Andrews v. Brown

283 S.W. 288, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 1053
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 31, 1926·No. No. 6914.·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

McCLENDON, C. j.

The litigation involved in this appeal is among the heirs at law of N. H. Brown, deceased. It had its inception in a controversy over $57,500, which was the net amount received by W. A. and S. H. Brown, two of the sons of N. H. Brown, as a bonus for an oil lease on' 65 acres of land in Navarro county, which, land had been qonveyed to W. A. and S. H. Brown by their father, he reserving in himself, however, a life estate in the minerals. This controversy furnishes the main bone of contention between the parties, and but for it the litigation in all probability would never have arisen.

The controlling facts which the appeal involves may be briefly summarized, chronologically, as follows:

The wife of N. H. Brown died intestate about 40 years before the litigation began. Of this marriage there were born nine children (six daughters and three sons). Some years prior to the litigation one of the daughters, who had married one Richie, died, leaving three children, to whom we will refer as the Richie children. The record does not disclose the condition of the community ■estate of N. H. Brown and wife at the death of the latter, but it is quite apparent that the value of the estate was small. . Subsequently to the death of his wife N. H. Brown moved to Navarro county. He was a farmer, and appears to have been a good business manager and accumulated from time to time a great deal of land. Some 15 years or more before his death he adopted the policy of dividing up his estate among his children, and gave to each of them, with the exception of one of his daughters, a tract or tracts of land aggregating from SO to 100 acres. To this daughter he gave the proceeds (about $5,000) of the sale of a tract of about the same acreage as that given to the other children. His method in making.these donations was first to make a verbal gift, putting the donee in possession for a number of years, and later making a deed. He began this policy about 1904 or 1905, and began making deeds about 1916. To his three sons (W. A., S. H., and C. A. Brown) he gave jointly a tract of 100 acres, of which the 65 acres above referred to is a part, and, in addition, he gave each a tract of 60 acres, making 93% acres' to each. The three sons moved onto different portions of the 100 acres shortly after the gift, which was some time about the year 1908, and each made some improvements on the portion of which he took possession. W. A. and. S. H. Brown acquired from the third son, C. A. Brown, his interest in the 100-acre tract, and in 1917 N. H. Brown conveyed this tract jointly to W. A. and S. H. Brown. The conveyance, which is in the ordinary form of a general warranty deed, contained the following reservation:

“It is distinctly understood, however, that I reserve to myself, for and during my lifetime, all of the oil, gas and other minerals in, under and upon said land, and all .of the royalties arising therefrom, such oil, gas, mineral rights and royalties to become the property of the grantees upon my death.”

N. H. Brown had acquired this 100-aere tract in 1901, paying therefor $35 an acre. About 1905 he executed an oil lease on the tract, under which the lessees developed a number of shallow wells. These wells were on both the 35-acre and the 65-acre, portions of the tract, and those on the 35-acre portion were still producing when N. H. Brown died. The wells on the 65-acre tract ceased to produce and were abandoned many years ago; and a short time before the trial suits had been instituted by S. H., W. A., and N. H. Brown to cancel the lease. This litigation was compromised about January, 1923, and the lease was canceled as to the 65 acres. N. I-I. Brown collected and appropriated all the royalties under this lease up to the time of his death. This land was located near Powell, and on January 7, 1923, a deep test well which was being drilled in the vicinity was brought in as a very large producer. This fact at once created a demand for oil leases in the vicinity and ran the price of leases to as high as about $1,000 an acre bonus, according to the location of the land with reference to the “discovery well.” Two days later W. A. and S. H. Brown concluded negotiations with one Wortham, who was an oil lease broker, for a lease upon the 65 acres under the following terms: The lease was to be made to the Roxana Petroleum Company on what is commonly known , as form 88; a bonus of $62,500 was to be paid on delivery of the lease, of which sum Wortham was to receive $5,000; the lessee company was to pay one-eighth royalty on all oil produced, and out of one-half of the remaining seven-eighths it was also to pay to Wortham an additional $5,000.

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Andrews v. Brown, 283 S.W. 288, 1926 Tex. App. LEXIS 1053 (Tex. Ct. App. 1926).

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