Gagnon V Coombs Summary
Case Study Decision: Change In Circumstances
Gagnon v. Coombs
pRESENTED BY:
SVETLANA SHEVCHENKO
To recap this matter: Francis Gagnon and his wife executed powers of attorney (POA) appointing their daughter, Joan Coombs, as their agent. Later on, the document was revoked per their son’s request but Joan was not advised of this fact. In two months, after Mrs. Gagnon’s death, Mr. Gagnon signed an agreement selling the farm he owned in Shelburne, MS and informed Joan of the sale and his intentions to live with Frank, his son, in Hillsborough, N.H, another property owned by Gagnon’s and given to Frank by Mr. Gagnon.
Without any knowledge that POA was revoked, Joan created and executed a trust where she was the sole trustee, and conveyed the Shelburne to the trust but failed to notify her father. Mr. Gagnon’s attorney demanded that Joan return the property to her father but she refused. Mr. Gagnon filed an action and the trial court found that Joan had the authority under the …show more content…
Simultaneously, both, Mr. Gagnon and his daughter Joan were not aware of each other’s actions up until Mr. Gagnon signed the contract to sell the farm. However, Joan being an agent while POA was active, had an obligation to inform Mr. Gagnon of any material changes. Conveying the Shelburne farm to her trust was definitely a material transfer and by failing to notify her father, she violated her duty of loyalty. That is a breach number one and secondly, Joan needed to realize that her authority to arrange for the Shelburne property had been revoked when she found out that Mr. Gagnon had a contract to sell it. Therefore, Mr. Francis, should be official owner of the Shelburne, who would have rights to void transaction created by Joan Coombs and recovery the property to
Gagnon v. Coombs
pRESENTED BY:
SVETLANA SHEVCHENKO
To recap this matter: Francis Gagnon and his wife executed powers of attorney (POA) appointing their daughter, Joan Coombs, as their agent. Later on, the document was revoked per their son’s request but Joan was not advised of this fact. In two months, after Mrs. Gagnon’s death, Mr. Gagnon signed an agreement selling the farm he owned in Shelburne, MS and informed Joan of the sale and his intentions to live with Frank, his son, in Hillsborough, N.H, another property owned by Gagnon’s and given to Frank by Mr. Gagnon.
Without any knowledge that POA was revoked, Joan created and executed a trust where she was the sole trustee, and conveyed the Shelburne to the trust but failed to notify her father. Mr. Gagnon’s attorney demanded that Joan return the property to her father but she refused. Mr. Gagnon filed an action and the trial court found that Joan had the authority under the …show more content…
Simultaneously, both, Mr. Gagnon and his daughter Joan were not aware of each other’s actions up until Mr. Gagnon signed the contract to sell the farm. However, Joan being an agent while POA was active, had an obligation to inform Mr. Gagnon of any material changes. Conveying the Shelburne farm to her trust was definitely a material transfer and by failing to notify her father, she violated her duty of loyalty. That is a breach number one and secondly, Joan needed to realize that her authority to arrange for the Shelburne property had been revoked when she found out that Mr. Gagnon had a contract to sell it. Therefore, Mr. Francis, should be official owner of the Shelburne, who would have rights to void transaction created by Joan Coombs and recovery the property to