Bonsal v. Randall

• Decision Date: 22 December 1905
• Citation: 91 S.W. 475,192 Mo. 525
• Parties: BONSAL v. RANDALL et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

91 S.W. 475

192 Mo. 525

BONSAL v. RANDALL et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 22, 1905.

1. DEEDS — CAPACITY OF GRANTOR — EVIDENCE.

Evidence examined, and held to show that a father was capable of making and understanding the nature of a deed to his daughter.

2. SAME — UNDUE INFLUENCE — PRESUMPTION.

A daughter did not occupy such a confidential relation to her father, though she kept house for him and cared for him when he was sick, as to raise a presumption that a deed from him to her was procured by undue influence.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jasper County; Hugh Dabbs, Judge.

Action by Isaac Bonsal against Kate B. Randall and others. From a decree dismissing the bill, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Frank L. Forlow, for appellant. Thomas Dolan, for respondents.

GANTT, J.

This is an appeal from the decree of the circuit court of Jasper county, Mo., dismissing a bill in equity brought by the plaintiff against the defendant Kate B. Randall to set aside a deed made by Vincent P. Bonsal to Kate Randall to the N. ½ of lot No. 11 and 37½ feet off of the south side of lot No. 10 in Patton's addition to the town of Murphyburg, now known as the city of Joplin, which said deed was executed on the 29th of April, 1899. It is alleged in the petition of plaintiff that the plaintiff is a son of said Vincent P. Bonsal, deceased, and that the defendants Kate B. Randall and J. R. Randall are husband and wife, and that the said Kate Randall is a daughter of the said Vincent P. Bonsal, deceased, and that the defendant Guy D. Randall is a son of Mae Randall, deceased, who was a daughter of the said Vincent P. Bonsal; that Mae Randall departed this life prior to the death of her father; that Vincent P. Bonsal died July 3, 1900, and at the time of his death was and for many years had been a resident of Jasper county; that the defendant Kate Randall was married to J. R. Randall, who is the father of the defendant Guy Randall, since the death of her father; that the defendant Guy Randall is a minor 13 years of age. Plaintiff states that he, the said plaintiff, and the defendant Kate Randall and Guy Randall are the only heirs at law of the said Vincent P. Bonsal, deceased; that on the 29th day of April, 1899, the said Vincent P. Bonsal was the owner in fee simple of the above real estate, and on that day made a deed of all of said property to the defendant Kate Randall, by her then maiden name, Kate Bonsal, and the said deed was duly recorded in the Deed Records of Jasper county on the 3d day of May, 1899, in Book 146, page 243; that at the time of the making of the said deed the said Kate Randall was living with her father upon the said real estate, and so continued to live until the day of his death, July 3, 1900; that at the time of the making of the said deed the said Vincent P. Bonsal was more than 75 years old and afflicted with disease and ailments, partially paralyzed, and by reason of his great age and infirmities completely helpless, and wholly dependent on others for the common comforts of life, and was so demented and enfeebled in body and mind as to render him incapable of free, independent, and rational volition; that from long residing with and from the habit of being managed and controlled by the said Kate Randall the said Vincent Bonsal had become subject to her will and was incapable of resisting her instructions; that the relation of patient and nurse existed between them; that the said deed was without any consideration, and the consideration named therein was grossly inadequate. Wherefore, plaintiff prayed that the said conveyance be set aside and held for naught, and that the title to his portion of said real estate should be vested in plaintiff. The defendant Mrs. Randall, in her answer, denied each and every allegation therein contained, except that she was a sister of the plaintiff, the death of her father at the time set forth in the plaintiff's petition, and the conveyance of the property from her father to her. She alleged that said conveyance was for a valuable consideration, and that said consideration was services rendered by her by keeping house for him and taking care of him as long as he lived. The minor defendant, Guy Randall, answered by his guardian ad litem, W. J. Owen, and asserted his title to the undivided one-third in the said lot. The cause was tried at the June term, 1902, on the 25th of August, and resulted in a degree for the defendant dismissing plaintiff's bill.

The testimony discloses that Vincent P. Bonsal, deceased, was the father of four children, the plaintiff, Isaac Bonsal, and another son, Vincent, and two daughters, Kate and Mae. Vincent and Mae both died before their father. Mae had intermarried with J. R. Randall, and left one child, the defendant Guy B. Randall. Vincent P. Bonsal's wife died some time prior to the year 1899. The plaintiff, Isaac, had left home and gone in business for himself, and was the proprietor of and conducting a foundry at Oronogo, in Jasper county. The defendant Kate Randall, at...