Zuendt v. Doerner
Zuendt v. Doerner
Opinion of the Court
Charles Seitz, the son of Louise Seitz, administered on the estate of his mother and had closed the administration by a final settlement before this suit was commenced. It can not be contended that he did not know of the existence of the note of March 4, 1892, during the time he was administering on the estate of his mother, and did not know that his sister (the defendant) had possession of it claiming it as her property. The close kinship of all the parties and their intimate relations with each other forbid any such inference. The evidence shows that Adelbert Zeundt, the maker of the note,, was told by his wife that defendant had the note and that he would in all probability have to pay it to her. '• With full knowledge of all the facts, and after final settlement of the estate of Mrs. Seitz had been made, he took up the note of March 4, 1892, by giving the one sued on and by the payment of $100, the difference in the principals of the two notes, to defendant. From these facts it is fairly inferable that it was understood among all the parties in interest that the note of March 4, 1892, should be the property of the defendant as a part or whole of her distributive share of the estate of her mother; if so, then she was at the least the equitable owner of the note. Richardson v. Cole, 160 Mo. 372, which in effect overrules Adey v. Adey, 58 Mo. App. 408, relied on by plaintiff. But whether this be true or not, the plaintiff and her husband by their conduct and dealings with defendant have recognized her as the owner of the note and induced her to part with
In Wilson v. Eaton, 127 Mass. 174, the defendant, Annie Eaton, administered on her husband’s estate in 1871. On July 9, 1873, she filed her final account as administratrix, which was allowed by the probate court and by which it appeared that the estate was solvent and that after the payments of debts she had paid the next of kin their distributive shares thereof. No new assets afterwards came into her hands. Sometime in 1875, the plaintiff produced a promissory note for $1,000, dated January, 1867, payable on demand and signed by the intestate (Mrs. Eaton’s husband) and given by him to plaintiff for money loaned, and requested the defendant to pay the same. There were various indorsements of interest on the back of the note, and the following in the handwriting of plaintiff: ‘ ‘ Received payment in full upon the within. ’ ’ This indorsement was made by the plaintiff at the time he gave Eaton’s note to the defendant and took the note in suit in exchange therefor. The only consideration for the note was the surrender to the defendant of the note of the
In Hobson v. Hassett, 76 Cal. 203, it was held that the cancellation and surrender of the note of a corporation was a sufficient consideration to support a renewal note executed by its president in his individual name.
In Osborne & Co. v. Doherty, 38 Minn. 430, it was; held that the note of the defendant, executed and delivered by her to her husband’s creditor upon an agreement, which was carried out, that said creditor should surrender her husband’s past due paper, was a sufficient consideration for her obligation.
The surrender of the twenty shares of shoe stock of the par value of $2,000, hypothecated as security for the payment of the note, furnished a good consideration for the signature of plaintiff to the note as surety to her husband.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.