Davis v. Estate of Smock
Davis v. Estate of Smock
Opinion of the Court
We should be slow to affirm this judg- . ment on the first ground taken by the trial court, namely, the ground that the present claim for board and care was not, as matter of law, the individual earnings of the wife nor the fruits of her separate business under the married woman’s statute (secs. 2343, 2345, Stats.). Where, as here, a farm is owned in part by the wife and in part by the husband and operated by both together, the question whether an agreement between them that all charges for board and care of a third person shall be considered her individual earnings and separate business is a valid agreement, is a question which we do not wish to answer in the negative without more careful consideration than we are now able to give it.
We think, however, that the judgment must be affirmed on the second ground. It is very evident from the testimony that there had been a considerable number of money transactions between Smock and the Davises. A mortgage of $475
There are here all the elements of equitable estoppel. Smock was about to draw his will and the claimant knew it. The question which he asked her was for the purpose of-obtaining information on which to act in drawing the will and this she must have known. Ho accepted her statement as true, and on the basis of its truth made the bequest of $200 to her. The estate will suffer injury if the claimant is al
The trial judge was of opinion that from all the facts, including the claimant’s admission, the inference was very strong that the deceased had from time to time paid the claimant and her husband for his hoard and care. The judge does not seem to have actually found the fact of payment, hut had he done so his conclusion would seem to have ample support in the evidence.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
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