Huffman v. Rickets

111 N.E. 322, 60 Ind. App. 526, 1916 Ind. App. LEXIS 16
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1916
DocketNo. 8,827
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 111 N.E. 322 (Huffman v. Rickets) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huffman v. Rickets, 111 N.E. 322, 60 Ind. App. 526, 1916 Ind. App. LEXIS 16 (Ind. Ct. App. 1916).

Opinion

Caldwell, J.

This action, commenced in the Blackford Circuit Court, was venued to the Wells Circuit Court and there tried. Appellee, by her complaint, sought to procure the cancelation of a deed of warranty executed by her August 17, 1911, to her son, the appellant, Cyrus F; Rickets, and Margaret Rickets, husband and wife. Her action is based on the alleged breach of conditions subsequent for her support and maintenance contained in the deed. A trial by the court resulted in a judgment and decree canceling the deed as prayed. The errors assigned and not waived are based on the overruling of the demurrer to the complaint and the [529]*529overruling of the motion for a new trial. Under the latter assignment, the question of the sufficiency of the evidence is presented.

Three points to the following effect are urged against the sufficiency of the complaint: (1) That Margaret Rickets having died, and Cyrus F. Rickets having become incurably insane, the condition subsequent contained in the deed is impossible of performance by reason of the acts of God, and the demurrer should have been sustained; (2) that the complaint is insufficient by reason of the absence of an allegation that the guardian, after his appointment and the children of Cyrus F. Rickets, after he became insane, failed to support and maintain appellee; (3) there being no allegation of fraud or bad faith on the part of either grantee to the deed or of appellant Huffman, or of a wilful intention not to comply with the conditions of the deed, appellee is not entitled to the equitable relief demanded, and the demurrer should have been sustained.

1. The complaint to the extent necessary to a proper consideration of the objections urged against it, is to the following effect: On August 17, 1911, appellee was a widow more than eighty years of age, in poor health, and owned in fee a described tract of land in Blackford County, containing 49 acres, on the income from which she was dependent for her support. On that day she executed a warranty deed by which she conveyed the tract to appellant Rickets and wife. A copy of the deed is embodied in the complaint, its material provisions being as follows:

“This indenture witnesseth that Nancy Rickets, unmarried * * * convey and warrant to Cyrus F. Rickets and Margaret [530]*530Rickets, husband, and wife * * * for and in consideration of $4,000, the receipt whereof, is hereby acknowledged, the following described real estate in Blackford County, in the State of Indiana (describing it), subject to the conditions hereinafter set out. Grantees hereby agree to maintain and care for grantor' for her natural life in manner suited to her station in life, as she may reasonably require, and pay all expenses incident to such maintenance and care, except for clothing of grantor. If grantees herein shall fail or refuse to comply with the above conditions in a reasonable manner, then this deed shall at once become null and void. * * * ”

It.is alleged that Cyrus F. Rickets and his wife accepted the deed, and thereupon entered into possession of the lands thereunder, and that the grantees thereafter controlled, managed and cultivated the lands, and appropriated the crops therefrom. It is also alleged that the money consideration named in the deed was not paid or intended to be paid, and that the sole consideration for the execution of the deed was the provision for care and support.

As bearing on the first objection urged against its sufficiency, the complaint discloses that Margaret Rickets died soon after the execution of. the deed, and that Cyrus F. Rickets as surviving tenant by the entireties thereby became the sole owner of the title conveyed by the deed, and that thereafter in March, 1912, he became violently, permanently and incurably insane, and that he at that time was confined in the hospital for the insane at Richmond, where he remains.

As bearing on the second .objection urged, the complaint alleges in substance that under appointment made by the Blackford Circuit Court at the [531]*531June term,' 1912, appellant Huffman is the guardian of appellant Rickets as an insane person; that appellants have continued to cultivate the lands and appropriate the proceeds for their own purposes, and that since March, 1912, neither appellant, nor any person for them or either of them has complied with the conditions contained in the deed; that they have failed and refused and still fail and refuse to furnish anything for appellee’s support, or to maintain or care for her or to pay any of the expense thereof, or to deliver to her any of the rents and profits from the tract of land; that appellee has been compelled to and has received from other persons and other relatives all support, maintenance and care that she has received since March, 1912, such persons being under no obligations to support her without compensation.

As to the third objection urged, there is no allegation in the complaint that' appellants, Rickets and Huffman, guardian, in their failure to support and maintain appellee were actuated by fraud or bad faith, or that such failure was induced by a wilful intention to disregard the conditions of the deed. In the absence of an allegation to the contrary, it will be presumed that until Margaret Rickets died, the grantees to the deed faithfully performed its covenants, and that appellant Rickets, the surviving grantee, thereafter up until some time in March, 1912, continued to do so. Since that time, however, for reasons made obvious by the complaint, there has been a total failure on the part of the grantees personally to perform such covenants. If it were allowable for persons other than grantees thereafter in their behalf to perform such covenants, in the absence of appellee’s consent thereto, it sufficiently appears from the complaint that no other persons representing grantees did so. From that time appellee [532]*532was supported, maintained and eared for by persons under no legal obligations to do so, and prompted by motives other than those growing out of some relation of privity to grantees. It, therefore, follows that the second objection to the complaint is untenable. We proceed to a consideration of the first and third objections.

2. Contracts by which aged and infirm persons convey all or a substantial part of their property to others in consideration of an agreement for support, maintenance, and care during their declining years, are with practical uniformity recognized by the courts as constituting a class by themselves in matters pertaining to their interpretation and' enforcement. “There is in such transactions an element of confidence reposed by the old people in their grantee, sacred -in its nature, a breach of which, and retention of the benefits, no court should tolerate by a refinement upon technical rules and principles of law. By the modern trend of authority these transactions are placed in a class by themselves, and enforced without reference to the form or phraseology of the writing by which they are expressed, or whether by the strict letter of the law a forfeiture of - the estate is expressly provided for.” Bruer v. Bruer (1909), 109 Minn. 260.; 123 N. W. 813, 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 608. See, also, Brady v. Gregory (1912), 49 Ind. App. 355, 366, 97 N. E. 452; Cree v. Sherfy (1894), 138 Ind. 354, 37 N. E. 787; Bogie v. Bogie (1876), 41 Wis. 209.

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Bluebook (online)
111 N.E. 322, 60 Ind. App. 526, 1916 Ind. App. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huffman-v-rickets-indctapp-1916.