In re Estate of Relihan

Rex Relihan (Rex) and appellee Mary Fair (Mary) were brother and sister. Their day-by-day activities demonstrated they had a close relationship. In 1971 Mary prepared three [4 Kan. App. 2d 278] hand-written deeds to certain real estate, with the grantee being Rex. She signed two of these deeds, but none of them were notarized or delivered. In 1974, at a time when Mary was quite ill, she had three more deeds prepared. She signed these before a notary public and they were delivered to Rex (again the grantee) and same were recorded. Rex died in June, 1975, and appellant is the administrator of his estate. Mary brought action against the estate for recovery of the deeded property. The trial court set aside the deeds finding that a confidential relationship existed, and that the estate did not meet its burden of proving lack of undue influence. Mary had, since the dates of the 1974 deeds, executed two wills — in neither of which was Rex a beneficiary, either legatee or devisee.