Sinclair

Plaintiffs appeal from an adverse judgment, without jury trial, in an action to set aside a deed and to establish a trust, based upon four counts: (1) nondelivery of the deed; (2) unsoundness of mind of grantor; (3) undue influence of grantee; (4) that grantee holds certain property in trust pursuant to agreement.

Contentions

1. That the findings that the actions of the grantor were free and voluntary and not the result of the undue influence of the grantee are not supported because a presumption of undue influence arose which was not rebutted.

2. That the agreement is a trust agreement and upon the death of the beneficiary the corpus reverted to the grantor’s estate.

General Facts

The grantor, Miss Sarah Sinclair, who lived alone, employed defendant in July, 1948, as companion and housekeeper. This employment continued until the death of Miss Sinclair, May 16,1954. Plaintiffs are first cousins of Miss Sinclair. Apparently none of them were acquainted with her, except that Miss Sinclair had on occasion sent Christmas gifts to plaintiff E. J. Sinclair in Ireland. Other than that, Miss Sinclair, during her lifetime, had no contact with her blood relatives. Miss Sinclair owned…