Schrader v. Schrader
| Decision Date | 22 June 1921 |
| Docket Number | No. 13500.,13500. |
| Citation | 131 N.E. 602,298 Ill. 469 |
| Parties | SCHRADER v. SCHRADER et ux. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Circuit Court, Lawrence County; J. C. Eagleton, Judge.
Bill by Mary A. Schrader against Lee R. Schrader and wife. Decree for complainant, and defendants bring error.
Affirmed.
Gee & Gee, of Lawrenceville, for plaintiffs in error.
E. B. Green and Theodore G. Risley, both of Mt. Carmel, for defendant in error.
Mary A. Schrader, defendant in error, filed her bill in the circuit court of Lawrence county against Lee R. Schrader and his wife, Elsie Schrader, to compel the conveyance to her by them of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 15, town 2 north, range 13 west, in said county. The substance of the charge in her bill is that she is a widow, and was wholly inexperienced in the business of purchasing and procuring the conveyance of real estate; that she was compelled to, and did, rely largely on the aid and advice of her son, Lee, in the purchase and conveyance to her of said land and another 40 acres adjoining the same on the north; that her son did take charge of the purchase of the real estate and the procuring of the conveyance to her of the two tracts of land; that she trusted her son, and believed that he would act fairly and honestly with her in the purchase of the land; that he, as her agent, did not act faithfully and honestly with her, but confederated and conspired with his wife to wrong and defraud her, and without her knowledge or consent, and in violation of the trust and confidence placed in him, caused and procured G. W. Van Gilder and his wife, her vendors, to convey the south 40 of the 80 acres of land, containing the buildings and other improvements thereon, to Elsie Schrader, and to convey the other 40-acre tract to complainant; that she paid the entire contract price, $4,100, to her vendors, and was induced by the fraud of defendants to receive a deed to only one of the tracts, when, in fact, she was, according to her agreement with her son, to receive a conveyance of the entire eighty acres of land. Defendants filed their answer to the bill, denying the material allegations thereof, and a general replication was filed to the answer. On the trial the evidence was all heard by the court in open court. The court found the allegations in the bill to be true and rendered a decree according to the prayer thereof, in favor of complainant. Error is prosecuted for a review of the record.
The facts proved on the trial and not controverted are the following: Defendant in error is a widow who resided in Mt. Carmel, Ill. She was the mother of nine children, and was of the age of 62 years at the time of this transaction. She was desirous of purchasing the 80-acre tract of land aforesaid, which constituted one farm. All the buildings were on the south 40, which is located on a public highway south of the village of Sumner, in Lawrence county. G. W. Van Gilder was the owner of this farm. She enlisted the services of her son, Lee, to make the purchase of this land, and also to sell a one-half interest in a farm owned by her and her sister in Allison Prairie, in Lawrence county, which interest she sold by the aid of her son and his father-in-law, Milt Corrie, for the sum of $3,154, which was collected and deposited to her credit with the Citizen's Banking Company at Lawrenceville in January, 1917. She also had other money to her credit in said bank. Lee and Corrie also acted as her agents in the purchase from Van Gilder of his 80-acre farm. Van Gilder agreed to sell his farm for $3,100, subject to a mortgage to Emma Van Gilder in the sum of $1,000, making a total purchase price of $4,100. To close up this purchase and sale she was notified by her son and Corrie to go to Lawrenceville, and she did go there for that purpose on November 7, 1916. She met at the courthouse, in the circuit clerk's office, for this purpose, Thomas S. Gerhart, a lawyer and notary public brought there by Van Gilder to draft the contract and deeds and to act as notary. She also met there Van Gilder and his wife, Lizzie, her grantors; Emma Van Gilder, the holder of the mortgage on the premises; Corrie and his wife, father and mother of Elsie Schrader; and Lee R. Schrader and his wife, Elsie. Gerhart prepared the instruments that were drawn up that day between the parties in the main room of the circuit clerk's office, using the typewriter of the circuit clerk for that purpose. The instruments drawn up by him were four in number: A contract for the purchase of the land, which was signed and sealed by G. W. Van Gilder, Mary A. Schrader, and Elsie Schrader and witnessed by Lee Schrader; a new mortgage for $1,000 to Emma Van Gilder, to be signed by the purchaser from Van Gilder; and two warranty deeds, both signed by Van Gilder and his wife, one being to Elsie Schrader for the south 40, and described as aforesaid, and the other of the north 40 to Mary A. Schrader, and described as the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 15, town 2 north, range 13 west, subject to the $1,000 mortgage. The contract specifically provided that the two warranty deeds were to be made as they were made, one conveying the south 40 to Elsie Schrader and the other conveying the north 40 to Mary A. Schrader. It provided that the consideration was to be $4,100, $400 to be paid in cash, and the remainder ($2,700) on or before April 1, 1917, and subject to the $1,000 mortgage. It also provided that any and all payments by the purchasers were to be made through Charles F. Breen, president of the bank. The contract was so written to enable defendant in error to collect the amount due her on the sale of the Allison Prairie farm, so she could make deferred payments to Van Gilder. The deeds were executed by Van Gilder and his wife, and were deposited in escrow in the bank, the deeds to be delivered by Breen, the president, when the purchase money due was delivered to him for Van Gilder. The deeds were placed in separate envelopes, one addressed to Mary A. Schrader and the other to Elsie Schrader. The balance of the purchase money was paid by defendant in error through her son, Lee, by checks drawn by her and...
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