Engelbrecht v. Herrington

Citations

• 101 Kan. 720
• 172 P. 715
• 1917 Kan. LEXIS 184

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Oral Contract — Between Father and, Son — Interest in'Land — Repudiation of Contract — Specific Performance — Statute of Limitations. An owner of land entered into a contract with his son, that if the son would remain at home and help the father pay a mortgage debt upon his farm he would leave to the son one-half of the farm at the death ' of the father and mother, and the son in accordánce with the contract remained at home for about five years, during which time the mortgage debt w;as paid. More than twenty-six years after performance by the son had been completed the father conveyed the farm to a stranger, and died without devising any part of the land to the son. Held, in an action brought by the son for specific performance, or for damages in lieu of performance, that when the father conveyed the land to another and placed it beyond his power to devise one-half of the land to the son, and performance by the father became a legal impossibility, a cause of action accrued at once in favor of the son, and from that time the statute of limitations began to run against him.</p>