Burns v. Spiker

Citations

• 109 Kan. 22
• 202 P. 370
• 1921 Kan. LEXIS 69

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Antenuptial Contract — Under standingly Entered Into — Enforceable. An antenuptial contract between a widower having four children and a widow having seven, providing that her share of his property if she survived him should be limited to one-fifth, that she should take care of his children as though they were her own, but that her own children should be put to work to earn their own living as soon as they were able, he not to be liable for their support thereafter, and that he might refuse to keep at his home any of them that refused to obey him, is not so unfair as to be unenforceable or to place upon those claiming under it the burden of producing affirmative evidence that it was understanding^ entered into.</p> <p>2. Same — Prospective Wife Unable to Read — No Presumption of Fraud ■ or Imposition. The fact that the prospective wife who signs an ante-nuptial contract cannot read does not of itself raise a presumption that any fraud or imposition was practiced upon her, even in the absence of affirmative evidence that it was read to her or that its contents were stated to her.</p> <p>3. Same — No Deception Shown. The'evidence is held not' to have necessarily established any fact tending to show that any deception was practiced in the present case.</p> <p>4. Will — Wife’s Consent to Husband’s Will. The decision of the trial court giving effect to the wife’s written consent to her husband’s will is held to be supported by the evidence.</p> <p>5. Same — Will by Wife’s Written Consent — May Dispose of Wife’s Homestead Rights. By a will to which his wife consents in writing in the presence of subscribing witnesses a husband may dispose of all his property, including that occupied as a family residence, and thereby cut off the right of his widow to continue in its occupancy as a homestead; and such a will which in general terms bequeaths and devises to persons named all the testator’s property without specifying any items and without