Farra v. Adams

75 Ky. 515, 12 Bush 515, 1877 Ky. LEXIS 112
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 15, 1877
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 75 Ky. 515 (Farra v. Adams) 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
Farra v. Adams, 75 Ky. 515, 12 Bush 515, 1877 Ky. LEXIS 112 (Ky. Ct. App. 1877).

Opinion

CHIEF JUSTICE LINDSAY

delivered the opinion of the court.

Feathergail Adams died in Garrard County in Í869 seized of two hundred and twenty-seven acres of land. He left three children and heirs-at-law, James W. Adams, John "W. Adams, and Sallie Farra. His personal estate, which amounted to but a few hundred dollars in value, seems to have been appropriated by his two sons. They also took possession of, and for several years, with the apparent consent of their sister, controlled and used the real estate.

In December, 1871, John W. Adams sold one half of this realty to his brother, James. He also sold him one half of a tract of one hundred and seventeen acres of land to which they jointly held title. A note for $5,000 was executed for one half of the price agreed to be paid by James for John’s undivided interest in these two pieces of realty.

This note was sold and regularly assigned to the appellee, Thos. K. Adams. In June, 1874, he instituted this action to [518]*518recover judgment on the note and to enforce the vendor’s lien reserved in the deed of conveyance from John "W. to James W. Adams. He made Sallie Farra and her husband, Frank Farra, and one Robinson, a creditor of the estate of Feathergail Adams, deceased, parties defendant to his action.

He also instituted another action against the same parties on a note for $1,205, on which Feathergail Adams, deceased, had been bound either jointly with or as the surety of his two sons.

To defeat the claim of Mrs. Farra to an undivided interest of one third in the tract of two hundred and twenty-seven acres of land, owned by her father at the time of his death, Thos. K. Adams relies — first, on the alleged fact that Mrs. Farra was present at the time of the sale by one of her brothers to the other of one half of the land, and, with full knowledge of what was being done, permitted the sale to be consummated, and allowed him to purchase and pay for the note without intimating that she had an interest in the land. He charges further that she so conducted herself as to reasonably impress him with the belief that she claimed no such interest, and he insists that she is now estopped to assert her claim as against him. Second, he says that since all these transactions the last will and testament of Feathergail Adams, deceased, has been produced and regularly probated, and that by the provisions of that will Mrs. Farra is excluded from any interest in the land.

The evidence produced to support the first ground of avoidance is not sufficient to establish the alleged estoppel.

Thos. K. Adams, who testifies in his own behalf, does not pretend to say that Mrs. Farra was apprised of the negotiations going on between the two brothers, or that-she was present when the note was sold and assigned to him. He does testify to facts tending to show that her husband, Frank Farra, was present, and that he said his wife had no claim [519]*519to the land. The son of Thos. K. Adams swears that Mrs. Farra also said she had no such claim. In this he is flatly contradicted by Mrs. Farra, and she is supported by the evidence of John W. Adams. The lips of Frank Farra are closed by that provision of the testimony act which prohibits the husband from testifying in behalf of the wife after she has availed herself of that privilege.

But even if the testimony as to the knowledge of the husband be given full weight, no such case is made out as that reported in 8 B. Monroe (p. 539), where both the husband and the wife remained silent as to a latent and doubtful interest of the wife in a slave, and saw him sold for full value to an innocent purchaser, who had not the means of discovering the existence of the wdfe’s right.

The appellee was apprised of the heirship of Mrs. Farra. The public records did not show that she had conveyed her interest in the land to any one; and although she was in the house wdth the parties at the time he purchased the note, the appellee does not recollect that he asked her as to whether she had sold to her two brothers, or even advised her that he was about to make the purchase upon the assumption that she had no interest in the land.

The proof does not show that Mrs. Farra had even agreed to sell to her brothers. Negotiations had been going on between them for several years, but they had not at any time agreed as to the price, and neither she or her husband had ever received one cent in payment from either of the brothers, and no written memorial of the negotiations had ever been entered into. It is clear that if Mrs. Farra ever had an interest in the land she still owns it, and is not estopped to assert her claim.

But the will of her father does defeat any claim she might otherwise have asserted as heir-at-law. The following is the substance of that instrument:

[520]*520“I give to my two sons, John and James Adams, the tract of land on which I now reside, at the price of $20,000.

“I charge my daughter, Sally Farra, the sum of $3,000 for negroes, cash, and other property given to her at her marriage.

“ I also will and bequeath said Sally the following slaves, to wit: Carego, Louisa, Lucy Ann, Margaret, Chaney, at the sum of $5,600.

“ I also give my sons, Jack and James, the following slaves: William, Jane, and Penn, at the price of $2,800.

“From this calculation and division my daughter, Sally, lacks $2,800 to make her equal with my sons, which is to be paid her out of the personal property; and if there is not sufficient property to pay said sum, then my sons are to make her up said sum in three equal annual installments.

“I further will and bequeath my son James the sum of $600, independent of the rest of my children, for the purpose of educating said James Adams.”

This will was published ten years prior to the death of the testator. For some reason, susceptible possibly of explanation, it was not presented for probate until five years after his death. It seems that Mrs. Farra was apprised of the fact that her father had made a will; but the proof does not show that she knew it to be in existence at the time of his death, and the relative in whose custody it was placed for safe-keeping seems to have forgotten all about it.

Mrs. Farra claims that she has a lien upon the realty devised to her two brothers to secure the payment of her legacy, and that it is superior to the lien of the appellee.

He insists her legacy is not a charge on the estate devised, and that Mrs. Farra’s only remedy is the assertion of her right of action against the brothers upon the personal liability created by their acceptance of the devise; and this seems to have been the opinion of the circuit judge.

[521]*521In the case of Berry v. Headington (3 J. J. Marshall, 315) the devise was to the wife of the testator, “ but ... on these conditions,” that she should support and educate the testator’s daughter, and pay to his son while a minor a fixed annuity. And this court held the annuity to be “ a charge in rem, and not in personam.”

Jarman, in his work on wills, cites a number of cases showing that such legacies charge the realty devised. (Vol. 2, side-page 525.) Among others, the cases of Aubrey v. Middleton and Alcock v. Sparhawk. In the case first named the testator gave several legacies and annuities to be paid by his executor,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 Ky. 515, 12 Bush 515, 1877 Ky. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farra-v-adams-kyctapp-1877.