Goldie Wilkinson v. Margaret Mary Tarwater

This is a suit in equity to declare an equitable lien on real estate. The amount involved is $23,650, the purchase price of
the property. The decree was in favor of the defendant and the plaintiff has appealed. The plaintiff, Goldie Wilkinson, is a sister of John Nolan Tarwater who died August 10, 1960, at the age of sixty-two; the
defendant, Margaret Mary Tarwater, is the widow of Mr. Tarwater. In 1957 Mr. and Mrs. Tarwater were living with their two
daughters at 3834 College Avenue in Kansas City. Because of their dissatisfaction with the changing character of the neighborhood,
they began looking for a new home. Mr. and Mrs. Tarwater were accompanied on some of their house hunting trips by Mrs. Wilkinson
who had inherited about $40,000 in corporate stock from her husband who in turn had inherited it from an aunt shortly before
his death. Eventually the house in question located at 206 West 65th Terrace North in Clay County was found and purchased.
It is undisputed that Mrs. Wilkinson furnished the entire purchase price of the house. She gave her brother, Mr. Tarwater,
a check for $500 for the down payment when the purchase contract was signed on June 27, 1957. When the deed was delivered
on July 22, 1957, she wrote two additional checks, one for $14,500 and the other for $8,648, which paid the purchase price
in full. The grantees in the deed were Margaret Mary Tarwater, John Nolan Tarwater, and Goldie Wilkinson, as joint tenants
with right of survivorship and not as tenants in common. The Tarwaters moved in and occupied the house as their home. Mrs.
Tarwater continued to live there after the death of her husband in August 1960. Mrs. Wilkinson's theory is that the sum of
$23,500 paid by her was a loan to Mr. and Mrs. Tarwater which was to be repaid from the proceeds of the sale of the College
Street house and the balance at the rate of $100 per month. Mrs. Tarwater denies that the money was a loan and says it was
a gift to her and her husband. Mrs. Tarwater concedes that she and Mrs. Wilkinson now own the property as joint tenants. They
were the only witnesses in support of their respective contentions.