Bunnell v. Bunnell

64 S.W. 420, 111 Ky. 566, 1901 Ky. LEXIS 644
Court of Appeals of Kentucky·Decided September 20, 1901·Published·Cited by 34 cases

Opinion

Opinion on the court by

JUDGE O’REAR

Reversing.

On the 18th day of August, 1880, J. H. Bunnell conveyed to his sons, W. E. Bunnell and appellant Charles- R. Bun- ' nell, all his lands in Hart county, Ky., in severalty, for their lives, with remainder to their bodily heirs, reserving , to himself and wife, appellant Martha A. Bunnell, respectivly, a life estate therein. At this time both his sons named w^re living with him, and were unmarried; Charles R. being a minor. William E. thereafter married appellee Minnie R. Price (then Minnie R. Munford). On August 19, 1884, after the marriage, and directly after the birth of .appellee, Lillian Bunnell, the first-born and only issue of William E. and Minnie R. Bunnell, J. H. Bunnell and wife executed another deed - conveying their life estate in the lands above mentioned to the sons of William E. and Charles R. The consideration for these deeds was love .and affection. When J. H. Bunnell, with his wife, signed the deeds, they were left by the grantors with the county clerk for record, and were recorded. On the date of the last deed, J. H. Bunnell, for the same consideration, presumably, assigned to the sons named all. his cash notes, amounting to about $7,000, by writing on the back of each note in the usual form. It is alleged by the appellees that he also gave and delivered to the sons named all his other personal property, stock, furniture, etc. The parties continued to reside at the old homestead, constituting but one family. About one year after the execution of the last deed, William E. Bunnell died intestate. His widow, with the child, stopped at her father’s who lived a short dis[569] tance from the Bunnell home, after the funeral. Upon the advice of her father, W. B. Craddock was appointed administrator of the estate of the decedent, and Joel T. Price as the guardian of the child. The old man, J. H. Bunnell, was of eccentric, whimsical disposition; a nervous dyspeptic, his physician testified. A son-in-law, by the naime of Brownlee, who seems to have incurred the deep-seated dislike of J. H. Bunnell, sent word to his father-in law that the probable result of his confiding generosity would be that he would be turned out of house and home by the strangers appointed over the estate of his deceased son. The fears of the old man were evidently worked upon to a considerable extent, for he so forgot his antipathy to Brownlee as to send for him, and to make him a confidential agent in employing counsel, with a view to saving the property from the administrator and guardian. As a result of Brownlee’s efforts and the legal advice he procured, J. H. Bunnell declined to surrender to William E. Bunnell’s representatives any of the property named. Actions were then instituted by the administrator, joining the infant and her mother, as next friend, and by the guardian, seeking to recover respectively their proportions of the property involved in the conveyance and assignments first referred to. After the suits were brought, Brownlee appeared again on the scene, — he says, at the instance of J. H. Bunnell; but whether so, or as self-constituted emissary to the widow, may not be satisfactorily shown. He told her that, because the deeds and notes “had never been delivered” by J. H. Bunnell, his title to the lands and money had not passed, and that she and her child would lose everythiug; besides, J. H. Bunnell, angered by her action, was going to sue her father on some notes owing by him, and included in those thought [570] to have been assigned; that he would be sold out and ruined; and, furthermore, that J. H. Bunnell would spend every dollar of the estate before he would yield. After consultation with her father and attorney, W. B. Martin, she yielded to the suggestion of Brownlee to arbitrate the matters in litigation. Brownlee testifies that he reported these conversations to J. H. Bunnell.

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Bunnell v. Bunnell, 64 S.W. 420, 111 Ky. 566, 1901 Ky. LEXIS 644 (Ky. Ct. App. 1901).

64 S.W. 420 (Bunnell v. Bunnell) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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