McDowell v. McDowell
| Decision Date | 17 February 1909 |
| Citation | 119 N.W. 702,141 Iowa 286 |
| Parties | RHODA MCDOWELL, Appellee, v. P. A. MCDOWELL, Appellant |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Lucas District Court.--HON. FRANK W. EICHELBERGER Judge.
THIS is an action to establish and quiet title to certain real and personal property of which G. J. McDowell, the husband of the plaintiff, died seised. Defendant denied plaintiff's title, and in a counterclaim asked that her title to an undivided one-half of the property be established. The trial court granted plaintiff the relief prayed, and defendant appeals.--Affirmed.
Decree affirmed.
W. W Bulman, for appellant.
Hickman & Wells, J. A. Penick, and Stuart, Stuart & Stuart, for appellee.
Plaintiff is the widow, and defendant the mother, of G. J. McDowell who died intestate and without issue December 20, 1906, seised and possessed of the real and personal estate in controversy. For appellee it is contended that while deceased was lying on his deathbed, and fully comprehended that dissolution was near, plaintiff and defendant came to the bedside, and that he then, which was within a few hours of his death, stated in the presence of both of them that he desired his wife, plaintiff herein, to have all his property and to keep it, which she said she would do, and that he then turned to defendant, his mother, and asked her if that was all right, to which she responded: With this he expressed satisfaction, and it is claimed that in consequence he made no will or other conveyance to plaintiff. These facts, somewhat elaborated in the testimony, are relied upon as being sufficient foundation for plaintiff's claim to the entire property left by her husband. The trial court found that defendant was estopped from claiming any interest in or to the property left by the deceased, and quieted the title thereto in plaintiff, and it is from this decree that the appeal is taken.
Defendant argues the case as if plaintiff were relying upon an oral will made by deceased during his lifetime, but that is not her position. She is claiming the property as the widow of the deceased and pleads as against defendant, the mother of the deceased, an estoppel, based upon her statements and conduct just prior to the demise of G. J. McDowell. While there is a conflict in the testimony regarding a conversation which took place between the deceased, his mother, and his wife just prior to his decease, we think the preponderance thereof shows that deceased intended that his wife should have all of his property; that when he realized death was at hand, and within three or four hours of the time it occurred, he stated to his wife and his mother that it was his desire that his wife should have it all, and at the same time asked his mother if this was satisfactory to her, to which she responded in language substantially as indicated above; all parties having agreed that nothing further was done by deceased in the way of making a will or deed, and that shortly thereafter he died in the belief that his wife would take all his estate. Following our usual custom, we do not set out the testimony upon which we base these conclusions, as to do so would serve no useful purpose. The fact question being settled, the only remaining one is of law, and that is, will these facts constitute such an estoppel upon defendant as will deprive her of her right to take under the law as mother of the deceased, who left no children surviving?
The better procedure, of course, to have been pursued by the deceased was to have made a deed and bill of sale of his property, running directly to his wife, or, better still, he could easily have made a will. But he did neither, and the ultimate question here is, may an heir or successor in interest to a decedent's property so conduct himself as that he will be barred from claiming any interest therein? Unless our statutes of descent are to be regarded as absolute and as inflexible as the laws of the Medes and Persians, the facts recited should estop...
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