Tuttle v. Bessey
Tuttle v. Bessey
Opinion of the Court
The present controversy arises out of two deeds; the first from the decedent to herself and her son, Francis Marion Bessey, as joint tenants; and the second from herself and her son to himself and his wife, Pearl Bessey, as joint tenants. The plaintiff administratrix, who is a granddaughter of the deceased, filed her action to set aside both deeds upon the ground that decedent was of unsound mind at the time of the execution thereof; that defendants paid no consideration therefor; and that the execution was procured by fraud and undue influence. Defendants denied generally the specific allegations of plaintiff’s complaint. At the conclusion of the trial on the issues so joined, the court found in favor of defendants. Plaintiff’s appeal from the judgment is essentially an attack upon the sufficiency of the evidence and appears to be without merit.
The record shows that when the deeds were executed, the decedent was 85 years of age. Her eyesight was poor, and she wore a hearing aid. She remembered anniversaries and birthdays, wrote letters to friends and relatives until her last illness, kept her appointments, was active and attended church regularly. A neighbor, Riordan Hayer, testified that decedent visited him about once a month; that her memory was better than average for her age; that in his opinion she knew, the
The plaintiff now argues that the summarized evidence is insufficient to support the judgment, because defendants failed to sustain the burden imposed upon them to prove good faith, adequate consideration and independent advice in procuring the property.
As the court noted in Brunoni v. Brunoni, 93 Cal. App.2d 215, 218 [208 P.2d 1028], “The rules governing capacity to execute a deed are in general the same as those governing testamentary capacity. ’ ’ Examining the record in light of this rule, we find no evidence other than the conflicting evidence given by plaintiff that the decedent at the time of executing the conveyances was not of sufficient mental capacity to understand the nature of her act, the extent and character of her property and the relationship to persons who were the natural objects of her bounty. She had stated on numerous occasions that she intended to give the property in question to her son, the defendant; she knew the extent of her property; she did convey this property to her son and his wife; she asked of a neighbor where the deed could be pre
Although the complaint alleged that defendants procured the execution of the deeds with the intention of cheating and defrauding Francis’ brothers and sisters, it does not appear from the settled statement that any brother or sister was in fact excluded or was in any way injured by defendants’ receiving the deeds in question from Francis ’ mother. All of them had previously received property from her. Even if the facts were as plaintiff contends, the record shows no evidence of solicitation, inducement or influence to support an inference of undue influence on the part of defendants in obtaining the deeds from decedent. No showing is made that respondents exercised any pressure whatsoever on the mind of decedent; in fact all of the evidence is to the contrary. The voluntary character of her acts in executing the deeds is amply shown by the statements made by her to her neighbors and to her grandnephew. (Goldman v. Goldman, 116 Cal. App.2d 227 [253 P.2d 474].)
The judgment is affirmed.
Van Dyke, P. J., and Schottky, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.