Bookout v. Bookout
| Citation | 49 N.E. 824,150 Ind. 63 |
| Decision Date | 17 March 1898 |
| Docket Number | 18,355 |
| Parties | Bookout v. Bookout |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Henry Circuit Court.
Affirmed.
J. M Brown and S. H. Brown, for appellant.
M. E Forkner, for appellee.
This was a suit in the lower court by appellee to set aside certain conveyances of real estate made by her late husband, Robert Bookout, to appellant and others prior to their marriage, on the grounds that said conveyances were executed for the fraudulent purpose of defeating her inchoate interest in the lands conveyed. She was successful in her action in respect to twenty-five acres of the land conveyed to appellant, in which the court found she was entitled to her interest as widow of her deceased husband, and she was awarded partition for the same. But two questions are sought to be presented by appellant: First, the sufficiency of the complaint on demurrer; second, the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment.
The complaint avers, in substance, that the plaintiff, Mrs Bookout, is the lawful widow of Robert Bookout, deceased, and that he and the plaintiff were married to each other, and became husband and wife in August, 1891, and that she remained his said wife until the date of his death, which occurred in October, 1895. That at the time of said marriage her husband, Robert Bookout, was in actual possession of the lands described in the complaint, and was occupying the same as his homestead. And it is averred that he was in fact the owner of said real estate and in visible and open possession thereof at the time of their marriage under a clear and indefeasible title of record; that to induce the plaintiff to marry him he represented to her that he was the owner of all the lands in question, and promised in consideration that she would marry him, that if she survived him as his widow, she would have and receive her rights as such in and to said lands. It is alleged that the public records disclosed that the said Robert Bookout was the absolute owner of said realty, and that the plaintiff relied on said representations and the showing of title as exhibited by said records, and in good faith, and without any notice of the fraudulent conveyances mentioned in the complaint, consented to and did marry the said Robert Bookout, as above stated; that she was induced to marry him by reason of said representations of ownership of said lands, and without the same having been made she would not have entered into said marriage relation. The complaint further alleges that a short time prior to the said marriage, and in anticipation thereof, and for the purpose of cheating and defrauding her in her marital rights, said Robert Bookout executed two deeds purporting to convey the lands in controversy to the defendants, who are his children and grandchildren by a former marriage, the plaintiff being a childless second wife. It is further averred that these deeds were executed wholly without any consideration, and for the fraudulent purpose, as heretofore stated, all of which the defendants had full knowledge at the time of the execution thereof; that in furtherance of said fraudulent purpose, and in order to conceal the fact of their execution from the plaintiff, the...
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