44 Iowa 679 | Iowa | 1876
The third action, being for the recovery of money, is without doubt an ordinary proceeding or action at law, and in reference thereto the only finding of fact made by the court below is “That one Andrews, on the 30th day of November, 1873, paid the defendant under a pretended authority the sum of $842 of money in his hands, belonging to the estate of Arthur Wolcott, deceased, and that she is now indebted to said estate in said sum, with interest,” and judgment for the sum so found due was accordingly rendered.
The money, in controversy belonged to Wolcott, and a few days before his death he directed Andrews to collect it and give it to the defendant. It was claimed at the time he made this gift that Wolcott was insane, and the gift was procured through undue influence, and there was evidence tending to support these allegations. Whether sufficient or not, in our judgment, we do not determine. Undoubtedly it was deemed sufficient by the court below, as- such is the result of the finding.
Had this action been tried by itself before a jury, and a verdict found for the plaintiff, certainly under the repeated decisions of this court such verdict could not be set aside by us, and the same rule must prevail, notwithstanding the anomalous standing of these causes in this court.
The will in controversy was admitted to probate by the Circuit Court of Lee county. There is nothing, however, in the abstract to indicate there was any contest or that plaintiffs appeared in the matter of such probate.
That the admission of a will to probate is not conclusive on
Nor does § 2312 of the Code deprive the District Court of jurisdiction, where an original action is brought to set aside the will. That section has reference only to the probate, and none whatever to an original action. The District Court cannot admit a will to probate for want of jurisdiction over the subject matter; not so, however, as to an original action to set it aside.
Courts of equity never had jurisdiction of an original action to set aside, a will procured through fraud or undue influence. But such has always been held to be an action at law, in which either party was entitled to a jury trial. 1 Story’s Equity Jurisprudence, § 184, note; and this is .clearly intimated if not expressly determined in Gilruth v. Gilruth, supra.
The improper practices and devices relied on are stated in the petition, but it is deemed unnecessary to set the same out at length.
The answer denies generally and specifically the allegations of the petition, and insists that Wolcott was sane, and the deeds wore not procured through undue or improper influ
The conveyances on their face show the consideration to be “ One dollar and friendship.” One parcel of the property is worth $3,500, and the other $2,500. The answer does not set forth any of the -circumstances attending- or surrounding the execution of the deeds, but relies entirely on the general and specific denial of the allegations of the petition, that Wolcott was insane, or that the deeds were obtained through undue influence, and the averment in relation to the consideration, above stated.
Wolcott was about-fifty-six years of age when he died. He had been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was greatly attached, died in 1850. In five or six years after her death he married his second wife, with whom he lived some years, and from whom he was divorced. Whether he became intimate with the defendant previous to such divorce is not entirely clear from the testimony. Mrs. Orr states that she knew him for. about, ten years prior to his death. Shortly after the divorce Mrs. Orr, -whose husband was living, moved with her family, consisting of her husband and two children, into Wolcott’s house, and they all lived together as one family (except that Mr. Orr was frequently if not mostly absent), from that time until Wolcott’s death, the expenses of the household being borne by him. For the last five or six years of his life Wolcott was frequently intoxicated, and was greatly addicted to the use of spirituous liquors. Doctor Oollins was called to see him during his last sickness, and about three weeks before he died, and Doctor Carpenter was called in as a consulting physician on the 21st day of November, 1873. Doctor Collins states that Wolcott was laboring “under nervous depression; this seemed to be caused by looking back on a misspent life in the way of dissipation. He aj>peared to me as any other man would after he had a debauch — he had the -blues. The first time I saw him he was considerably prostrated and debilitated in his nervous system. This would extend to his brain. * * There was quite extensive aleo
Dr. Carpenter states: “He seemed to be in a condition between melancholy and excitement, sitting in his office on a chair with his head on his hand; I inquired into his habits for a few months next preceding his sickness; he said he had subjected himself to a good deal erf excitement under the influence of alcohol for, I think he said, two or three months previous to that time; that he did not expect to get well; did not believe any medicine would relieve him. I inquired with reference to his memory; he stated his brain was in a whirl; * * Mrs. Orr was always present when 1 made my calls; if I entered the room when she was absent she would immediately come in; I frequently noticed there were eavesdroppers behind the partition; I could not tell who it was; Mrs. Orr stated that during the drinking he would stop and gaze upon a spirit picture, as she called it; alcohol ranks next to hereditary insanity; I should say, from'his condition, that alcoholism had possession of his system for many years; no moderate use of alcohol left his brain in that state * * .”
Wolcott died on the 27th day of November, 1873; five days previous thereto, he made the will before referred to, in which he devised to Mrs. Orr the property described in the deeds, and the residue of his estate to the infant plaintiffs.
Previous to the time Mrs. Orr became an inmate of Wolcott’s house he became a believer in spiritualism. He professed to heal diseases magnetically — that is, by rubbing the patient with his hands. Mrs. Orr sent for him as a physician; she was then investigating spiritualism. Wolcott furnished her books and she became a confirmed spiritualist, and her testimony on cross-examination is as follows:
“ I claimed to have frequent interviews with Wolcott’s deceased wife; she was always with him; I could see her daily; I frequently spoke to Wolcott of seeing Sarah around
P2, spoken of by Mrs. Orr, is a photograph of herself and Mr. Wolcott, between and behind whom is the alleged spirit picture of Mrs. Wolcott.
In his better days, at least, Mr. Wolcott was a shrewd, intelligent business man, and he purchased and sold many pieces of property during the last few years of his life; and there is no evidence tending to show he was imposed upon or overreached in these transactions. There is considerable evidence bearing on the question of insanity, but as we do not base our ruling thereon, reference thereto is omitted.
The evidence is abundant that Mrs. Orr is a woman of immoral character-; her general reputation for chastity is exceedingly bad. R. Wilsey had frequent talks with her
Mrs. Orr told Julia McOormick that Wolcott loved her as well as any man could love a woman; that he gave her every thing she asked for or wanted. Mrs. Orr tried to get Kate Mallory to go to St. Louis and live with her husband as his wife. That Mrs. Orr occupied the same bed with- Mr. Wolcott is shown by the testimony of several witnesses. She told the plaintiff Leighton that “she was closer to Wolcott than anybody else, and that she could have got more if she had urged it; but Mr. Wolcott said it might end in litigation if he gave her so much. That she did not get it for herself, but for the spiritual cause; and that she had intended to have got a divorce from Orr and marry Wolcott, and they intended to go to California and open a spirit gallery, but Orr was too slow.”
Previous to his acquaintance with Mrs. Orr, Mr. Wolcott was received as an honored member in good society; but after that he lost caste; his relatives became estranged from him. Ilis sister remonstrated with him, but it produced no change, and for some time previous to his death he had but little communication with his children; nor did he go into society. On all occasions he professed to believe Mrs. Orr to be pure and chaste. His property, at his death, was of the value of about $48,000, incumbered or mortgaged to the amount of $5,000 or $6,000, besides a yearly charge of $1,000 to his divorced wife.
We have referred sufficiently to the testimony, although necessarily but to a limited portion thereof.
The bad character of Mrs. Orr, and her adulterous intercourse with Wolcott, are abundantly shown, and she does not pretend to break the force of this evidence in her testimony. Living with her thus, Wolcott professed to believe her pure and chaste, he at the same time knowing she had a husband
In Lyon v. Home, 6 Equity Cases (Law Reports), 655, a
The defendant in that action was somewhat celebrated as a spritualist. The plaintiff sought him and thrust her gifts upon him, in consequence however to directions received, as she supposed, through the defendant from her deceased husband. It is true nothing of that kind is shown in the case at bar, but the legal principle announced in the case cited is not placed on that ground. Nor was there in that case as in this, any illegal or immoral relations existing between the parties. The decision is placed on the ground that owing to the confidential relation existing between the parties, and the influence thereby engendered, the onus or burden of supporting the deeds or gifts was on the defendant.
The same principle, applied, however, -to the relation of attorney and client, was recognized by this court in Ryan v. Ashton, 42 Iowa, 365, where it was held that the contract sought to be enforced being presumptively fraudulent, the burden was cast on the plaintiff to show facts and circumstances surrounding the transaction sufficient to remove such presumption.
One of the' deeds in question in this case was executed November 18, 1873, the other on the 21st of the same month, being the same day that Dr. Carpenter made his first visit. The first deed was recorded November 20, and the last on the 25th. According to the testimony of Dr. Collins, Wolcott had been quite sick for some days preceding the execution of the first deed, and we know his condition on the 21st when Dr. Carpenter visited him. He died on the 27th, or six days after Dr. Carpenter first saw him.
Mr. Munn testifies that he is a notary public engaged in banking; the last time he saw Mr. Wolcott in the bank he handed him a description of some property and requested him to prepare a deed, and come over and take an acknowledgement. Another deed was drawn by Mr. Munn, both being drawn as Wolcott directed; he stated the consideration was
While Mr. Wolcott may not have been insane, yet his peculiar condition when seen by Drs. Carpenter and Collins, indicates quite' clearly that his mind could not have possessed its usual clearness and vigor. It must have become somewhat warped and, therefore, what he said and did (when he delivered the deeds, if he did so,) was important. The fact that he devised the same property to Mrs. Orr in his will is an indication that he either never delivered the deeds or had forgotten the transaction. We are of the opinion that Mrs. Orr has not made or proved such a case as is requisite to support the deeds.
There is no pretense that Mrs. Orr paid anything for the property conveyed, but it is urged that a sufiicient consideration is shown by the fact that Mrs. Orr for several years took care of Wolcott and kept house for him when he had been deserted by his friends and relatives. The testimony, however, satisfies us that Wolcott took care of and provided a home and support for Mrs. Orr and her family for years. If Mrs. Orr furnished any consideration for the deeds it was of an unlawful and immoral character, which public policy requires should not be permitted or. encouraged.
We have been somewhat embarrassed in stating the testimony, because there are two abstracts before us, one prepared by the appellant and the other by the appellee.' In the absence of any denial of or correction of the latter abstract, we, whenever there has been a conflict, have relied on that of'the appellee, as is the rule and established practice of the court.
Eor the reasons above stated the judgment of the court below must be affirmed, without determining the question as to the insanity of Wolcott which has been so ably and exhaustively argued by counsel.
Affirmed.