Fishburne & Wife v. Ferguson's Heirs

Citations

• 84 Va. 87
• 4 S.E. 575
• 1887 Va. LEXIS 12

Syllabus

<p>1. Deeds—Cancellation— Undue influence—Case at bar.—In suit to cancel deed conveying real and personal property worth over §6,000 to defendants7 intestate some months before his death, the evidence showed acts evincing insanity on the part of the grantor, who was nearly seventy ' years old, and that he suffered from mental and physical infirmities, and was subject to hallucinations; that the consideration—that the grantees would take care of and provide for him so long as grantor should live and remain with them—was grossly inadequate, and defendants’ relation to decedent such as to bring him under their dominion:</p> <p>Held :</p> <p>Fraud would be presumed from the circumstances, and where the evidence is conflicting, the decree of the trial court, setting aside the deed for want of legal capacity in the grantor to contract, is entitled to peculiar weight, unless error be palpable. Nor is such presumption repelled by the allegation that the deed was the consummation of a previously declared purpose, when the evidence establishes inconsistent declarations.</p> <p>2. Idem—Insanity—Lucid intervals.—When in such suit a general derangement of grantor’s mind has been established, the party claiming a lucid interval, assumes the burden of proof thereof, which ought to go to the natural state of his mind and habits, and not merely to accidental interims and the degree of self-possession in any particular act.</p> <p>3. Idem—Evidence—Non-professional witnesses.—At trial of such suit the evidence of non-professional witnesses who approached grantor on business, that they found him non compos mentis, giving the grounds of their opinions, is admissible.</p> <p>4. Practice in Chancery— Issue out of—Case at bar.—Awarding issues out of chancery rests on sound discretion, and is subject of appeal; but where the evidence is, as in this case, conflicting and producing doubt in the chancellor’s mind, that discretion is rightly exercised.</p>