Raleigh v. Turner
Raleigh v. Turner
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
Elliot Turner and his wife, Sarah Turner, had ten children, seven sons and three daughters. He was the owner of about 600 acres of land located in Breathitt county, and in the year 1904 he and his wife conveyed a portion thereof to each of their seven sons by separate deeds, each of which recited a cash consideration of $400.00. He died in the year 1913.' In the year 1916 this suit was brought by the three daughters, Zeri'lda Raleigh, Ruth Turner and Aria Eversole, to set aside the deeds to their brothers on the ground of mental incapacity on the part of the grantor, and fraud and undue influence on the part of the grantees. During the progress of the action Aria Eversole filed an affidavit to the effect that she had been joined as a plaintiff without her knowledge or consent, and that she had received her just proportion, of her father’s estate, and claimed nothing further. Thereafter the action was prosecuted by her two sisters, and on the final hearing the chancellor entered a decree dismissing the petition. The two sisters have appealed.
The outstanding facts shown by the evidence may bo summarized as follows: Long before the execution of the deeds, Elliot Turner made up his mind to divide his estate by deeding his land to his sons and giving to each of his daughters a portion of the timber. He carried out this plan to the extent of placing his eldest son, Segil, on the tract which he subsequently conveyed to' him, and shortly before the execution of the deeds he gave to each of his daughters a raft of poplar timber. The timber
gome stress is placed on the fact that the consideration stated in.the deeds was not true, and that this of itself was a badge of fraud. The rule may be conceded, but the attendant circumstances were such as to rebut any presumption of fraud. There was no effort at concealment, nor attempt to make an impression that an actual sale was made. Everyone knew that the grantor, in making the deeds, was merely dividing his estate in accordance with the plan which he had long cherished, and had repeatedly announced to his family and friends. Believing that it was necessary for the deeds to state a consideration, the grantor fixed the consideration at what he thought, the property was worth, not only for the purpose of showing the equality of the division between the sons, but for the further purpose of showing that the. land given to each was about equal in value to the logs which he gave to each of his daughters.
The transaction was singularly free from any circumstance tending to show undue influence. The case is not one where an old and decrepit father resided with certain of his children and preferred them to the exclusion of others. The case is one where the children made their home with the grantor, gegil, the oldest son, had been given his share of the estate many years before the deeds were executed. Next in age were the three daughters, and after them came the six sons, of whom four,
We concur in the ruling of the chancellor that the evidence was insufficient to make out a case of mental incapacity on the part of the grantor, or of fraud or undue influence on the part of the grantees.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.