Bopst v. Williams

229 S.W. 796, 287 Mo. 317, 1921 Mo. LEXIS 159
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 9, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 229 S.W. 796 (Bopst v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bopst v. Williams, 229 S.W. 796, 287 Mo. 317, 1921 Mo. LEXIS 159 (Mo. 1921).

Opinion

JAMES T. BLAIR, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Atchison Circuit Court, which holds invalid a guardian’s sale of land and cancels certain deeds.

James A. Campbell, who died in 1889, devised his lands to his four children in equal shares, except that he provided the share of Edith P. Campbell should go to her for life and at her death should go to her bodily heirs. In 1900 Edith P. Campbell married one Logan. Respondent was born of this marriage. In 1902 Edith P. Logan, nee Campbell, divorced her husband, and, in 1904, married William E. Shenk in the State of Oklahoma. Respondent is her only child. August 26, 1907, heirs of two of James A. Campbell’s devisees began suit to partition the lands he devised. There were numerous defendants; among others, “Edith P. Shenk and W. E. *326 Shenk, her husband, and Janies Logan” (this respondent) “a minor.” The land was divided in kind, and that involved here was allotted to Edith P. Shenk for life, remainder to her bodily heirs, as provided by the will. December 19, 1907, Edith P. Shenk was appointed guardian of respondent by the County Court of Blaine County, Oklahoma. She gave bond in the sum of $8,000, signed by Ed. Baker and W. E. Shenk as sureties. In January, 1908, Edith P. Shenk filed in the Probate Court of Atchison County her application, as foreign guardian, for an order to sell the interest of respondent in the land in suit. She accompanied this with authenticated copies of the record of her Oklahoma appointment and of the bond given in that State. The order of sale was made January 20, 1908. The interest of respondent was appraised at $3600. February 12, 1908, Edith P. Shenk reported she had sold respondent’s interest to William E. Shenk for $3600 at private sale. The sale was approved and a deed executed and delivered pursuant thereto. May 9, 1908, William E. Shenk and Edith P. Shenk, his wife, conveyed the land in suit to W. A. Williams,, who conveyed to appellant E. F. Williams in January, 1909. The latter executed a trust deed to the corporate appellant. In 1913 Edith P. Shenk died. Subsequently William E. Shenk was appointed guardian of respondent by the county court of Oklahoma. There was never any settlement or accounting made, to the Oklahoma court by either guardian. The only papers or records are those of. about the time Mrs. Shenk was appointed and the subsequent appointment of Shenk to succeed her. An aunt of respondent, Mrs. Bopst, discovered that Shenk was*inattentive-to the rights'of her nephew, whom she thereafter adopted and of whose affairs she took charge. At her instance this suit was begun. Respondent took the name of his adoptive mother.

■ The petition assails the transfer of the property by the guardian and the subsequent deeds on many grounds. Some of these go to the jurisdiction of the County Court of Blaine County, Oklahoma, to appoint Mrs. Shenk *327 guardian of her son, and some' to the jurisdiction of the Atchison County Prohate Court to order the sale of the land in suit. The sale is also attacked for fraud on several grounds. Details are subsequently given.

Jurisdiction. I. Respondent urges that the evidence shows he and his mother did not live in Blaine County, Oklahoma, hut in an adjoining county, and that this deprived the County Court of Blaine County of jurisdiction to appoint a SY^dian. Let it be assumed it would he so in that State. Respondent's petition in this case expressly alleges he and his mother were residents of Blaine County. Further, the evidence which indicates the contrary was not offered to make this issue. It was incidental. The same witness testified in support of the allegation of the petition. In any event, this particular attack is collateral and cannot succeed. [Cox v. Boyce, 152 Mo. l. c. 582; Langley v. Ford, 171 Pac. l. c. 472, 473.]

Married Woman. II. It is urged that since our statute then in force (Sec. 417, R. S. 1909) did not permit a married woman to he cúratrix of the estate of a minor and since Edith P. Shenk was a married woman, she had no power to act in this State in the proceeding to sell respondent’s interest in the land in suit. It is not contended her married state affected her competency under the law of Oklahoma, in the State of residence of herself and of respondent. The Missouri statute which authorizes a foreign guardian to proceed to sell in this State property or interests of his non-resident ward does not require that such guardian shall possess the qualifications necessary to appointment in this State as guardian or curator. With respect to that the sole requisite is that the non-resident minor shall have “a guardian in that state or territory in which he resides;” and if that condition is met, so far as concerns this present contention, a probate court in this State is authorized to permit the foreign guardian to sell. [Sec. 411, R. S. 1919.]

*328 Guardian's Bond. . III. Respondent contends the Prohate Court of Atchison County was without jurisdiction to order the sale because the bond of the guardian, given in Oklahoma, was signed by the guardian’s attorney and there is a statute in that State which, he insistsrenders this bond void for the reason it was so signed. The. bond was signed by Edith P. Shenk, as principal, and W. E. Shenk and Ed. Baker, as sureties. Baker was a practicing lawyer of Oklahoma and represented Mrs. Shenk in the proceedings for her appointment as guardian in that State. The statute referred to reads as follows:

“Licensed attorneys of this State are prohibited from signing bonds as surety in any civil or criminal action, in which they may be employed as counselors, pending or about to be commenced in any of the courts of this State, or before any justice of the peace. All such bonds shall be absolutely void and no penalty can be recovered of the attorney signing the same.”

Without Baker’s signature the bond would not have been good for the amount required by Section 411, Revised Statutes 1919. The bond in this case does not fall within the statute quoted. It was a guardian’s bond. Respondent assumes the bond was given in .a “civil action. ” A “ civil action ’ ’ implies adversary parties and an issue or issues and is designed for the recovery or vindication of a civil right or the redress of some civil wrong. [Berry v. Berry, 147 Ind. 176; Iowa v. C., B. & Q. R. Co., 37 Fed. l. c. 498; In re Battle’s Est., 158 N. C. 388; Lanning v. Gay, 70 Kan. 353; Ex parte Bailey, 1 Okla. Cr. R. l. c. 119; Maben v. Rosser, 24 Okla. l. c. 598; 1 C. J. sec. 8, p. 930; 1 R. C. L. sec. 11, p.325.] In many states, e. g., Oklahoma, statutory definitions of- like tenor have been adopted. “An action is an ordinary proceeding in a court of justice by which a party prosecutes another party for the enforcement or protection of a right, the redress or prevention of a wrong, or the punishment of a public offense.” [Sec. 5536, Comp. Laws, Okla. 1909.] Secs. 5537, 5538, 5539 *329 and 5540 of the same Laws read as follows: “5537. Special proceeding. — Every other remedy is a special proceeding.” “5538. Kinds of action. — Actions are of two kinds: First, Civil; Second, Criminal.” “5539.— Criminal Action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
229 S.W. 796, 287 Mo. 317, 1921 Mo. LEXIS 159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bopst-v-williams-mo-1921.