Wcguirk v Branigan

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Morris
• Judgment Date: 09 November 1992
• Neutral Citation: 1993 WJSC-HC 929
• Court: High Court
• Date: 09 November 1992

1993 WJSC-HC 929

THE HIGH COURT

WCGUIRK v. BRANIGAN

BETWEEN

AGNES McGUIRK

PLAINTIFF

.v.

OWEN BRANIGAN AND STEPHANIE BRANIGAN

DEFENDANTS

Synopsis:

REAL PROPERTY

Conveyance

Execution - Validity - Widow - Improvidence - Advice - Absence - Equity - Conveyance set aside - (Morris J. - 9/11/92)

|McGuirk v. Branigan|

EQUITY

Conveyance

Execution - Widow - Improvidence - Advice - Absence - Conveyance set aside - (Morris J. - 9/11/92)

|McGuirk v. Branigan|

.Mr. Justice Morris

Mr. Justice Morris

1 The circumstances in which this action arises can be summarised as follows:-

2 The Plaintiff is a widow and is now aged 78 years. Her husband has been dead approximately 14 years. She lives in a relatively modest thatched house at Donabate and is the mother of six children, three boys and three girls, of whom the second named Defendant is the eldest. The first named Defendant is her grandson and is the son of the second named Defendant.

3 Behind her house there is a garden. On the western side of the Plaintiff's garden is a strip of land which is owned by Mrs. Branigan and this strip of land runs parallel to the Plaintiff's garden.

4 The first named Defendant was anxious to acquire a site for a house and this fact was known to the Plaintiff. She decided that she would make available to him a strip of her garden on the western side which it was thought, together with Mrs. Branigan's garden, would make up an appropriate site for his new house. The strip which Mrs. McGuirk was prepared to give to her grandson was to commence at the western gable of the rear of her galvanised shed at the back of her dwelling house and it was to follow a line to the northern boundary of her garden and this line was to be parallel to the boundary fence dividing her garden from her daughter's (the second named Defendant).

5 That matter having been decided Mrs. Branigan called on the family Solicitors and through them got the name of Mr. Joseph McEvoy, an Architectural Technician, whom she contacted and who was retained to prepare the necessary maps for the transfer of this strip. Arrangements were made for Mr. McEvoy to call to the site and this he duly did on a Sunday in October 1988. What could be broadly described as a meeting of Mrs. McGuirk, Mrs. Branigan, Mr. Owen Branigan and Mr. McEvoy took place on site that morning and even though Mrs. McGuirk denies that any discussions took place, I am satisfied that it was pointed out to the group by Mr. McEvoy that the assembled site would not be sufficiently wide for a bungalow and that more land would be required. I am also satisfied and I find as a fact that Mrs. McGuirk did agree to give additional ground to Mr. Owen Branigan and this meant in effect taking part of the garden which she had intended to retain. However, I am satisfied that Mrs. McGuirk's understanding of exactly how much of the garden was to be given under this new arrangement was extremely vague and while I accept the evidence of Mr. McEvoy that he did in fact stand at a certain place and indicate how much of the garden it was now proposed to take, this indication did not bring home to Mrs. McGuirk sufficiently the area that she was giving up. It is suggested that the area which Mr. McEvoy pointed out was an area which would have taken approximately one third of the balance of the garden from Mrs. McGuirk. I am completely satisfied that Mr. McEvoy...