Nuckols v. Nuckols

• Citation: 228 Va. 25,320 S.E.2d 734
• Decision Date: 07 September 1984
• Docket Number: No. 820968,820968
• Parties: Ernest B. NUCKOLS, Jr., et al. v. Eleanor S. NUCKOLS, etc. Record
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

Page 734

320 S.E.2d 734

228 Va. 25

Ernest B. NUCKOLS, Jr., et al. v. Eleanor S. NUCKOLS, etc.

Record No. 820968.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

Sept. 7, 1984.

James H. Walsh, Richmond (Robert E. Draim, McGuire, Woods & Battle, Richmond, on briefs), for appellants.

E. Preston Lancaster, Jr., Farmville (Watkins M. Abbitt, Appomattox, on brief), for appellee.

Before CARRICO, C.J., and COCHRAN, POFF, COMPTON, STEPHENSON, RUSSELL and THOMAS, JJ.

CARRICO, Chief Justice.

On March 13, 1979, Eleanor S. Nuckols, an eighty-four-year-old widow, executed two deeds of conveyance. The first conveyed to Ernest B. Nuckols, Jr., and Hilda Nuckols, the grantor's son and daughter-in-law, jointly, "an estate for their lifetimes" in approximately two acres of land in Cumberland County, including a dwelling. The other conveyed to Ernest Nuckols alone in fee simple an adjoining eighteen-acre tract improved with growing Christmas trees.

On August 27, 1980, J. Taylor Williams, Eleanor Nuckols' son-in-law, filed in her name and in his capacity as her attorney-in-fact a bill of complaint against Ernest B. Nuckols, Jr., and Hilda Nuckols (hereinafter, the defendants). The bill of complaint, as supplemented by a bill of particulars, sought the rescission of the two March 13, 1979 deeds on the grounds of inadequate consideration, undue influence, and constructive fraud. During the course of the proceeding, Terry L. Van Horn was appointed Eleanor Nuckols' guardian, and the cause continued thereafter under the style, "Eleanor S. Nuckols, a person under a disability, by Terry L. Van Horn, her guardian and next friend, and Terry L. Van Horn, guardian" (hereinafter, the plaintiffs).

The chancellor heard the matter ore tenus, and, on March 5, 1982, entered a final decree declaring both deeds "null and void and of no effect." In a written opinion filed March 24, 1982, the chancellor stated that the deeds were set aside because of lack of consideration, undue influence, and both actual and constructive fraud.

The record shows that the property in dispute, comprising the Nuckols' homeplace, is located in the village of Cumberland and consists of a dwelling and approximately twenty acres of land. Eleanor Nuckols and her husband, a physician, acquired the property and moved there sometime prior to 1920. Doctor Nuckols conducted his medical practice from an office in the dwelling.

In addition to their son, Ernest, Jr., Dr. and Mrs. Nuckols had a daughter, Kathleen. Both children were raised in Cumberland, and both went away to college. Afterward, Ernest, Jr., entered the United States Air Force and rose to the rank of colonel; Kathleen married J. Taylor Williams, who became an attorney-at-law. Kathleen and Taylor Williams moved to Cumberland in 1954. They built a house across the road from her parents' home, and he went into the practice of law in Cumberland.

Doctor Nuckols died in 1956 and by will left the property in question to his wife. For a number of years after his death, she lived alone in the homeplace, except for servants and boarders. In the early 1960's, when her son's retirement from the Air Force appeared imminent, Eleanor Nuckols asked him several times "to come back and live with her." According to his testimony, she promised that "the home place would be [his] when she was gone ... if [he] came back to her."

Colonel Nuckols retired from the Air Force in 1964. He and his wife and their sons moved into the homeplace with Eleanor Nuckols, who occupied an apartment converted from the space Dr. Nuckols had used for his medical office. Colonel Nuckols testified that his mother became "a full member of [his] family," eating "the majority of her meals" with him and spending most of her time in his "area of the house."

Colonel Nuckols testified further that, upon his return to Cumberland, he found the homeplace in "pretty bad shape," necessitating extensive interior and exterior repairs, which he made at his own expense. With his mother's consent, he planted approximately 60,000 Christmas trees on the eighteen-acre portion of the property to the rear of the dwelling. In his testimony, he stated that his mother wanted him to have the Christmas-tree property and had told him several times to "go ahead and get the deed for it," but he "never got around to it."

In October, 1964, after Col. Nuckols had agreed to return to Cumberland, Eleanor Nuckols made a will. She devised the homeplace to her son for life, with remainder to his children, provided he pay his sister the sum of $14,250. In October, 1974, Eleanor Nuckols executed a codicil to the 1964 will which revoked the foregoing provisions and directed that the homeplace be appraised, that the value of the Christmas trees planted by Col. Nuckols and of any other improvements made by him be deducted from the appraisal, and that one-half the adjusted value be paid to Kathleen Williams. The codicil then provided that, upon such payment, Col. Nuckols was devised the homeplace for life with remainder to his children.

Eleanor executed another will in June, 1976. This time, she devised the homeplace to Col. Nuckols for life with remainder to his children, provided that he pay Kathleen Williams a sum equal to one-half the value of the property, less an advancement of $16,500 made to Kathleen and plus $1,000 for each year Col. Nuckols occupied the property since 1965. The will provided also that improvements made by Col. Nuckols, including the Christmas trees he had planted, should not be considered in determining value.

At some later time, portions of the 1976 will were stricken, and Eleanor Nuckols initialed the changes. As a result, the will purported to devise the homeplace to Col. Nuckols in fee simple on the condition that he pay his sister one-half the adjusted value of the property. Taylor Williams testified the changes were made at Col. Nuckols' request, but the colonel denied he wanted the will "changed ... that way."

In February, 1978, Eleanor Nuckols suffered a broken hip. Following her discharge from a Richmond hospital, she spent several weeks recuperating in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen and Taylor Williams.

According to Taylor Williams' testimony, he had "more or less" handled Eleanor Nuckols' business affairs since her husband's death. During her stay in his home in 1978, he noticed "she was getting very confused" when she attempted to pay her bills; as a result, he secured from her a general power of attorney authorizing him to assume the management of her affairs.

Eleanor Nuckols enjoyed a close relationship with Col. Nuckols and his wife on the one hand and Kathleen Williams and her husband on the other. The relationship between the two couples, however, was less than close; indeed, they had "broken off" communications some ten years prior to the hearing of the case in the trial court.

An event in January, 1979, further deteriorated the relationship between the two couples and even caused a rift between Eleanor Nuckols and the Williamses. In that month, Taylor Williams heard a report that Col. Nuckols and his family "were thinking about leaving" the area. Williams then placed an advertisement in the Farmville Herald listing his telephone number and offering the Nuckols' homeplace "RENT FREE ... for a family willing to care for semi-invalid lady." He placed the ad, Williams testified, because he wanted "to see if [he] could find someone to move in and look after" Eleanor Nuckols "in the event that [Col. Nuckols] did leave."

The members of the Nuckols' household learned of the ad when a couple knocked on their door and inquired whether "this [is] the house that's rent free for someone to stay with ... an elderly lady." According to Col. Nuckols' testimony, Eleanor Nuckols was "very upset" when she learned about the ad, and there was "quite a scene" when she confronted Taylor Williams and heard his version of "what was going on."

Eleanor Nuckols discussed the matter with her son, and she told him: "Do something to get this thing straightened out so you can stay here." He contacted Robert Woodson, a Cumberland attorney, but Woodson said "he'd rather not get involved" and recommended William A. Talley, a Palmyra attorney.

Colonel and Mrs. Nuckols conferred with Talley in his office on February 6, 1979. Testifying below, Talley said that he was asked to prepare one deed granting a fee simple interest in the eighteen-acre tract "where Christmas trees were growing" and another granting a life estate in the two-acre parcel "where the house is."

Talley prepared the deeds and mailed copies to Col. Nuckols. The colonel went over the deeds with his mother and also took them to her brother, Charles Sanderson, upon whom she often relied for advice. According to Col. Nuckols' testimony, neither his mother nor his uncle had any question about the deeds. Sanderson testified, however, that, while he understood the deed conveying "the land the Christmas trees were planted on," he did not understand the one which conveyed the joint life estate.

On March 13, 1979, Col. Nuckols drove his wife, his mother, and Charles Sanderson to Talley's office in Palmyra. Anticipating "that [the transaction] could be a problem in the future," Talley recorded the conversation on tape. He read the deeds to Eleanor Nuckols and undertook to explain their import. She then signed and acknowledged each instrument.

When asked at trial whether Eleanor Nuckols understood the instruments, Talley replied, "I hope so; I thought she did." Talley stated he did not tell Eleanor Nuckols that, by granting her son and daughter-in-law a life estate in the two-acre tract containing the Nuckols' home, she "could [be] put ... out anytime during their life-time." Talley said he did tell Eleanor Nuckols, "[y]ou'd be there and they'd be there," and he declined at trial to answer "yes or no" to the question whether this statement would lead her "to believe that she'd be there and they'd be there...