144 Ky. 284 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1911
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
A. 0. Middleton is the widow of J. R. Middleton, who was for many years a prominent merchant in Louisville. E. E. Stone married their daughter, Annie. He and his wife lived with the Middletons from the time they were married until she died. He continued to live with them after his wife died. Mr. Middleton died the next year, 1889. Several years after his first wife’s death, Stone married the second daughter, Jessie. They also ■ lived with the Middletons from the time they were married. Mrs. Middleton owned a farm of 450 acres, which had been devised to her by her grandfather, there being a provision in the will that if she died without lawful issue living at her death, the property should go to certain other persons. The family moved from Louisville to the farm and Mrs. Middleton erected on the farm a residence costing her about $5.000. In this and other ways she became in debt to various creditors, some of whom asserted liens on the house, and in a suit brought against her the property was sold. The sale was made on August 29, 1895, and E. E. Stone became the purchaser at the price of $3,759.61, this being the sum of all the debts. His father went upon his sale bond as his surety. On December 5,1895, Mrs. Middleton executed a deed to Stone
The weight of the evidence and not a few very potent circumstances sustain the conclusion of the chancellor. Stone had for many years lived with his mother-in-law She looked upon him much as a son, and we can not for a moment believe that when he purchased the land at the judicial sale for $3,759.61, either he or she contemplated that he was purchasing it for himself. The land under the evidence was then worth at least $18,000 or $20,000. It was the home of the family and the family continued to live on it from that time until about the time this suit was brought. While that sale paid off the debts that Mrs. Middleton owed, it is evident from the record that both she and Stone had concluded that it was better for her not to hold the property in her own name, not for the purpose of defrauding any creditor
Judgment affirmed.