Wilson v. Wilson

Decided October 10, 1921

Supreme Court of South Carolina · decided 1921-10-10

Before Moore, J. Spartanburg, May, 1920. ' Action by Berry Wilson, father, against R. G. Wilson, son, to set aside a deed. Decree for plaintiff and defendant ■ appeals. The Report of S. T. Lanham, Master, was as follows: The plaintiff and the defendant are father and son. The plaintiff is an old m,an, eighty-two years of age, blind in one eye, partially deaf. He is the father of eight children, the defendant being his oldest son.

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently February 1986

1 district · 1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Reversed · Decided 1921-10-10

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Mr. Justice Cothran,

¶1 (dissenting) : I am satisfied that the findings of the Master, who had all the witnesses before him, concurred in by the Circuit Judge upon the facts and the law of the case, are not overborne by the testimony for the defendant, but are supported by the weight of the testimony.

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Status

Disposition: Reversed

Case posture

Disposition: Reversed.
Posture: Before MOORE, J. Spartanburg, May, 1920. Reversed.Action by Berry Wilson, father, against R.G. Wilson, son, to set aside a deed. Decree for plaintiff and defendant appeals. The Report of S.T. Lanham, Master, was as follows: The plaintiff and the defendant are father and son. The plaintiff is an old man, eighty-two years of age, blind in one eye, partially deaf. He is the father of eight children, the defendant being his oldest son. He has reared all of these children to manhood's estate, and all are living apart from him except the youngest son, who still lives with his father. The plaintiff owns a 151-acre tract of land in the Holly Springs section of Spartanburg County, which has been his home nearly all his life. It is encumbered by a mortgage to the D.D. Davenport estate, on which there is due a balance of approximately $3,000.00. On August 5, 1919, Berry Wilson conveyed to his son, R.G. Wilson, the 151-acre tract of land, for an agreed consideration of $12,000.00, reserving the possession of the land during his life, and agreeing to pay all taxes during such possession. On the same day Robert G. Wilson signed a note whereby he promised to pay to his father the sum of $12,000.00 within twelve years from date, no interest to accrue thereon until after the death of the payee. One Hundred Dollars paid in cash was credited on this note. The defendant was to assume the payment of the Davenport mortgage, and in order to meet this payment he was to mortgage the land which he had bargained for, borrowing the money upon this security with which to pay Davenport. He was to execute a second mortgage to Berry Wilson by January 5, 1920, which would represent the remainder of the purchase price. This suit was commenced August 23, 1919, by the service of summons and complaint. The plaintiff alleges that he was induced by circumvention, overpersuasion, undue influence and fraudulent misrepresentations on the part of the defendant to execute the deed of conveyance; that in his enfeebled condition he was no match for his son, who induced him in the manner already stated to part with his home for an inadequate consideration. He asks that the deed be cancelled and adjudged to be void and of no effect. The defendant admits the conveyance, but denies the use of any artifice, or the commission of any fraud; he alleges that the plaintiff has been well paid for the land, or will be, that the transaction was fair and open and known to most of the plaintiff's close relatives; he asks that the complaint be dismissed with costs. The law applicable to the issues raised by the pleadings was so well understood and so ably argued by counsel that it is unnecessary for me to analyze or discuss the authorities at length. I shall refer very briefly to the principles involved. It is a well settled principle of law that mental incapacity need not be so complete as to dethrone reason in order to render it impossible for one to make a contract, or a valid gift; such unsoundness or weakness of mind as makes grantor unable to understand the subject of the contract and its nature and consequences is enough. Du Bose v. Kell , 90 S.C. 207 ; Hagin v. Barrow , 103 S.C. 453 . The doctrine is equally well established that the acts and contracts of persons of weak understanding will be held void in Courts of Chancery if the nature of the act or contract warrants the conclusion that the person in question has not exercised a deliberate judgment, but has been imposed upon by artifice and cunning, or overpersuaded by undue influence. Banker v. Hendricks , 24, S.C. 1 Gaston v. Bennett , 30 S.C. 467 ; Willie v. Willie , 57 S.C. 413 . A third group of decisions may be found to sustain the doctrine that wherever a fiduciary relation exists between two persons, and a business transaction occurs between them, as a result of which the superior party obtains a possible benefit, equity raise a presumption against its validity, throwing the burden upon him to prove his good faith. Way v. Insurance Company , 61 S.C. 511 ; Tindall v. Sublett , 82 S.C. 199 ; McElveen v. King , 88 S.C. 346 ; Delvin v. Delvin , 89 S.C. 273 . In Butler v. Haskell , 4 S.C. Eq. 652, the relation was that of principal and agent; in Way v. Insurance Company and in McElveen v. King it was that of husband and wife; in Tindall v. Sublett it was mother-in-law and son-in-law; in Craddock v. Weekly , 85 S.C. 329 , it was that of a widowed mother and her daughters and their husbands; in Delvin v. Delvin , 89 S.C. 268 , it was that of a sister and her brother; in the case at bar, it is the relation of father and son. The tract of land is worth from $125 to $150 an acre, according to the testimony of the witnesses. The price which Robert G. Wilson agreed to pay is not so grossly inadequate as to justify a Court in setting the transaction aside on that ground. The witnesses differ widely when called upon to express opinions as to the mental capacity of Berry Wilson. Of the three physicians produced as expert witnesses, Dr. Jackson thinks that the plaintiff's mind is so weakened by old age and senile decay that he is not capable of attending to business; Dr. Thompson considers him as intelligent and well balanced as the average man of his age; Dr. Brockman considers him childish and in his dotage, would not call him a balanced man, thinks he would be easily influenced or imposed upon. His friends and neighbors differ about as much as the doctors in their opinions as to his mental acumen. I fully concur in Dr. Brockman's opinion that there is no insanity or dementia in the case of the old man. But his physical handicap is so enormous that it is difficult for him to make good use of such mental powers as he does possess. His advanced age and his senile decay are not disputed by any. The defendant has never denied that he led his father to believe that forclosure of the mortgage on his farm was imminent. It is reasonable to suppose that this was anything short of misrepresentation, since the defendant cannot be assumed to have had information that foreclosure was contemplated by the Davenport Estate, when as a matter of fact it had no such intention. I cannot escape the conclusion that the defendant, whose natural obligation and filial duty should have made him his aged father's chief protector and closest adviser, used this sacred and confidential relationship to persuade the old man to make the conveyance to him, urging upon him the possibility of losing his home, and preying upon his imagination by magnifying a danger which must have been a very remote possibility. In dealing with his father, the defendant should have shown that utmost degree of good faith ( Uberrima Fides ) which equity requires shall be shown in such case. He has not done this. A Court of Equity cannot fail to heed the appeal of an aged man who has been led into a transaction of this sort, by that one of all others whom he should have been able to trust, his firstborn son. I recommend that the deed be cancelled by the Clerk of this Court and returned to the plaintiff, upon the plaintiff's paying into the hands of the said Clerk the sum of $100.00 with interest from August 7, 1919, and that the record of said deed (Book 6-B, page 666) be cancelled by the Clerk. Plaintiff should have judgment against the defendant for the costs of this suit, which should be paid by the Clerk out of the money paid into his hands by the plaintiff.

Source: CourtListener

Court

Supreme Court of South Carolina

Parallel citations

109 S.E 278