Chamberlin v. Sanders

268 Ill. 41
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedApril 22, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 268 Ill. 41 (Chamberlin v. Sanders) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chamberlin v. Sanders, 268 Ill. 41 (Ill. 1915).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Cooke

delivered the opinion of the court:

On June 16, 1884, Spencer S. Chamberlin, the appellee, purchased a lot improved by a dwelling house at No. 23 South Sacramento boulevard, in the city of Chicago. He took possession of the premises and resided thereon with his wife. On January 9, 1890, he deeded the premises to his wife, who died intestate March 27, 1891, leaving surviving her the appellee and Charles H. Sanders, a child by a former marriage. At that time Sanders and his wife, May A., who are the appellants here, resided in another section of the city of Chicago. On March 31, 1891, appellants conveyed their interest in the property to appellee, and- he, in turn, on September 21, 1891, deeded the same to appellant Charles H. Sanders. On July 19, 1910, appellants conveyed the property to Joseph J. Kamen, who deeded the same to appellant May A. Sanders on July 22, 1910. On April 4, 1891, appellants, with their two young daughters, moved into the property with appellee, and they lived there together as one family, with the exception of several short periods when appellee resided elsewhere, until October 16, 1910, when Charles H. Sanders ejected appellee from the premises and forbade his return. Appellee thereafter, filed his bill in the circuit court of Cook county to set aside the deed of September 21, 1891, to Sanders, and the deeds of July 19, 1910, and July. 22, 1910, from appellants to Kamen and from Kamen and wife to appellant May A. Sanders, upon the ground that the consideration for the conveyance from appellee to appellant Charles H. Sanders on September 21, 1891, was the promise of said Sanders to support and maintain appellee in comfort in the home of said Sanders for and during the period of his natural life. The cause was referred to the master in chancery, who reported finding the equities with appellee, recommending that the three said deeds of September 21, 1891, July 19, 1910, and July 22, 1910, be set aside, that appellee be re-invested with the title to the premises and that the appellants be decreed to vacate the same. Objections to the master’s report were overruled, and upon being renewed before the chancellor as exceptions to the report some were sustained and others overruled, and a decree was entered finding that the deed from appellants to appellee of March 31, 1891, was without consideration and void; that the conveyance from appellee to appellant Charles H. Sanders of September 21, 1891, was made in consideration of a promise to support and maintain appellee during his natural life; that on October 16, 1910, said Sanders abandoned his agreement and contract to support and maintain appellee; that the deeds from appellants to ICamen and from Kamen and wife to appellant May A. Sanders were without consideration and void, and that the property at the time of the filing of the bill, on January 12, 1911, was worth $2700 and its rental value was $270 per year. All of said deeds were ordered set aside, thus placing appellee in the same position in respect to the property that he occupied at the time of the death of his wife, on March 27, 1891. The decree further finds that the homestead and dower interest of appellee are of the value of $1566.66, and it was ordered that appellant Charles H. Sanders pay to the appellee, annually, from the time of his eviction on October 16, 1910, the sum of $156.66 during the remainder of appellee’s lifetime, that being the proportion of the rental value found by the court that the sum of $1566.66 bears to $2700, the full value of the premises. This appeal has been prosecuted to reverse that decree.

There is a sharp conflict in the evidence as to the consideration for the making of the conveyances of March 31, 1891, and September 21, 1891. Appellee testified that the conveyance of March 31, 1891, was purely voluntary and was made without any solicitation on his part and without any discussion of the matter between him and appellants or either of them; that he never discussed the making of the conveyance of September. 21, 1891, until the time it was made, and knew nothing of the matter until the appellant Charles H. Sanders presented the deed to him on that date and requested him to execute it; that in reply to such request he asked, “What do you suppose I am going to do for a home ?—This is the only home I have got,” to which Sanders replied, “This is simply a question of having the property in my name so that any improvements I wish to make I can make, as it will be my property;” that he replied thereto, “But what am I going to do for a home?” that Sanders then said, “That won’t change your life any; you will live here just the same as you always have, eat with us at the table, and your. washing and mending will be done here just as it always has been and always will be;” that thereupon appellee stated, “Well, under that consideration, then, I am willing ,to sign the deed; I don’t propose to give away everything I have got and then go and hunt a home somewhere else;” that Sanders then replied, “This home will be your home just as long as you live or want to stay here.” Appellee testified that Mrs. Sanders was present at that conversation. He is' corroborated in reference to the making of the contract by one witness who states that on one occasion thereafter, when Mrs. Sanders was complaining that the habits of appellee were such as to make his presence intolerable in their home, the witness asked her why she submitted to it, and she replied that it was in the contract with appellee that appellants should give him a home with them. On the other hand, appellants both deny that any such conversation occurred or that any such contract was made.

Charles H. Sanders testified that after the death of his mother, in order to carry out her known desires, it was agreed between himself and appellee that the title should be placed in Sanders free from any claim on the part of appellee, and having been advised that the best way to occomplish this was to first put the whole title in appellee, the deed of March 31, 1891, was made as a part of the plan to invest Sanders with the title; that the matter was discussed a time or two between him and appellee prior to September 21, 1891, when the deed to Sanders was made, and that appellee always expressed a willingness to comply with this arrangement by executing such deed. He testified that there was no promise made to maintain or support appellee as a consideration for the making of the deed of September 21, 1891, but that these two conveyances were made for the sole purpose of carrying out what the parties thereto knew to be the desire of Mrs. Chamberlin. Sanders is corroborated by Joseph J. Kamen, who testified to a conversation he had with appellee just after the deed of September 21 was made.

At the time of the making of the deed to Sanders, in 1891, appellee was forty-nine years of age and in good health, and it is insisted by appellants that this fact should be considered as having a bearing upon the reasonableness of the agreement claimed by appellee to have been made. Although appellee is successfully contradicted in his testimony on other phases of the case, we are unable to say that the finding of the chancellor on the question of the consideration for the deed of September 21, 1891, is so contrary to the weight of the evidence as to be erroneous, and the decree will not be disturbed on that ground.

We are of the opinion, however, that such a fraudulent intent on the part of appellant Charles H. Sanders has not been shown as would warrant a court of equity in rescinding the contract and setting aside the conveyance.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gerard v. Costin
215 P. 1011 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
268 Ill. 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chamberlin-v-sanders-ill-1915.