132 Iowa 72 | Iowa | 1906
Jeremiah J. Betts, a resident of. Polk county, Iowa, died, leaving a will by the terms of which his son Jeremiah L. Betts was disinherited, and his estate, after providing for his wife, was to be equally distributed between his remaining children. The son, Jeremiah 1., successfully contested the will on the ground of undue influence and of the testator’s mental incapacity to make a testamentary disposition of his estate. See Betts v. Betts, 113 Iowa, 111. When this litigation had terminated in favor of the contestant, Shepherd W. Betts, and two of the other children," who had been among the proponents of the will, brought the
After reading and re-reading the evidence in this case, we find ourselves unable to agree with the conclusion reached by the trial court. While, if we could accept the testimony
Among the circumstances tending,, to corroborate the claim of Shepherd that the conveyance was intended to be absolute we may mention the following: Mrs. Sharp is a woman of fair English education, and admits that she knew and understood that she was giving a deed absolute in form. The conveyance was by warranty deed, without exception or condition, of all her undivided interest in the land. No written defeasance or counter-conveyance of the land was executed or delivered by the grantee. Two or three months later she with her husband executed and delivered to Shepherd a second or “ correction deed,” again purporting to convey to him all her undivided interest in the land, and adding thereto the following clause: “ We represent our undivided interest in said land to be at least one-sixth thereof, but if it should develop that the same is the undivided one-fifth thereof, then, in either case, all our undivided interest,, whatsoever the same may be, is intended to be conveyed hereby. It is further declared to be our intention to .convey hereby all our interest in the estate of Jeremiah J. Betts, deceased, whether the same shall consist of real or personal property, together with all our interest in the estate of the surviving widow of the said Jeremiah J. Betts, whatsoever the same may be. In other words, it is the intention hereof to place the said Shepherd W. Betts in our place and stead, to the end that he shall receive, upon the final settlement of the estate of the said Jeremiah J. Betts, and upon the final settlement of the estate of his now surviving widow, Elizabeth A. Betts, any and all property which otherwise would be
In the year 1903, and after the commencement of the present action, and several months before the default of Mrs. Sharp therein, Shepherd W. Betts, as administrator of his father’s estate, made his final report to the court, in which, after showing the amount of personal estate for distribution, and the distributive share of each heir, he alleg'ed that he had become the purchaser of the share of Hannah E. Sharp, and that the portion that otherwise would have been hers was therefore due to himself. This report was approved, the right of Shepherd to receive the share of Mrs. Sharp was confirmed and he was discharged, without objection or exception on her part. Again it is shown that after these conveyances had been made, a creditor of Mrs. Sharp, believing that she had an equity or interest in the property of the estate, sought to reach it by an action in court. In that proceeding Shepherd W. Betts claimed to be the absolute owner of the property, and, as a witness, testified in the presence of Mrs. Sharp, and without exception or denial by her, that he had bought her interest in the property and was the real beneficial owner thereof, and that he had paid therefore by assuming the payment of the note to the bank for $820 and giving to his sister the further sum of $180 in money. Still, again, during the pendency of the present action, Mrs. Sharp has been adjudged a bankrupt, and discharged as such under the statutes of the United States. In the bankruptcy proceedings she executed and filed a schedule, which she averred to be a correct inventory of all her property real and personal whether in possession, reversion, remainder, or expectancy, and including property held in trust for her, but made no mention or disclosure of the property or right she now claims. In the same proceeding she made what she alleged to be a full and complete list of her creditors, but the name of Shepherd W. Betts does not appear therein. The banker, at whose place of business
Several witnesses testify to admissions made in conversations by the appellee that she had sold her interest in the
The claim of the appellee has no sufficient support in the record, and the decree of the district court granting the relief prayed in the cross-petition is therefore reversed.