Jensen v. Jensen

192 P.2d 55, 84 Cal. App. 2d 754, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1267
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 7, 1948
DocketCiv. 3710
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 192 P.2d 55 (Jensen v. Jensen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jensen v. Jensen, 192 P.2d 55, 84 Cal. App. 2d 754, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1267 (Cal. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an action to quiet title to a house and lot in Selma which Mrs. Smith, the deceased, had owned and occupied as a home.

While living in Selma, Mrs. Smith took in and eared for two orphan sisters, Martina Sharp and the defendant Eleanor Jensen, who were some 7 or 8 years old. Martina left when she was about 17 and later became a nurse. • Eleanor remained until she was 30, assisting and caring for Mrs. Smith, who moved to Fresno sometime prior to 1938 and bought a house there. In October, 1938, she executed a deed to this property to Martina Sharp, who was then married, telling Martina that she wanted her to see that the property went to Eleanor after Mrs. Smith died. She explained that while Martina was a nurse and had a husband Eleanor would probably never marry and would always need to be cared for. This deed was delivered to Martina, but was never recorded.

*756 In 1942, with the consent and approval of Martina, Mrs. Smith sold the house in Fresno, bought the house here in question and returned to Selma to live in order to be close to her old church. She had had a hip injury which made her quite lame, and for some years she suffered from asthma and a heart condition.

On September 13, 1942, Mrs. Smith made an holographic will, leaving her furniture to Eleanor Jensen, to a stepdaughter, and to her niece Minnie Shirey; $100 each to a stepdaughter and a stepson; and the rest of her property in equal shares to two nephews, to her niece Minnie Shirey, and to Eleanor Jensen, the defendant.

This niece, Minnie Shirey, lived with Mrs. Smith and assisted in caring for her from 1941 until December, 1944. A Mrs. Anderson took care of her from December, 1944, until the latter part of May, 1945. At that time, Mrs. Anderson announced that she was leaving. Mrs. Smith’s pastor and Hobert Jensen, the plaintiff, who is the husband of her stepdaughter, attempted without success to get someone to come and care for her. They then took her to the county hospital. The pastor testified that “They took her into the hospital with the understanding that she was a mental condition” and that “the only reason she was placed in the hospital was because we couldn’t find any other way of taking care of her.” An insanity complaint was signed by Hobert Jensen and she was kept in the psychopathic ward several days. A hearing was had on June 2, 1945. Three doctors reported that she was not insane and the judge who presided at the hearing remarked that she should have a guardian appointed.

On that day, June 2, Hobert Jensen took Mrs. Smith to a rest home in Fresno operated by a Mrs. Johnson. He then ■filed a petition to be appointed as her guardian. Martina Sharp heard that she was in this rest home and went to see her. Mrs. Smith begged Mrs. Sharp to take her away from this home, saying she wanted to go back to her home in Selma. Mrs. Sharp took Mrs. Smith to her home in Fresno for a few hours several times, returning her to the rest home at night. Mrs. Sharp then talked with Hobert Jensen and the pastor, and they told her that Jensen was going to be appointed guardian and that he intended to sell Mrs. Smith’s home in Selma and use the proceeds to support her in a rest home. She reported this to Mrs. Smith who said that they were not going to sell her home, that she was not going to have Jensen for a guardian, and that if they were going to do this she *757 wanted Mrs. Sharp as guardian. On June 6, 1945, Mrs. Sharp took Mrs. Smith, at her request, to an attorney who had acted for Mrs. Smith at intervals since 1938. On that date, acting on this attorney’s advice, Mrs. Smith executed a deed conveying her home to Eleanor Jensen but reserving a life estate. This deed was recorded that day and on the same day a petition was filed in the guardianship proceeding which had already been started asking that Mrs. Sharp be appointed as guardian. This petition contained an allegation that Mrs. Smith had “by reason of old age and ill health, become mentally incompetent to care for or manage her property.”

A hearing was had in the guardianship proceeding the next day, June 7, 1945. All that appears in the record is that the judge asked Mrs. Smith if she wanted a guardian appointed and she replied that she did not think she needed one, but if one was to be appointed she wanted Mrs. Sharp. The judge then asked Mrs. Smith how old she was and what her condition of health was. He then said to her that maybe it would be better to have a guardian appointed because of her age and condition of health, and she replied “Well, if one is appointed, I want Martina Sharp to be my guardian.” The matter was continued to permit certain notices to be given and on June 28,1945, the judge signed an order reciting that the matter had come on regularly that day for hearing and that proof had been made, finding that all of the allegations of the petition are true, and appointing Mrs. Sharp as guardian. She did not qualify as guardian because of the early death of Mrs. Smith.

After the first guardianship hearing on June 7, Mrs. Sharp took Mrs. Smith to her home in Selma, having arranged for a woman to care for her. Mrs. Anderson, who was still in Mrs. Smith’s home, refused to permit Mrs. Smith to enter. Mrs. Sharp then took Mrs. Smith to her own home in Fresno, where she remained for some 10 days or two weeks, after which she became more seriously ill and was taken to the hospital where she died on July 5, 1945, at the age of 76 years.

After his appointment as executor the plaintiff brought this action as a simple quiet title action with no allegations of fraud or undue influence. The defendant filed an answer and cross-complaint seeking to quiet her own title. At the beginning of the trial plaintiff’s attorney stated that the purpose of the action was to show that the deed of June 6,1945, conveying the property to the defendant was made under undue influence and at a time when Mrs. Smith did not know what she was doing, *758 and the case was tried on that theory. After proving the appointment of an executor plaintiff’s witnesses were asked questions relating to the general situation and mental condition of Mrs. Smith. An objection on the ground that this went to an issue not raised in the pleadings was overruled. No request for a continuance was made and the trial proceeded on that line, with both parties introducing evidence thereon. The case was submitted on briefs and thereafter, by permission of court, an amended complaint to conform to the proof was filed in which it was alleged that Mrs. Smith was the owner of this property during her lifetime and “that on or about the 6th day of June, 1945, the said Kristine Hansen Smith was old, sick, infirm and feeble and was wholly and mentally incompetent to take care of herself or her business transactions and on said' day the defendants, fraudulently taking advantage of said mental incapacity of the said Kristine Hansen Smith, procured her to sign a deed of conveyance to said property hereinabove described and the said deed was recorded on the same day, which conveyance was made without any consideration ; and the said defendant, Eleanor Jensen, grantee in said deed, claims title and ownership to said property through said conveyance. ’ ’ The court found in favor of the plaintiff and the findings included one which was in essentially the same language as the paragraph just quoted.

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

Related

Gibson v. Queer
344 P.2d 37 (California Court of Appeal, 1959)
Jamison v. Johnson
256 P.2d 984 (California Supreme Court, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 P.2d 55, 84 Cal. App. 2d 754, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1267, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jensen-v-jensen-calctapp-1948.