Farnum v. Silvano
Massachusetts Court of Appeals
27 Mass. App. Ct. 536 (1989)
Viola Farnum (plaintiff), a 90-year-old woman with dementia, sold her home for roughly half its market value to Joseph Silvano (defendant), a 24-year-old man who mowed her yard, using an attorney selected and paid for by Silvano. Evidence showed Farnum's competence had been deteriorating for three years, including frequent confusion, asking why her long-deceased siblings didn't call, and inquiring about noise from a nonexistent second story. Farnum's nephew sued on her behalf to rescind the sale, but the trial court found she was lucid and aware of what she was doing at the moment of signing.
Whether a contract for the sale of real estate is voidable when the seller, though momentarily lucid enough to know she is selling her home, suffered from a mental disease that left her unable to understand the transaction's nature, consequences, or reasonableness, and the buyer had reason to know of that condition.