Boone v. Stone

142 S.W.2d 936, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 647
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 21, 1940
DocketNo. 14102
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 142 S.W.2d 936 (Boone v. Stone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boone v. Stone, 142 S.W.2d 936, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 647 (Tex. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

T. R. Boone, as plaintiff, instituted this suit to have a .will construed, naming as defendants, Jerome S. Stone, individually, and as Trustee, Helen Stone Anderson, a widow, and her daughter, Helen Louise Anderson, a minor.

In the amended pleadings, upon which this cause was tried, plaintiff alleged that Jerome S. Stone, an unmarried son, and Helen Stone Anderson, were the only children of J. W. Stone, deceased, and that Helen Louise Anderson was the minor daughter of the said Helen Stone Anderson.

It was alleged that in 1930, J. W. Stone executed what' purported to be his last will and testament; he died in 1934, and the will was duly admitted to probate in 1935. The will is set out in the pleadings and, omitting formal parts, it reads:

“Item 2. I give, devise and bequeath, after my death, to Jerome S. Stone, as trustee, upon and for the uses and trusts hereinafter set forth, all of my property, real, personal and mixed, of whatsoever kind and character and wherever situated, and my said trustee, as such, shall have all the powers ordinarily incident to such office, and it shall be his duty to diligently manage said estate for the interests of the beneficiaries herein named, and he shall have power as such trustee, acting as such for said estate, to sell and convey any land, or lands, or to mortgage the same, and to lease the same, and to receive and receipt for, and execute all necessary ac-quittances, discharges and releases, for any moneys coming into said estate, and no purchaser from him as trustee shall be re-_ quired to look to the application of the purchase money, and he may and shall expend from time to time proper and reasonable amounts of the income from said estate, and may, in case of necessity, encroach upon the principal of the same for the upkeep, support and maintenance of the beneficiaries hereunder, and he shall keep accurate and just accounts of his doings in this behalf, ‘and submit the same to the inspection of the beneficiaries at any reasonable time, and shall preserve all vouchers and other papers relating to said estate.’
“Item 3. That said Jerome S. Stone shall hold said property and estate, however, in trust for my daughter, Helen Stone Anderson, beneficiary, and for the education, maintenance and support of any child or children she may have, for and during her natural life.
“In the event of the death of Helen Stone Anderson, leaving a child or children surviving her, then it is my will that one-half (½) of the estate then remaining in the hands of the trustee shall go to and become the property of my son, Jerome S. Stone, he surviving Helen Stone Anderson, and the other one-half (½) to the child or children born of the body of Helen Stone Anderson, and if Helen Stone Anderson shall die before any child or children of herself attains its or their majority, then the trust herein created shall continue as to their half during their minority, and then cease.
“Item 4. If Jerome S. Stone shall not survive Helen Stone Anderson, and shall die without issue, then it is my will and desire that the whole of said estate remaining in the hands of the trustee shall go to and become the property of Helen Stone Anderson.
“Item 5. It is my will, and I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my daughter, Flelen Stone Anderson, and my son, Jerome S. Stone, as joint executors of this will and of my estate, and the survivor may act as such, and I direct that no bond .or security be required of them, or either of them as such. I further direct that no bond or security be required of Jerome S. Stone as trustee, but that in the event the courts shall at any time appoint a trustee, upon any contingency whatever, that such trustee shall be required to give bond in the amount required by law of administrators.”

It was further alleged that in 1937, Jerome S. Stone filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy, in which he declared, under oath, that the accompanying schedules contained a list of all property and interests [939]*939therein owned by him. Among other property so listed appears: “A possible contingent interest in the estate of J. W. Stone, deceased, $100.” That a trustee was appointed by the Bankruptcy Court for the purpose of receiving and converting into cash the assets of the bankrupt, under orders of the court; that the trustee in bankruptcy duly advertised said assets for sale, as ordered by the court and at said sale plaintiff purchased, for a valuable consideration, certain of said assets, consisting of all of the interest of Jerome S. Stone, the bankrupt, in and to that part of his father’s estate in certain real property in the city of Wichita Falls, Texas, and reference is made to the assignment and conveyance thereof by the trustee in bankruptcy.

Allegations were made to the effect that Jerome S. Stone, as trustee in the will, had previously to the date of the institution of the suit, conveyed the property, in disregard of plaintiff’s rights and interest, to Helen Stone Anderson, and that she was then asserting the fee title thereto and denying plaintiff's rights so acquired from the trustee in bankruptcy.

It was alleged that the will of J. W. Stone, deceased, was void because it violated the rule against perpetuities; that if not void for that reason, then it was void because it was so uncertain and ambiguous that it was not susceptible to a construction of the testator’s intention as to what disposition should be made of a possible contingent remainder existing after the happening, if they should happen, of certain contingencies therein set out, and further; that in any event no disposition or bequest was made in the instrument of the possible contingent remainder of the estate, after the bequests and legacies were satisfied; that such remainder lapsed to the estate of deceased, and was inherited by the son and daughter. Prayer was for a construction of the will and a decree construing the will as alleged and for general and special relief.

Defendants filed pleas in abatement. The substance of the pleas was that since plaintiff’s allegations were that he had purchased from the trustee in bankruptcy “a possible contingent interest in the estate of J. W. Stone, deceased”, and the contingency upon which he relied was shown not to have happened at the time the suit was instituted, the action was prematurely brought, and asked that the suit abate.

A hearing was had on the pleas in abatement. The trial court sustained the pleas and dismissed plaintiff’s suit. This appeal was perfected from that judgment.

There is no controversy about the facts developed upon the trial. They consist in the main of stipulations, certified copies of the probate proceedings, wherein the will of J. W. Stone was admitted to probate, the bankruptcy proceedings in the matter of Jerome S. Stone, bankrupt, and the assignment of conveyance from the trustee in bankruptcy to plaintiff, T. R. Boone.

To avoid repetition, and for the sake of brevity, we shall refer to T. R. Boone as plaintiff, to J. W. Stone as testator, Jerome S. Stone as the son, Helen Stone Anderson as the daughter, and to Helen Louise Anderson as the minor.

The first proposition, among other things, charges that the will of testator was void because it violated the rule against perpetuities, in that the possible remainder estate which could arise because of uncertain contingencies in the will, would not vest in any person then in being nor within 21 years thereafter.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
142 S.W.2d 936, 1940 Tex. App. LEXIS 647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boone-v-stone-texapp-1940.