Glascock v. Glascock

• Decision Date: 09 March 1909
• Citation: 117 S.W. 67,217 Mo. 362
• Parties: GLASCOCK et al. v. GLASCOCK et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

117 S.W. 67

217 Mo. 362

GLASCOCK et al. v. GLASCOCK et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

March 9, 1909.

1. HUSBAND AND WIFE (§ 48)—CONVEYANCE BY WIFE TO HUSBAND.

A wife may convey her land directly to her husband, without the intervention of a third person.

2. DOWER (§ 12)—PROPERTY SUBJECT.

A wife having by deed vested title to her land in her husband, it is immaterial whether her joinder with him in a subsequent deed thereof was under duress; the grantee having at the same time deeded it back to the husband, so that it was subject to dower.

3. BILLS AND NOTES (§ 493)—CONSIDERATION —EVIDENCE.

The presumption, under Rev. St. 1899, §§ 457, 894 (Ann. St. 1906, pp. 516, 830), that defendant had furnished the consideration of the note of plaintiff and her husband to defendant cannot be overcome by plaintiff's testimony merely that she did not know anything about it.

4. APPEAL AND ERROR (§ 1009)—REVIEW OF FINDINGS IN CHANCERY CASES.

The Supreme Court may review the findings of fact of the circuit court in chancery cases, though it is inclined to defer to it.

5. DEEDS (§ 211)—DURESS IN PROCUREMENT— EVIDENCE.

Evidence, in an action to cancel a deed of trust and note secured for duress in procurement, held insufficient to show duress.

6. DOWER (§ 46)—RIGHT TO DOWER.

Where plaintiff and her husband gave a valid deed of trust on land, she is not entitled to a decree for dower in it, as against defendant, who bought at the foreclosure, though he agreed to buy for her; her right being only to redeem.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Stoddard County; J. L. Fort, Judge.

Suit by Gillie Glascock and another against Melvin Glascock and another. Decree for plaintiffs. Defendants appeal. Reversed, with directions to dismiss.

Wammack & Welborn, for appellants. Keaton & Keaton, for respondents.

GANTT, P. J.

This is a suit in equity, by the widow and minor son of Dr. L. O. Glascock, deceased, against Melvin Glascock and G. M. Glascock, his brothers, to have certain deeds and conveyances executed by her deceased husband and herself declared fraudulent and void, on account of the alleged fraudulent acts of the defendants, and on account of duress by threats, and to divest the title out of the defendant Melvin Glascock in and to certain real estate, and vest the same in plaintiffs. The petition alleges that said L. O. Glascock and plaintiff Gillie were at the time of his death husband and wife, and the plaintiff Emmet their only son, and that at that time Dr. Glascock and the plaintiff Gillie were the owners in fee of all of lots Nos. 1, 4, and 6, and outlot 3 in block 26, and of lot No. 10 in block 2 of Deal & Boughton's addition to the city of Dexter, and lot No. 1 of the N. W. ¼ of section 4, and all of the land west of Bess slough in the northwest corner of section 3, all in township 24, range 11, and all in Stoddard county, Mo.; that the plaintiff Gillie Glascock was the owner in her own right of all of lots 1, 4, and 6 in block 26, in the city of Dexter, and that plaintiff earned money by her separate labor, and from time to time furnished her said husband sums of money; that the said L. O. Glascock was a practicing physician, and earned good money, and that their joint means purchased their property; that the above real estate of the plaintiffs, and the property purchased by the said L. O. Glascock by and with the means aforesaid, was of the value of $4,500, and that the same was fully paid for, and free of all incumbrances; that about and prior to 1895, Dr. Glascock began to lose his mind, and was finally adjudged insane and incapable of transacting business, and confined in the insane asylum at Fulton on the 17th of November, 1901, where he died on June 17, 1903. It is further alleged that when Dr. Glascock began to lose his mind, he became dangerous and threatening towards the plaintiff Gillie, and he seemed to be seized with an unnatural design to strip the plaintiffs of their property, and bestow it upon the brother Melvin Glascock, and when his wife remonstrated with him, he said to her, "You will sign all papers I want you to, or I will kill you." It is then alleged that Dr. Glascock colluded with the defendant Melvin to enable the latter to obtain deeds of conveyance of all the property of the plaintiff Gillie and the doctor. The petition then alleges specifically that, in pursuance of the said collusion and design, on November 27, 1895, Melvin Glascock came from Tennessee to Missouri, and soon after a conference with Dr. Glascock, Dr. Glascock executed a warranty deed conveying lot 10 in block 2, Deal & Boughton's addition to the city of Dexter, to the defendant Melvin for the alleged consideration of $300, and represented the same to be a mortgage to secure a certain sum of money; that plaintiff Gillie refused to sign and execute the same, and thereupon the doctor declared and threatened that if she did not sign and execute the same, he would kill her; that under fear of this threat she executed the said deed, which she afterwards learned was a warranty deed, for which she received no consideration, and that the same was procured by duress for the purpose of investing the title in Melvin. It is then alleged that on November 27, 1895, by like fraudulent representations, and by like means and the same threats, and without consideration, another warranty deed was procured from Dr. Glascock and plaintiff Gillie to Melvin, conveying lot No. 1 of the N. W. ¼ of section 4, township 24, range 11, for the pretended consideration of $500; that on July 8, 1897, by the same means of duress, a warranty deed was obtained from the plaintiff Gillie directly to her husband, Dr. L. O. Glascock, for the pretended consideration of $1, which was never paid, purporting to convey all of lots Nos. 1, 4, and 6 in block 26, in the city of Dexter. For practically the same causes the following other conveyances were assailed in the bill: A deed of trust from plaintiff Gillie and L. O. Glascock to Melvin Glascock, dated November 8, 1897, conveying lots 1, 4, and 6, and outlot 3 in Dexter, and purporting to be given to secure a note of $725, due two years after date, a warranty deed from plaintiff Gillie and her husband to defendant G. M. Glascock of date December 10, 1900, and a deed of the same date from G. M. Glascock to L. O. Glascock to lots 1, 4, and 6, and outlot 3 in block 26 in Dexter. It is then alleged that at the time of Dr. Glascock's death the premises, including all west of Bess slough in the northwest corner of lot 2 of the N. W. ¼ of section 3, township 24, range 11, and known as "mill property," was incumbered by a deed of trust of $125, and, plaintiff Gillie desiring that the same should be sold, the defendant Melvin agreed to have it advertised and sold under the deed of trust, and to buy it in for her, but, instead of so doing, Melvin bought in the property in his own name for $25, and afterwards sold the same for $200, and never accounted for the overplus, and appropriated to his own use the rents of the property after June 8, 1902. It is then alleged that Doctor Glascock's office, situated on lot 1 in Dexter, was insured, and the premiums on this insurance were paid out of plaintiff Gillie's money, and that this office has since burned, and that the defendant Melvin was about to collect the insurance. There is also a charge that the defendant Melvin has collected all the rents on lot 1 of the N. W. ¼ of section 4, and has never accounted for the same.

The answer of G. M. Glascock was a general denial. Defendant Melvin admitted that he obtained the title to lot 10, block 2, Deal & Boughton's addition to Dexter, and to lot No. 1 of the N. W. ¼ of section 4, township 24, range 11, by the deeds set out in plaintiff's bill, and that on November 8, 1897, Dr. L. O. Glascock and plaintiff Gillie executed their joint promissory note to defendant for $725, and secured the same by their deed of trust on lots 1, 4, and 6, and outlot 3, block 26, in Dexter. Further answering, defendant Melvin stated that his dealings with the said L. O. and Gillie Glascock in and about the property mentioned in the bill were all in the utmost good faith on the part of the defendant and at the urgent request and solicitation of said L. O. and Gillie Glascock, and defendant paid the $800 mentioned in the two deeds of November 27, 1895, and also the $725 mentioned in the said deed of trust of November 8, 1897, and that since the execution of the deeds of November 27, 1895, L. O. and Gillie Glascock have had possession of and collected all the rents on said lot down in Dexter, under an agreement that they would pay the taxes and keep up the insurance, which they failed to pay, and defendant was forced to pay the same, amounting to $53.18, and there was the same agreement as to lot 1 of the N. W. ¼ of section 4, township 24, range 11, which they also failed to observe, whereby defendant was compelled to pay $16.67 taxes on said land. Defendant also alleged that he had been forced to pay all the taxes and insurance on lots 1, 4, and 6 and outlot 3 in Dexter, since the execution of the deed of trust of November 8, 1897, in order to protect his lien thereon. In relation to the property described as that west of Bess slough in the northwest corner of lot 2 of the N. W. ¼ of section 3, township 24, range 11, and known as "mill property," defendant alleged that plaintiff Gillie and L. O. Glascock executed a deed of trust thereon on December 29, 1899, to secure a debt of $125 to A. H. Carter and J. N. Miller, that this debt became due, and said L. O. and Gillie were unable to pay the same, and at their request defendant took an assignment of the same, and paid said debt; that afterwards Dr. Glascock was sent to the asylum, and it became necessary to foreclose this deed of trust in order to get the title in a condition in which it could be handled to the best interest of all concerned, and accordingly said property was advertised...