Court Opinion

ID: 9578173
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:42:24.279182+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:01.619574
License: Public Domain

Wyatt, Justice,
dissenting. I can not agree with the ruling of the majority opinion to the effect that the evidence in this case does not authorize the verdict. The rule to the effect that a parol obligation of a person to adopt the child of another as his own, accompanied by a virtual though not a statutory adoption, and acted upon by all parties concerned for many years and during the obligor’s life, may be enforced in equity upon the death of *35the obligor by decreeing the child entitled as a child to the property of the obligor undisposed of by will, is so well settled in this State that the citation of authority is unnecessary. The question here presented is whether or not the evidence was sufficient to show a contract to adopt.
The evidence on this question may be summarized as follows: “I knew Mr. Charles E. Keeter during his lifetime. . . I have heard Mr. Keeter speak of his two daughters. . . I didn’t know then he had an adopted daughter. . . He would speak of them and say they were more dear to him than anything on earth. . . He didn’t show'any difference between them. . . If he bought one something, he also bought the same for the other.”
Alex Glided testified in part as follows: “I knew Mr. Charles E. Keeter during his lifetime . . I have worked for him. 1 . . I remember a conversation I had with Mr. Keeter in reference to his wife and children. . . He said to me. . . I want you to look for another job. I am fixing to quit work, for I have enough for me and my wife and two daughters. . .’He just said the parents of Mrs. Martin gave him the kid on the mother’s deathbed, and he was going to keep it like it was.”
A witness testified that, shortly before the death of Mr. Keeter, he said to the witness: “While he didn’t have any boys, he did have two girls and said he had adopted one of the girls . .. said he thought as much of one of his daughters as he did of the other and treated them exactly the same; that when he gave one anything, he gave the other . . said the child was given to him when she was about two years old . . that his wife and children were all that he was living for, and he was saving his property for them.”
Several witnesses testified that Mr. Keeter spoke of the girl as his daughter and that he adopted her. It appeared that he shed tears when she ran away and married against his wishes; that he would introduce her husband as his son-in-law. Generally it appeared from the evidence that the relationship between Mr. Keeter and this' girl was that of father and daughter, he performing all the duties of a father, and she all the duties of a daughter.
The precise question presented is whether or not this evidence *36is sufficient to support a verdict finding that there was a contract to adopt, two juries having so found. “A person seeking to share in the estate of another, by virtue of deceased’s contract to adopt claimant, must establish the contract to adopt by clear and convincing proof. If the alleged contract is oral, or alleged to have been lost, the proof of it must be so clear, cogent, and convincing as to leave no reasonable doubt as to its existence and terms, and the proof must show not only that a contract existed, but that the particular contract alleged existed. Under this rule relief should be cautiously granted, and each case must rest on its own facts. This rule, however, does not prevent the establishment of a parol agreement to' adopt by the acts, admissions, and conduct of the parties and inferences therefrom, as it may be, although there is no direct proof of the agreement or contract. In determining whether or not the proof adduced satisfies the proof required, the surroundings of the alleged adoptive parent must be taken into account as well as the motive which actuated him in 'entering into a contract of adoption. A complete and absolute surrender of the child to the quasi-adoptive parents may be sufficient to show the contract of adoption.” 2 C. J. S. 396, § 26.
“In an equitable suit brought against an administrator whose intestate was alleged to have made an oral contract with the father of two small children, agreeing to take the children, adopt them as her own, and rear and educate them, and make them her heirs, in which it was prayed that the administrator be required to specifically perform the contract, it is sufficient to establish the contract for it to be shown that the father of the. children completely and absolutely surrendered them to the deceased according to the contract.” Chamblee v. Wayman, 167 Ga. 821 (3) (146 S. E. 851).
In Toler v. Goodin, 200 Ga. 527, 540 (37 S. E. 2d, 609), when dealing with the question of whether or not the proof of the agreement to adopt must use the word “adopt”, this court said: “Witnesses are not expected to be as definite and precise as a pleader must be, and there is authority to the effect that an oral agreement to adopt may be shown by the acts, conduct, and admissions of the parties, and that in order to establish such a contract, the exact word ‘adopt’ need not be used. See in this *37connection, 2 C. J. S. 396, § 26; Remmers v. Remmers (Mo.) 239 S. W. 509; Taylor v. Coberly, 327 Mo. 940 (38 S. W. 2d, 1055); Lynn v. Hockaday, 162 Mo. 111 (61 S. W. 885, 85 Am. St. R. 480); Parks v. Burney, 103 Neb. 572 (173 N. W. 478); Lamb v. Feeham (Mo.) 276 S. W. 71.
“In the instant case, the proof did not depend entirely upon the testimony of the witness Bryan. There was, as we have indicated, much additional evidence, relating to statements of the Tolers, the conduct and apparent relations as between them and the child, and other circumstances corroborating his testimony, and pointing toward the conclusion that there was an agreement to adopt. Considering the evidence as a whole, we think that the jury were authorized to find that there was such a contract. Nor, in so holding, do we overlook the rule that in such a case the alleged agreement must be proved so clearly, strongly, and satisfactorily as to leave no reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.”
While in the instant case the evidence does not disclose that the word “adopt” was used in the conversation between the alleged adopting party and the natural parent of the child, it does disclose that the adopting father intended to adopt the child; that the child was the child of his brother; and that the relationship between the child and the alleged adopting party was in every particular that of father and child, and that this child was treated as a child, even to the extent of receiving the same treatment and consideration that the father accorded his natural daughter, and that this treatment and relationship continued from the time the child was about two years old until she married, and thereafter she and her husband were treated in every respect as daughter and son-in-law. There was ample evidence for the jury to find that the alleged adopting father intended that the girl should participate in his estate just as did his natural daughter. In view of the authorities above cited, the jury was authorized to find that there was a contract to adopt, although the word “adopt” was not shown to have been used. The circumstances of this case should not be measured by the same rule as a case where a stranger attempts to set up parol agreements by virtue of which it is sought to participate in the estate of a deceased person.
*38It appears to me that Chamblee v. Wayman, supra, is absolutely controlling in this case, and I do not believe that the ruling there made is not sound, or that this court has the right to simply walk over this full-bench decision. It is likewise true that the ruling made in Chamblee v. Wayman, supra, is in accord with what has been held in just about every other jurisdiction in the United States. See 2 C. J. S. 396, § 26.
I am fully aware that the evidence in this case is circumstantial, but circumstantial evidence when sufficiently strong is recognized by the courts of Georgia to the extent of taking the life and liberty of its citizens. I am unwilling to place property rights on a higher plane of protection than the life and liberty of the citizens of this State.
It is also true that the child alleged to have been adopted in this case was the child of the brother of the deceased and one that he would want to provide for under any circumstances. It is, however, just as true that this very fact is one of the strongest circumstances indicating that he would want to adopt the child and that his brother would want him to adopt the child and make her in every respect a member of his family. I think the evidence in this case discloses beyond any shadow of doubt that these two brothers did just what should have been done.
It seems to me that the majority opinion follows a few isolated dissenting opinions in cases decided by this court. I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Candler joins in this dissent.