Ylonen v. Ylonen

This is an appeal from a decree entered by the superior court of Cook County in a proceeding commenced by Myrtle Ylonen, the
appellee, against her husband, George Ylonen, who is the principal appellant, for a divorce, for an accounting and for partition
of three parcels of real estate, allegedly accumulated through the mutual efforts of the husband and wife, of which appellee
claimed to be the equitable owner of a one-half interest. The record shows that prior to the marital difficulties of the parties,
appellee had once appeared as the sole owner of record of one of the parcels of land involved and, later, as the sole beneficiary
of a trust agreement executed with respect to it. As to the other two parcels, it appears that they were conveyed directly
by the sellers to a trustee and that, ultimately, the trust agreements with respect to them provided in one instance that
the beneficial interest was vested in appellee and her son as joint tenants and in the other that the beneficial interest
was vested in appellee and appellant Ylonen, hereinafter called appellant. In all of said trust agreements, it was provided
that the trustee would deal with the title to the land upon the written direction of appellant. Accordingly, on November 18,
1948, appellant, unknown to appellee, directed the trustee to convey all of the real estate to one Peter W. Paganis who, it
appears, was an accountant for appellant. On the same day, the trustee executed two trustee's deeds conveying all the real
estate in question to Paganis, and the latter, together with his wife, executed two deeds in trust to the Liberty National
Bank of Chicago as trustee. The trust agreements in each instance provided that the owners of the beneficial interest in the
real estate were Mike and Otto Ylonen, brothers of appellant, and Otto's wife, Impi Ylonen. Both of said agreements also provided
that the trustee would deal with the title to the lands upon the written direction of appellant. With the title in this state,
appellee made the trustee and Mike, Otto and Impi Ylonen parties defendant to the cause, but Mike Ylonen, a resident of Michigan,
was never served with process nor did he submit himself to the jurisdiction of the court. On this appeal, George Ylonen is
the principal appellant and has been joined only by the trustee. Appellee's complaint was filed on February 14, 1950, and three days later the cause was referred to a master in chancery
for determination of matters relating to temporary alimony, temporary attorney's fees, costs, and the property rights between
the parties. There followed numerous pleadings, counterpleadings and amendments wherein appellee charged her husband with
habitual drunkenness and adultery and he countered with charges of desertion and adultery. On this issue, the chancellor,
after a hearing in open court and upon an interim report of the master relating to attorney's fees, entered a decree of divorce
on September 19, 1952, on appellee's complaint. This decree is not attacked on this appeal. In addition to dissolving the
bonds of matrimony, the said decree confirmed the previous order of reference to the master and further referred to him questions
of alimony, property rights, fees and costs, and the issues of partition. After numerous hearings, the master filed his report
which, for the most part, was confirmed by the chancellor who, on April 9, 1953, entered the order from which this appeal
is taken and which, in substance, provides as follows: