Dillon v. Gray

Citations

• 87 Kan. 129
• 123 P. 878
• 1912 Kan. LEXIS 107

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS -BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Contract — To Care for Parents — Consideration—Specific Performance. Upon sufficient evidence the court found that the owner of a farm, with the consent of his wife, made a written contract with their daughter and her husband, the plaintiffs, by which plaintiffs were to live with them on the farm and care for them as long as they lived, in consideration of which all their property was at their death to become the property of plaintiffs; that for more than ten years plaintiffs fairly performed their part of the contract and made lasting and valuable improvements on the land; that afterwards, following the death of his wife, the owner of the land sold the farm, deprived plaintiffs of possession, refused longer to live with them, remarried, and executed a will leaving his property to other heirs. In an action for specific performance against his heirs and the executor of the will, held, that no circumstances or conditions being -shown by the findings and the evidence which would render the enforcement of the contract inequitable, a decree will be upheld which fastens a trust in favor of the plaintiffs upon the fund in the hands of the executor.</p> <p>2. Marriage — Wife’s Interest in Husband’s Real Estate. Marriage will not constitute the wife a purchaser of an interest in lands owned or held by the husband. Upon his death the wife acquires no interest by will or under the statute in any property to which he held the legal title but which in equity belonged to others. Under the facts stated in the preceding paragraph, therefore, the plaintiffs were not required to show that the second wife, before her marriage, had notice of their claim under the contract.</p> <p>S. RvTaENC®i-~Transaction with Deceased. Testimony as to the receipt of letters which, in the opinion of a witness, were in the handwriting of deceased, is not incompetent as relating to a transaction with a deceased person.</p> <p>4. - Same. Conceding that other statements