Faulkner v. Beatty

[549]

FOX, P. J.

This is an appeal by defendant from a judgment cancelling a deed executed by plaintiff to herself and defendant as joint tenants, directing defendant to reconvey the property and ordering defendant to return $100 in a certain trust account to the guardian of the plaintiff.

The only question raised by the defendant is the sufficiency of the evidence to support the findings of fact, conclusions of law and the judgment.

Defendant was employed by plaintiff and her husband as a part-time, practical nurse from January, 1952, to the middle of June, 1953, when Mr. Faulkner died. Defendant thereafter continued to render such services to the plaintiff until May, 1954. The deed to the property in question was executed by plaintiff to herself and defendant as joint tenants on June 25, 1953. This was approximately 10 days after Mr. Faulkner had passed away. At that time plaintiff was 81 years of age. It is this deed that the court ordered cancelled.

Mr. Faulkner had been ill for quite some time; he was a very large man; Mrs. Faulkner was a small person and the constant care of Mr. Faulkner had made her very weary and tired. There was testimony that a month or two prior to Mr. Faulkner’s death plaintiff “was in very poor” health and could not remember things. Plaintiff told Mrs. Lynch, who was a social case worker in the Los Angeles County Bureau of Public Assistance, that “she was so weary and tired” from caring for her invalid husband “that she just couldn’t think any more.”

Mrs. Christopherson saw plaintiff about a week after Mr. Faulkner’s death. At that time plaintiff “was really hazy and nervous, wringing her hands all the time ...” and she complained that “she was so tired.” In response to a question as to whether plaintiff appeared rational at all times, Mrs. Christopherson testified: 11 She was on and off; one time she would tell you one thing and the next time something different. ’ ’

On January 31, 1953, plaintiff executed a power of attorney in favor of defendant authorizing her to make withdrawals from an account that she and her husband had with a savings and loan association. Also, plaintiff and defendant had a joint checking account in a local bank.