88 S.W.2d 690 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1935
Affirming.
The trial court, upon her petition, set aside two contracts made by Alice Hall, the widow of W.R. Hall, with his children and grandchildren, and because they were based on these contracts, set aside various steps that had been taken by them looking to a partition and distribution of his estate, and appointed a special commissioner to take proof to ascertain the extent of the estate, make report, settlement, etc. Two of his children and the children of a deceased child have appealed; the remaining son and the widow are our appellees. Her coappellee is the only son and the administrator of W.R. Hall. He is only nominally an appellee, and was made such because he did not consent to be made an appellant. His interests are with the appellants.
W.R. Hall died intestate, survived by his widow, Alice Hall, and by three children and the four children of a deceased child, as his heirs at law. The mother of these children and grandmother of the grandchildren was Susanna Hall, the first wife of W.R. Hall. She died in 1913, and on December 5th of that year W.R. Hall married Alice Burke, the plaintiff in the trial court and the principal appellee here.
She was then a maiden lady and long past maturity, when she entered this household to discharge the difficult task of stepmother; but how well she did so is attested by this record, for nowhere in its more than 500 pages do we find anything that is not in praise of her, which is in striking contrast to what is said of another stepmother in Guffy v. Gilliam,
They met as agreed, and Alice Hall and the heirs signed an agreement by which there was allotted to Alice Hall the old home and a few acres of surrounding land, the extent of same not appearing, and this she accepted in lieu of her claim of dower in all of W.R. Hall's land.
She agreed to convey to the heirs her interest (one-half) in a tract of land known as the Marion Hall tract, a like interest in the Bond tract, and agreed to convey her interest in any other land if such should be found in her name. In return for all this she was to get "a child's part," or one-fifth, of the personal property in full of her part of the personal property of W.R. Hall's estate.
There, they made a fatal blunder, for that move brought her to town and into contact with her present attorneys, who so bestirred themselves that Alice Hall was soon in court attacking from front, flanks, and rear everything the heirs had done or induced her to do. The heirs resisted vigorously, and considerable proof was taken on both sides, but they were utterly routed.
Since the regular judge of this district was disqualified, the Hon. J.F. Stewart of Ashland was by the Chief Justice of this court appointed as special judge, and after a full hearing he rendered the judgment epitomized at the outset of this opinion.
The court did many other things in its judgment, but all of them are collateral to and dependent on the cancellation of these two contracts, so that a separate consideration of them is unnecessary.
Judgment affirmed.