91 Ky. 450 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1891
DELIVERED THE OPINION OP THE COURT.
Brannin C. Sherley, the appellee, being the owner of two lots of land in the city of Louisville, one lying on the south side of Market street, between Brook and Floyd, and the other lying on the south side of Market, between Fifth and Sixth streets, on the 11th of November, in the year 1886, conveyed
The appellee instituted this action in equity in the Louisville Law and Equity Court on the 15th of November, in the year 1890, seeking to cancel the trust deed to his grandmother so as to give him control of his estate. The trustee, Mrs. Brannin, the wife of the appellee, and his child, Bettie; also his •sister Bettie, and her husband, George W. Ewing, she having intermarried since the deed was executed, are all defendants and before the court.
The wife of the appellee answers and is desirous of having the title vested in her husband, and upon privy examination by the chancellor so declared. The infant daughter, Bettie Sherley, makes defense by her guardian ad litem, and so does the trustee, Mrs. Elizabeth Brannin.
This is a peculiar character of case, as it is manifest from the testimony that the influence exerted over the appellee by his grandmother and sister was prompted alone by their affection for him, and their- desire to prevent the wasting .of an estate that, by reason of his extravagant habits, would soon all be gone, and the appellee reduced to poverty. The motive of the trustee can not be impugned, nor can that of his sister, but still the effect of the conveyance, that was purely voluntary, with no other consideration on his part than the desire to gratify the wishes of the trustee and his sister, is to deprive the appellee of all his estate. He had just arrived at age when this deed was made, had left the home of his grand-parents before arriving at age, expending his means in such a generous and improvident' manner as amounted to recklessness, and on his return from a trip to China and Japan executed the deed. He was subject to the absolute influence of his grandmother and sister when about them. They dominated his will, and, in fact, it was necessary they should do so on account of reckless habits* that he seems now to be rid of. He had no business experience whatever when the deed
In Villers v. Beaumont, 1 Vern., 100, it is said: “If a man will improvidently bind himself by a voluntary deed, without the power of revocation, this court will not loose the fetters he hath put on himself, but he must lie down under his own folly.” This doctrine
In Everitt v. Everitt, L. R., 10 Eq., 405, the court said: “It is very difficult indeed for any voluntary settlement made by a young lady so soon after she attained the age of twenty-one to stand, if she after-wards change her mind, and wishes to rid herself of the fetters that bind her in the disposition of her estate.”
In Garnsey v. Mundy, 24 N. J. Eq., 243, the grantor having arrived at age without any business experience, and but little knowledge of her legal rights, made a conveyance of her estate in trust in a manner similar to the grant before us. It was made at the instance of and under the advice of her mother and uncle. The property was placed beyond her control, and although the motives of her mother and uncle were praiseworthy, as in this case, the grantor applied to a court of equity for relief, and the facts
The testimony satisfied the chancellor that the instrument was the act and deed of the grandmother and sister, and that they were not even aware of its effect upon the rights of the appellee. The chancellor has canceled the entire conveyance. This was right, leaving the grantor to make such an equitable settlement on his family as he desires, and this he seems to have done. Judgment affirmed.