Daniel v. Tolon
| Decision Date | 11 April 1916 |
| Docket Number | 6361. |
| Citation | 157 P. 756,53 Okla. 666,1916 OK 446 |
| Parties | DANIEL v. TOLON ET AL. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied May 23, 1916.
Syllabus by the Court.
A husband, who receives into his family and supports his wife's child by a former marriage, will be presumed to have done so as a parent; and where such is the case, said child is not liable to him for its support. Section 4378, Rev. Laws 1910.
Courts watch with great jealousy transactions of guardians with their wards, or any dealings between them affecting the estate of the ward. From the confidential relations between them, it will be presumed that the ward was acting under the influence of the guardian, and all transactions between them prejudicially affecting the interests of the ward will be held to be constructively fraudulent. This presumption extends to transactions between them after the guardianship has ended, but where the influence remains, and the control and dominion over the former ward's property still continues.
The equitable rules concerning dealings between guardian and ward are very stringent. The relation is so intimate, the dependence so complete, the influence so great, that any transactions between the two parties, or by the guardian alone, through which the guardian obtains a benefit, entered into while the relation exists, are in the highest sense suspicious; the presumption against them is so strong that it is hardly possible for them to be sustained. The general doctrine of equity applies to the parties after the legal condition of guardianship has ended, and as long as the dependence on one side and influence on the other presumptively or in fact continues. This influence is presumed to last while the guardian's functions are to any extent still performed, while the property is still at all under his control, and until the accounts have been finally settled. Any conveyance, purchase, sale, contract and especially, gift, by which the guardian derives a benefit at the expense of the former ward made after the termination of the legal relation, but while the influence lasts, is presumed to be invalid and voidable. The burden rests heavily upon the guardian to prove all the circumstances of knowledge, free consent, good faith, absence of influence which alone can overcome the presumption.
A deed by an illiterate Creek freedwoman, of the major part of her allotment, made one week after the discharge of her legal guardian, to her stepfather and former guardian, and with whom she at the time resided, and who was at the time her attorney in fact and in control of her allotted lands, in consideration of her support by said grantee during her minority, it not appearing that she was advised of her legal rights, is constructively fraudulent. In such circumstances to bind the grantor, it must appear that she acted after the termination of her legal disability, with deliberation and with full knowledge of all the material facts respecting her rights.
One who signs an instrument as an attesting witness to the signature of the maker is not thereby, and from that fact alone charged with knowledge of the contents of the document signed by him.
A purchaser of lands, who buys in reliance upon the record title, is chargeable with all the notice brought to him by the records; and if the record contains matters that would put a person of ordinary prudence upon inquiry into the nature of the title of the grantor, or of the rights and equities of a former owner, then the law charges such purchaser with all the knowledge an inquiry upon his part, prosecuted with reasonable diligence, would have brought home to him.
Every person who has actual notice of circumstances sufficient to put a prudent man upon inquiry as to a particular fact, and who omits to make such inquiry with reasonable diligence, is deemed to have constructive notice of the fact itself. Section 2926, Rev. Laws 1910.
Error from District Court, Creek County; Wade S. Stanfield, Judge.
Action by Eliza Daniel against Clinton Tolon and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff brings error. Reversed and remanded, with directions.
George James, of Okmulgee, for plaintiff in error.
McDougal & Lytle, of Sapulpa, and Charles A. Dickson, of Okmulgee, for defendant in error Charles A. Dickson.
C. W. Holbrook, of Okmulgee, for defendants in error Clinton Tolon, J. W. Teter, and N. T. Gilbert.
On the application of Clinton Tolon, the county court of Okmulgee county, on October 15, 1910, appointed said Tolon guardian of the persons and estates of his stepchildren, Eliza West, Kizzie West, and George West, minors. Said minors were at the time of Tolon's appointment, according to the recitals of his petition, aged, respectively, 15, 13, and 10 years, and were freedmen citizens of the Creek Nation, each possessed of an allotment of land. Eliza, whose estate alone is involved in the present action, according to the evidence, arrived at the age of 18 years on or about the 20th day of November, 1911. On February 6, 1912, said guardian made his final report, showing an indebtedness due him from the estate of his ward in the sum of $154.95, and at the same time filed in the county court a final receipt of said ward, signed by mark, and on the same day said court made and entered an order approving the final report, and discharged said Tolon as guardian of Eliza. On February 5th, or the day prior to the foregoing transactions, said Eliza executed a power of attorney to said Tolon, authorizing him to lease the south one-half of the north one-half of section 13, township 15 north, range 8 east, for agricultural purposes, and to collect and receipt for all rentals or income arising therefrom, and also to make and execute an oil lease on said land. Said power of attorney was filed for record in the office of the register of deeds on March 1, 1912. On February 13, 1912, Eliza gave a warranty deed to 120 acres of her land to said Tolon, for a consideration, as shown by the deed, of $1,500. Said deed was placed of record on the same day and at the same hour as the power of attorney previously executed. On May 17th thereafter said Tolon, in his own right and as attorney in fact for Eliza, executed to J. W. Teter and N. T. Gilbert a three-year agricultural lease on the 120 acres of land included in Tolon's deed, the term of which lease was to begin January 1, 1913, the consideration therefor being $175; and in addition to which the lessees agreed to put in cultivation as much as 15 acres of new land, and to make certain repairs on the premises. The lease purports to be the joint lease of said Tolon and Eliza, and was filed for record on May 18th following its execution. On February 13, 1912, and on the same day that Eliza gave her deed to Clinton, she executed to A. D. Kennedy a mortgage on 120 acres of her land for the purported consideration of $500, which mortgage was filed for record on the day following its execution. On June 19, 1912, Clinton Tolon, joined by his wife, Lucy, executed a deed to the lands described in the deed from Eliza to Tolon, to Charles A. Dickson for the consideration of $200, which deed was shortly thereafter placed of record. Eliza lived with her mother and stepfather until April, 1911, when her mother, Nancy, died. Thereafter she continued to live with Tolon until November, 1912, when she married one Daniel. While she had attended school for a short time, the evidence is convincing that she was illiterate, uneducated, and inexperienced in business affairs. The several instruments executed by her were each signed by mark.
Plaintiff's action is for a cancellation of her purported deed to Tolon, the deed of Tolon to Dickson, and the lease made by Tolon to Teter and Gilbert, on the ground, as stated by counsel:
"By her petition herein plaintiff in error admits the execution by her of one deed on the property in controversy, and asks that the same be canceled on account of there being no consideration, or no sufficient consideration therefor, under the existing fiduciary relations existing between the plaintiff in error and defendant Clinton Tolon, and that it be canceled for the further reason that it was secured by false representations as to its character, and is therefore a forgery and void under section 2646, Rev. Laws 1910."
While there is some conflict in the testimony, particularly as to the belief of Eliza as to the character of instrument that she was called upon to execute on February 6, 1912 (believing it, as she contends, to be an oil lease), the material facts respecting the fiduciary relations and the consideration for the deed are undisputed. As to the consideration, the testimony of Tolon is that the deed was taken in settlement of an account owing him by Eliza for board for some eight years prior to the time he was appointed guardian, and that as she did not get sufficient out of the mortgage to Kennedy to pay him, it was agreed that she would deed him the land subject to the mortgage, and which he was to take care of. Being asked on cross-examination concerning the transaction, the following testimony was adduced:
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