Brewer's Administrator v. Brewer

205 S.W. 393, 181 Ky. 400, 1918 Ky. LEXIS 536
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedSeptember 24, 1918
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 205 S.W. 393 (Brewer's Administrator v. Brewer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brewer's Administrator v. Brewer, 205 S.W. 393, 181 Ky. 400, 1918 Ky. LEXIS 536 (Ky. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

Judge Carroll

Reversing on original appeal and affirming on cross-appeal.

On December 8, 1911, J. W. Minton conveyed to J. E. Brewer eighty-one acres of land for tbe consideration of $4,750; $1,000 of this amount was paid in cash by Edmond Brewer, tbe father of J. E. Brewer, and he took from J. E. Brewer his note for this amount. For the balance of the purchase money J. E. Brewer exe[401]*401ented to Minton three notes for $1,000 each, and one note for $750, each dne on or before August 1, 1912, and a lien was retained on the land to secure the payment of these deferred notes.

It also appears that in October, 1912, Edmond Brewer furnished to his son, J. E. Brewer, $400.00 in money and took his note for this amount.

In August, 1912, Edmond Brewer paid the four notes executed by J. E. Brewer to Minton, and the. notes were assigned and delivered to him.

In 1912 Edmond Brewer bought and paid for seventy acres of land adjoining the eighty acres of land deeded to his son by Minton and this seventy acres was conveyed to him.

Edmond Brewer.had three children; two sons, J. E. and Ottie, and one daughter, Mrs. Briley, and in his will, made in September, 1913, he gave to his son, J. E. Brewer, the seventy acres of land that he had bought in 1912; to his son Ottie $1,600 in addition “to what he has already received,” and to his daughter, Mrs. Briley, and her children, he gave the balance of his estate.

After the death of Edmond Brewer, and in 1915, R. D. Moore, administrator of his estate, brought suit against J. E. Brewer on the $400.00 note, the $1,000.00 note and the four land notes executed to Minton, all of which notes were found among the papers of Edmond Brewer after his death, seeking a personal judgment on the $400.00 and the $1,000.00 notes executed by J. E. Brewer to Edmond Brewer, and to enforce a lien on the eighty acres of land to secure the payment of the four notes executed by J. E. Brewer to Minton, and assigned and delivered by Minton to Edmond Brewer.

The only credits on these notes was a payment of $200.00 on the $750.00 note, as of August 31, 1912, and credits amounting to $260.00 endorsed on the $400.00 note.

On motion to require the administrator to elect whether jhe would prosecute the suit for a judgment on the four purchase money notes, or the two personal notes, he elected to prosecute the suit, on the purchase money notes and it was dismissed without prejudice as to the' two personal notes, thus leaving in controversy in this suit only the three $1,000.00 notes, and the $750.00 note, that were a lien on the eighty-one acres of land conveyed by Minton to J. E. Brewer.

[402]*402By way of answer, set-off and counterclaim to the suit J. E Brewer set up that his father bought and gave to him as an advancement, the land bought from Minton and merely took and held the notes'as evidence of the fact that he had advanced to him $4,750.00, the amount represented by these notes. He, therefore, sought to avoid payment of the four lien notes upon the ground that the sum represented by these notes was an advancement or gift to him.

He further set up that before the Minton land wasi bought he resided, with his family, in the state of' Missouri, to which state his father came and prevailed upon him, by threats of disinheritance, to sell his property in Missouri and remove to Kentucky under an agreement that if he did so he, the father, would buy and give to him a farm; that pursuant to this arrangement his father did buy for him and give to him, as an advancement, the land bought from Minton, or rather the amount of the purchase price thereof; that thereafter he sold his property in Missouri and moved, with his family, to Kentucky and settled on the Minton place, where he was living at the time this suit was brought; that except for the agreement, coupled with the threats of disinheritance made by his father, he would not have sold his property in Missouri, or have removed to Kentucky. He, therefore, asked that if the notes sued op could not be charged as an advancement against him or as a gift to him that he' be allowed compensation, in the amount of the notes, for the damage he had. sustained by reason of the sale of his property in Missouri, and his removal to Kentucky under the circumstances stated. He further asked that the deed made by Minton, as well as the lien notes, be reformed to express the true contract between himself and his father.

After the case had been prepared for trial, the lower court adjudged that the administrator recover of J. E. Brewer the sum of $2,000, with interest from September 1, 1914, and further adjudged that the balance of the four notes sued on be cancelled, and that J. E. Brewer recover the amount so cancelled as a set-off against the notes sued on. In other words,- the court, as we understand the judgment, refused to treat any of the notes as advancements, or gifts, but allowed J. E. Brewer $1,750.00 in round numbers, as damages for the failure of his father to perform the agreement under which J. [403]*403E. Brewer sold his Missouri property and removed to Kentucky by either giving to him the land or the purchase money notes.

From this judgment the administrator prosecutes an appeal, contending that he should have judgment for the full amount of the purchase money notes sued on, and J. E. Brewer prosecutes a cross-appeal contending that the administrator was not entitled to judgment for any párt of the notes sued on because, as he insists, they merely evidenced the amount of an advancement or gift to him, or if he was not entitled to this relief he should have the amount of the notes as damages for the breach of the agreement under which he removed from Missouri to Kentucky.

It will be observed that in his will Edmond Brewer only gave to his son J. E. Brewer seventy acres of land, worth about $2,200.00. To his son, Ottie Brewer, he had advanced about a thousand dollars, and this, together with the $1,600.00 given him in the will, made the amount received by him about $2,600.00. He had also advanced to his daughter, Mrs/ Briley, and her children, land worth about $2,500.00, and this, together with the residue of the estate, - if the notes against J. E. Brewer should be collected, would make her part about $8,000.00 after the payment of the debts of Edmond Brewer. It is further shown by the evidence of the administrator that the total personal estate of'Edmond Brewer amounted to $12,123, including the notes against J. E. Brewer, and that his indebtedness amounted .to $8,203, leaving apparent assets $2,929.00, which could be practically exhausted by the deduction of worthless notes, the payment of the $1,600 to Ottie, and the cost of administration.

So that if J. E. Brewer succeeded in getting the eighty acres of land, worth about $5,000.00 as-.an advancement, and the seventy acres devised to him in the will, he would have received from his father’s estate about $7,200.00, while his brother and his sister would get, approximately, about $2,500.00 each.

On the other hand, if the administrator succeeds, J. E. Brewer would get the seventy acres of land willed to him by his father, or $2,200.00, his brother, Ottie Brewer, about $2,600.00, and Mr. Briley about $8,500.00.

Leaving out of view, as incompetent, the evidence of J. E. Brewer relating to conversations and transactions with his father, we find that L. Brewer testified, [404]*404in substance, that Edmond Brewer and his son, J. E.

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Bluebook (online)
205 S.W. 393, 181 Ky. 400, 1918 Ky. LEXIS 536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brewers-administrator-v-brewer-kyctapp-1918.