- The trial court invalidated the deed for lack of valid delivery; the grantees appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a deed kept in a safety deposit box under the grantor’s exclusive control, to be handed to the grantee only after the grantor’s death, is validly delivered so as to operate as an inter vivos conveyance.
2. Whether post-death delivery by an executor can satisfy the legal requirement of delivery when the grantor did not relinquish dominion over the deed during life.

## Decision

- The Utah Supreme Court affirmed the judgment invalidating the warranty deed.
- The court held there was no valid delivery because the deed never passed beyond the grantor’s control during her lifetime.
- The executor’s post-death transfer of the deed to the grantee did not cure the absence of lifetime delivery.
- No costs were awarded.

## Legal Principles

- A deed is not operative to transfer an interest in land unless it is delivered.
- Valid delivery requires the deed to pass beyond the grantor’s dominion; the grantor must part with possession of the deed or the right to retain it.
- Delivery may be shown despite the grantor’s later possession at death only if evidence proves the grantor earlier relinquished control with intent to pass title.
- Intent to benefit a grantee at death does not effect a conveyance when the grantor retains the ability to revoke by retrieving or destroying the deed.

## Conclusion

Because the grantor retained exclusive control over the deed and the safety deposit box until her death, the deed was never delivered in the legal sense and could not transfer title; the executor’s post-death handover to the grantee was ineffective, so the property remained in the estate.


Wiggill v. Cheney, 597 P.2d 1351 (Utah 1979)