Stanley v. Campbell

• Decision Date: 01 October 1946
• Citation: 157 Fla. 891,27 So.2d 411
• Parties: STANLEY et ux. v. CAMPBELL et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

27 So.2d 411

157 Fla. 891

STANLEY et ux. v. CAMPBELL et al.

Florida Supreme Court

October 1, 1946

Rehearing Denied Oct. 24, 1946.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dade County; George E. Holt judge.

A. C Franks, of Miami, for appellants.

Johnson H Pace, of Miami, for appellee.

BUFORD, Justice.

The appeal is from final decree adjudicating a deed conveying real estate to be void because the grantor was insane at the time of the transaction and the execution of the deed.

Grantor was adjudged insane by order of County Judge of Dade County on July 21, 1931, and again on April 23, 1937, and again on March 8, 1944.Guardian of the person and estate of grantor adjudged to be an insane person, was appointed by the County Judge of Dade County on the 9th day of August, 1935.The guardianship of the grantor continued until after the date of the transaction here involved.

On February 14, 1944, grantor, D. D. Campbell, then being at liberty, but when there had been by a court of competent jurisdiction no judgment or decree restoring him to a sound mental condition, made and executed the deed which the court below held to be void.

The last adjudication of the lunacy of the grantor and his commitment thereunder was made and entered twenty-two days after the execution of the deed.

Unquestionably, at the time of the execution of the deed the grantor must be presumed to have been insane.SeeKuehmsted v. Turnwall,115 Fla. 692, 155 So. 847;Bassett v. Federal Land Bank of Columbia,98 Fla. 266, 123 So. 732.

When the grantor's sanity was brought into question and the above state of facts was shown to exist it became encumbent on one claiming under a conveyance made under such circumstances to show that the grantor was sane and competent to transact his affairs and to protect his own interest at the time of the execution of the conveyance.SeeKuehmsted v. Turnwall, supra, and cases there cited.

After the issues were made up in this case and the testimony taken, the Chancellor, inter alia, found:

'(g) That said D. D. Campbell was insane and mentally incapable of determining the effect of the sale of his said property on February 5, 1944, the date of said sale, and on February 14, 1944, the date of the execution and delivery of his deed to said property.

'(h) That the Agreement of Sale made by and between D. D. Campbell and the plaintiffs herein, provided for the delivery to plaintiffs of an abstract...