Section 16 Purpose

• Library: Remedies 2006

The object of a constructive trust is to restore property wrongfully withheld to the rightful owner. Tobias v. Korman, 141 S.W.3d 468 (Mo. App. E.D. 2004). A “constructive trust” is merely the machinery a court of equity uses as a remedy to right a past wrong. Nelson v. Emmert, 105 S.W.3d 563 (Mo. App. S.D. 2003). Technically, constructive trusts are not trusts at all but equitable devices employed by courts of equity to remedy a situation in which a party has been wrongfully deprived of some right, title, benefit, or interest in property as a result of fraud or violation of confidence or faith reposed in another. See:

• Fix v. Fix, 847 S.W.2d 762, 765 (Mo. banc 1993)

• In re Estate of Davis, 954 S.W.2d 374, 380 (Mo. App. E.D. 1997)

• Miller v. Miller, 872 S.W.2d 654, 657 (Mo. App. S.D. 1994)

• In re Estate of Hayward,884 S.W.2d 10, 14 (Mo. App. W.D. 1994) (any party attempting to impose a constructive trust on joint bank account proceeds on the basis of the intent of the depositor will be foreclosed from relief except in cases of fraud, undue influence, mental incapacity, or mistake)

• Imgrund v. LaRue,851 S.W.2d 40, 43–44 (Mo. App. E.D. 1993)

• Schultz v. Schultz, 637 S.W.2d 1, 4–5 (Mo. banc 1982)

• Champ v. Poelker, 755 S.W.2d 383, 392 (Mo. App. E.D. 1988)

Constructive trusts arise ‘“by operation of law, or, more accurately, by construction of the court, regardless and independently of any actual or presumed intention of the parties to create a trust.’” Brown v. Brown, 152 S.W.3d 911 (Mo. App. W.D. 2005) (quoting Schultz...