75 Iowa 710 | Iowa | 1888
— Plaintiff is the illegitimate son of Mary Nelson, who is now the wife of defendant. She was formerly the wife of Anton Nelson, by whom she had two children. At the time of his death Anton Nelson was seized of a forty-acre tract of land, which descended to his widow and children. After the marriage of defendant with the widow, and after a child had been born to them, they entered into a contract for the sale and purchase of her distributive share of the land. She was desirous of making such provision for plaintiff out of the property as would place him on an equality with the children of Arthur Nelson, — whose interest in the property defendant purchased from- their guardian,— and it was agreed that the amount which defendant was to pay under the contract should be paid to him. Defendant was desirous that the whole of the estate of which he should be seized at his death should, after the death of his wife, in case she survived him, be secured to his own child, .and it was a condition of the contract that plaintiff should execute and deliver to him an instrument releasing all the interest which he otherwise would acquire by descent from his mother in her distributive share of defendant’s estate, in case she should survive him. In pursuance of the contract, Mrs. Nelson executed to defendant a conveyance of her interest in the property. The amount which defendant agreed to pay plaintiff was three hundred dollars, which the evidence shows was considerably in excess of the value of
Reversed.