BILLS AND NOTES - CONSIDERATION - BURDEN OF PROOF WHEN HOLDER NOT A HOLDER IN DUE COURSE

Plaintiff, a maid and housekeeper for the decedent, sued the decedent's estate as payee of two checks signed by the decedent and dishonored by the drawee bank. In support of the defense of lack of consideration, the estate introduced evidence that plaintiff had been paid by the estate for her services to the decedent, and that plaintiff's daughter had told the bank's cashier that the checks had been given to her mother by decedent to be cashed when it became certain that decedent would not live. There was no other evidence. Held, the trial court properly directed a verdict for plaintiff; the defendant did not overcome the presumption that the check was given for a consideration.

In re Hubbard's Estate, 286 Mich. 444,282 N. W. 209 (1938).