Hague v. MacArthur

894 S.W.2d 684, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 183, 1995 WL 44193
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 7, 1995
DocketNo. WD 48957
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 894 S.W.2d 684 (Hague v. MacArthur) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hague v. MacArthur, 894 S.W.2d 684, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 183, 1995 WL 44193 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

KENNEDY, Presiding Judge.

This is a will contest. The children of Richard Hague, Sr., the decedent, challenge his will dated April 29, 1992, of which Faith MacArthur was the sole beneficiary and was named as personal representative. Faith MacArthur was the decedent’s companion and co-habitant at the time of his death. The children claim the purported last will was the product of undue influence practiced by Faith MacArthur upon their father, and also that he lacked mental capacity to make a valid will.

After the jury trial, the jury rejected the will. Faith MacArthur has appealed, claiming the evidence does not support the verdict of the jury.

The evidence showed the following state of facts. Where a person’s mental condition is the issue, it is rarely possible to state the facts of the case briefly, for the answer depends upon an accumulation of many instances of the person’s behavior and speech, over an extended period of time.

Richard Hague, Sr., and Barbara Hague had been married many years when Barbara became ill with cancer, and, after a lengthy illness, died on July 13, 1991. During her final illness, as she was a patient in the hospital, Richard himself was diagnosed with cancer, which would in time prove to be fatal. He was a patient in the same hospital as his wife.

Richard and Barbara had four adult children, who are the contestants here.

Richard at this time was 61 years old. He had earlier followed the concrete finisher’s trade, but was disabled in an accident in 1986. (A workers’ compensation claim was settled for $30,000 in 1992, during the summer before his death.) He and Barbara had then become engaged in the antiques and flea market business. They bought these goods mainly at auctions, and resold them in flea markets. There is evidence Richard could not read or write, but, if so, it did not prevent his conducting the ordinary affairs of life without noticeable disadvantage.

After Barbara’s death, Richard was despondent. His cancer did not respond to therapy. He and his children assumed the cancer would be fatal. He sold most of his tangible personal property at auction, including an accumulation of antiques and flea market goods. This was about Labor Day, 1991, before he had met Faith. The property was located at three different flea market loca[686]*686tions — Fulton, Midway, and Business Loop (Columbia) — and in Richard’s residence garage. At the same time, he sold his household goods, and his house was left bare of furnishings, except for minimum essentials. This auction fetched an estimated $80,000. Richard distributed $5,000 to each of three of his four children. To one of them, his daughter, Sue, he gave an additional $5,000 to keep for him against a time of his need for it. A fourth child, a son, was in prison at this time, and did not share in the distribution. Richard’s purpose in liquidating the property and in making gifts to his children was to avoid probate court involvement after his death.

An incident in connection with the auction is cited by the children as evidence of their father’s mental incompetence. While the auction was in progress, he angrily stopped the auction and discontinued it, complaining the goods were not selling high enough. The children considered their father’s action bizarre and uncharacteristic of him. The auction was rescheduled later and was completed two weeks later.

Richard also behaved uncharacteristically in relation to a hospital bill incurred for Barbara’s hospitalization. An insurance company paid $1100 to the hospital which, according to Richard, should have been paid directly to him. The hospital paid the $1100 to Richard, although there remained $1500 owing on the hospital bill. The hospital sued Richard for the $1500. Richard’s action seemed inconsistent with Richard’s habit of paying bills scrupulously.

During the four months after Barbara’s death, the evidence presents a picture of a warm and mutually helpful relationship between Richard and his children. He played cards with his son, Richard, Jr. He and the children drove to Minnesota on a gambling trip. The son who had been in prison was released and made his home with his father.

In October, Richard met Faith MacArthur at a Parents without Partners meeting. Faith was twice a widow, each of her two husbands having died. Richard was immediately attracted to her and began to court her favor. Their relationship rapidly ripened into romance. Richard began spending more and more time with Faith, and less with his children, grandchildren and other relatives whom he had regularly associated with. Sometime after Richard met Faith, he commenced a campaign to get his son, who had been living with him, out of his house. By January, 1992, this campaign was successful, and the son vacated the house.

Richard now took a new lease on life. His interest in the flea market business revived. He and Faith re-established a flea market business, whether on the same scale as his earlier business one cannot tell from the record. In January, Faith sold her house in Holts Summit and moved in with Richard, refurnishing his house, which was practically naked of furniture, with her own household goods.

Richard’s relationship with his children deteriorated. They took him to task about his relationship with Faith. Richard was irritated by their resistance to his relationship with Faith, and responded angrily to their remonstrations. Richard from time to time wanted returned to him some of the money he had given to his children after the September auction. One son, Richard, Jr., returned to him in a lump sum the entire $5,000 his father had given him. The others were less forthcoming. Sue reminded her father that money had to be reserved for his funeral expenses. She remonstrated with her father and Faith over their extravagance, pointing out to them that Richard received only $780 per month in social security, and that Faith made only $5 per hour from her two-days-per-week employment. Later, Richard demanded that Sue apologize to Faith about her comment that Faith made $5.00 per hour. More and more, as time passed, he withdrew from his children and grandchildren, although the family had always been a close-knit family.

Friends and family members testified that Richard was normally friendly and good-humored, but that he became increasingly “argumentative” with people. The testimony does not relate this change to the date of the will, April 29, 1992. It could be supposed to have been a continuing condition, with the auction-stopping incident its first manifestation.

[687]*687The children theorize that Richard was under Faith’s domination. One thing that is developed in the evidence is Richard’s obsession with sex. This showed up four days after Barbara’s death. Richard proposed a sexual liaison between himself and his sister-in-law, or so the sister-in-law understood it. He talked about intimate sexual matters with his children, apparently without inhibition. This was out of character for Richard; he had always been reticent about such matters. In his relationship with Faith, he was tormented by a sexual dysfunction which prevented sexual satisfaction, although he sought and received medical help. One witness, who rented flea market stalls to Richard and Faith, testified to Faith’s ordering Richard about in a peremptory manner, and to his docile submission. At one time, Richard lamented to him that he could do nothing to please Faith. When the friend asked Richard why he didn’t kick her out, Richard said she would have no place to go.

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

Related

Cottey College v. School of the Ozarks, Inc.
299 S.W.3d 767 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
In Re Gene Wild Revocable Trust
299 S.W.3d 767 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)
Allee v. Ruby Scott Sigears Estate
182 S.W.3d 772 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2006)
Jolly Ex Rel. Jolly v. Clarkson
157 S.W.3d 290 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
Vancil v. Carpenter
935 S.W.2d 42 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
894 S.W.2d 684, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 183, 1995 WL 44193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hague-v-macarthur-moctapp-1995.