Wathen v. Skaggs

• Decision Date: 15 December 1914
• Parties: WATHEN ET AL. v. SKAGGS ET AL.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

171 S.W. 193

161 Ky. 600

WATHEN ET AL. v. SKAGGS ET AL.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

December 15, 1914

Appeal from Circuit Court, Larue County.

Action by Joseph H. Wathen and others against Let Skaggs and others. Petition dismissed, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

O. M Mather and Claude Hudgins, both of Hodgensville, for appellants.

Jones &amp Graham and Williams & Handley, all of Hodgensville, for appellees.

HANNAH J.

In November, 1909, Joseph H. Wathen and Sarah N. Wathen, his wife, the former being about 88 years of age and the latter about 70, resided upon a farm in Larue county, comprising about 100 acres. They had previously conveyed this farm to their daughter, Martha Puryear, in consideration of her undertaking and agreement to support and maintain them during their respective lifetimes. She, however, had repudiated or abandoned her contract, and had executed an attempted assignment thereof and of her rights thereunder to one Luther Holland, who married her daughter. Luther Holland and his wife, a granddaughter of the Wathens, were living with the old couple, and this arrangement was not at all to their liking. During the time when their daughter, Martha Puryear, had lived with them and supported them pursuant to the obligation assumed by her, the house on the place had become so very dilapidated that the daughter determined to build another. She borrowed the sum of $150 from one Willis Liggin, a colored pensioner whose place of abode was in the neighborhood, and gave to him her note therefor, with Luther Holland, her son-in-law, and Let Skaggs, her cousin, a niece of the Wathens, as sureties thereon. Seventy-five of these $150 she expended for lumber which was used in the construction of a house on the place; the remaining $75 was expended by her in supporting her parents. After Martha Puryear abandoned her undertaking to maintain her parents according to the terms of their deed to her, the Liggin note matured. Martha Puryear insisted that, as her parents had received the benefit of the entire sum, they ought to pay the note. And the Wathens agreed to pay it, provided Martha would reconvey their farm to them, and provided Luther Holland would surrender up whatever rights he claimed under and by virtue of the purported assignment by Martha Puryear to him of her rights under the conveyance executed to her by her parents, and provided Luther Holland would move out of their house. Pursuant to this understanding, Holland restored whatever writing had been executed to him by Martha Puryear Martha Puryear reconveyed the farm to the Wathens, her parents; and they assumed the payment of the note to Willis Liggin. Liggin wanted only a mortgage to secure the note, but the Wathens having no ability to earn any money to pay off a mortgage with, and being in need of money to live on, proposed to sell to Liggin 20 acres off of the 100 acres comprising the farm, for $200, $150 thereof to be paid by the cancellation of the Martha Puryear note, and the remaining $50 to be paid to them in cash. This proposition Liggin accepted. There was in connection with this a collateral understanding that the Wathens were to be permitted to use firewood from off of this 20 acres during their lifetime, and that, should any of their children pay Liggin his money with interest, they were to be entitled to receive a conveyance of the land. Whether this agreement was included in the deed or not, the record does not disclose; for, although this is a suit to obtain the cancellation of a deed, we have found no copy of the deed anywhere in the record. The Wathens thereupon executed a deed to Liggin covering the 20 acres, and Liggin paid them $50 and canceled the Martha Puryear note. About a month thereafter Liggin sold the land to Let Skaggs.

On June 27, 1913, Wathen and his wife instituted this action in the Larue circuit court seeking a cancellation of the deed from them to Liggin, and of the deed from Liggin to Let Skaggs, upon the ground that Joseph H. Wathen had not at the time of the execution of the conveyance sufficient mental capacity to give effect thereto; and upon the further ground that the execution of the deed from them to Willis Liggin was induced by false representations made to them by Let Skaggs that Martha Puryear, their daughter, had committed a felony, and would be sent to the penitentiary unless they executed the conveyance in question. A special demurrer was interposed by the defendant, setting up the fact that upon an inquest held November 29, 1909, Joseph H. Wathen was adjudged incompetent to manage his estate by reason of physical and mental infirmities; and the court thereupon permitted the action to be prosecuted by and in the name of a next friend. Upon submission and trial, the chancellor dismissed the petition, and plaintiff appeals.

1. The exact date of the deed from the Wathens to Liggin, the cancellation of which is herein sought, is not shown, but it is alleged in the petition that it was executed in November, 1909, the month in which the inquest was held.

In this state, the deed of a person of unsound mind is not void, but merely voidable. Breckenridge v. Ormsby, 1 J. J Marsh. 236, 19 Am. Dec. 71; Rusk v. Fenton, 14 Bush, 490, 29 Am. Rep. 413; Arnett's Committee v. Owens, 65 S.W. 151, 23 Ky. Law Rep. 1409; Johnson's...