Rader v. Rader
| Decision Date | 04 June 1909 |
| Docket Number | 16,165 - (110) |
| Parties | NANCY F. RADER v. ALBUS W. RADER |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Hennepin county to cancel an assignment of a mortgage and to compel the redelivery of it and the mortgage and mortgage note. The case was tried before Frederick V. Brown, J., who found in favor of the defendant. From an order denying plaintiff's motion for a new trial she appealed. Affirmed.
Gift to Child -- Burden of Proof.
In case of a gift from parent to child, or child to parent, the court will carefully scrutinize the transaction, but the presumption is in favor of its validity, and in order to set it aside on the ground of undue influence the court must be satisfied that it was not the voluntary act of the donor; the burden of establishing such fact being upon the party contesting the gift.
Gift to Child -- Finding Sustained by Evidence.
The finding of the trial court, to the effect that a surrender of a note and the release of a mortgage securing it, made by the plaintiff to her sons, were not obtained by undue influence is sustained by the evidence.
James A. Peterson and C. M. Pond, for appellant.
E. H. Farnham, F. E. Latham and Daniel Fish, for respondent.
This action was commenced in the district court of the county of Hennepin to cancel a release and discharge of a promissory note and mortgage on eighty acres of land securing it, on the ground that the release was obtained from the plaintiff by the undue influence of the defendant. The note and mortgage were executed by the defendant and his brother to their mother, the plaintiff, to secure the payment of $3,750, being a part of the purchase price of the land which was conveyed by the plaintiff to the defendant and his brother. The answer admitted that the note and mortgage were released, but denied that the release was obtained by any undue influence. This issue was tried by the court without a jury, as to which findings of fact were made to the effect following:
On December 19, 1907, the plaintiff gave and surrendered the promissory note in question to the defendant and his brother, Elmer E. Rader, and at the same time executed to them a release of the mortgage securing the note. As a part of the same transaction the defendant and his wife executed to the plaintiff their promissory note for $1,333, payable to her order on or before two years, with interest. It was the intention of the plaintiff by such transaction to transfer and donate to her sons, the defendant, Albus, and Elmer, an equal and undivided one-third share of the mortgage indebtedness on account of her love and affection for them, and for the further reason that the mortgaged premises had been derived through her first husband, George Rader, who was the father of her three sons, Albus, Elmer, and Louis, and that they contributed by their labor and services to the acquisition of the premises. The plaintiff's intention in taking the promissory note from the defendant and his wife was to enable her to secure the payment to her son Louis of an equal share of the mortgage. The plaintiff delivered and surrendered the promissory note, and released the mortgage, freely and voluntarily for the purposes stated, and free from any coercion or undue influence on the part of the defendant. She was then in the full possession of her mental faculties, and had full and complete capacity to transact all such matters. As a conclusion of law from the facts found, judgment was ordered for the defendant. The plaintiff made a motion for a new trial, and appealed from an order denying it.
The record presents only a question of fact; that is, whether the finding of the ultimate fact that the surrender and...
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