The presumption of undue influence between parent and child may arise even where the children are of mature age (30s) if they are economically dependent on the parent as both employer and father, particularly in farming family contexts. The Garcia principles protecting wives who act as sureties extend to guarantees of company debts where the company is effectively controlled by the husband, but the wife must be a 'volunteer' in the sense of obtaining no personal benefit. Principles of unconscientious use of superior bargaining power may be applied to small family corporations where all directors and shareholders are subject to relationships of influence and the guarantee is of no real benefit to the company. A lender cannot rely on instructions from a person whose authority has been expressly revoked in writing.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 14 later cases that cite this judgment.