Barringer v. Gunderson

402 P.2d 470, 81 Nev. 288, 1965 Nev. LEXIS 231
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedMay 18, 1965
Docket4773; 4774; 4775
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 402 P.2d 470 (Barringer v. Gunderson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barringer v. Gunderson, 402 P.2d 470, 81 Nev. 288, 1965 Nev. LEXIS 231 (Neb. 1965).

Opinion

*291 OPINION

By the Court,

Badt, J.:

These three appeals, which, although they have some points of law in common, for the most part raise different questions of law, were for convenience consolidated for argument. They were separately and elaborately briefed and separate counsel appeared for the respective appellants, and respondents.

The history of this matter appears in the case of Gunderson v. Barringer, 76 Nev. 133, 350 P.2d 397. It appears therefrom that after the will of Carl Ray, deceased, was admitted to probate, Barringer filed a petition in the estate proceedings claiming one third of the estate as a pretermitted heir. That petition was granted and this decision was sustained on appeal. In re Carl Ray, 69 Nev. 204, 245 P.2d 990. Thereafter, Ida Angelot Ray, the widow of Carl Ray, commenced an independent action for the specific performance of an antenuptial agreement under which the decedent agreed to devise certain property to her in trust. This contract provided that the decedent would make a will wherein he would bequeath all his property to a trustee with a provision that his widow would receive one half the net proceeds of the trust estate. The agreement further provided that the provisions thereof would be in lieu of any other claim against decedent’s estate. The decedent did execute his will in compliance with said antenuptial agreement, and in addition provided that the remaining one half of the net proceeds of the trust was to go to Carlita Ray, the minor child of decedent and Ida Angelot Ray. This contract was held valid. Barringer v. Ray, 72 Nev. 172, 298 P.2d 933.

During the administration of the estate and pursuant *292 to the decision in the case of In re Carl Ray, supra, a one-third interest in the Professional Building in Las Vegas (the chief asset of the estate in Nevada) was conveyed by the estate to Barringer. Thereafter, upon final distribution of the estate, the remaining two-thirds interest in said land passed in trust to the trustees named in the will.

It was the obvious intention of the testator that all his estate (except for certain minor bequests) was to be distributed to the trustees named in his will in trust for his widow and minor child, who were to receive in equal shares the net proceeds therefrom all consistent with the covenants contained in the antenuptial agreement. The fact that Barringer would be awarded one third of the estate before the commencement of the trust was not contemplated by the testator at the time he executed his will, nor was Mrs. Ray’s antenuptial agreement brought to the attention of the court when it ordered distribution to Barringer. The foregoing presents for determination the question whether Barringer is entitled to retain one third of the entire estate which was distributed to him as aforesaid or whether he is entitled as a pretermitted heir to share only in that portion of the estate which the decedent could without restriction dispose of by will.

The decedent because of the antenuptial agreement was legally empowered to dispose of only one half of his estate by will and the proceeds from the other half contractually belonged to his widow. The first half he was free to dispose of as he saw fit and he made his minor daughter the beneficiary of this half. As a pretermitted heir, under the laws of intestate succession, Barringer would be entitled to one third of that half of the estate which was not limited by Mrs. Ray’s antenuptial agreement.

An amended complaint for declaratory judgment was filed in the lower court, in which the foregoing facts are alleged, which sought a declaration of the rights and interest held in the Professional Building by each of the parties named herein.

In Ray v. Barringer, 73 Nev. 212, 314 P.2d 378, this court stated: “Because of unusual developments in the probate proceedings, the interests of the minor quite *293 clearly demand attention and a determination of her rights under present circumstances should be had.”

Barringer and his privies claim no interest in the trust estate, but they do claim the one-third interest in the Professional Building which was distributed to Bar-ringer as aforesaid. In Gunderson v. Barringer, 76 Nev. 133, 350 P.2d 397, we stated that if the interest of Bar-ringer and his privies in said building was improperly acquired through a mistake of fact, an action to determine such matter would be proper. This is the obvious purpose of the present action, which is now involved in appeal No. 4773, Barringer, et al. v. Gunderson, et al.

After a trial in the court below the court made findings that because of the antenuptial agreement only one half of the Professional Building should have been included in the inventory of the probate proceedings of the estate of Carl Ray, deceased; that therefore Barringer should have received only one third of the one half of the property subject to the probate proceedings, to wit, one third of the one half of such property, or a one-sixth interest in the Professional Building. The lower court stated in paragraph 9 of its findings that the court (Judge McNamee) in ordering distribution to Barringer of a one-third interest in the Professional Building “acted on a state of facts then known by it at the time of the hearing and ordered distribution of a one-third interest in the estate of Carl Ray, deceased, to be distributed to Robert E. Barringer.” Pursuant to said finding the trial court concluded that Barringer and his privies were entitled to only a one-sixth interest in the Professional Building and that therefore by receiving one third thereof, hold one sixth in trust for the benefit of the trust estate and must account to the trustees for one sixth of the rents and profits received from the said Professional Building. It is this part of the judgment that Barringer and his privies seek to have reversed by the appeal in Case No. 4773.

The antenuptial agreement under which Ida Angelot Ray claims an interest in the Professional Building provides : “That the first party [Carl Ray] shall make and keep in existence a valid will, wherein and whereby all of his property will be bequeathed to a trustee and said *294 Will shall provide that the second party [Ida Angelot] shall receive one-half (%) of the net proceeds of the said trust estate, upon the condition that the second party shall have lived with first party as his wife until the date of his death and during said time has been a loyal, devoted wife to him.”

By its findings, conclusions, and judgment the trial court ordered distributed to Ida Angelot Ray forthwith a one-half interest in the Professional Building. It is from this part of the judgment that Gunderson, as guardian of Carlita Ray, has appealed in Case No.

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Bluebook (online)
402 P.2d 470, 81 Nev. 288, 1965 Nev. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barringer-v-gunderson-nev-1965.