Bowling v. Merry

1923 OK 435, 217 P. 404, 91 Okla. 176, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 705
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 3, 1923
Docket11167
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 1923 OK 435 (Bowling v. Merry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowling v. Merry, 1923 OK 435, 217 P. 404, 91 Okla. 176, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 705 (Okla. 1923).

Opinion

Opinion by

RUTH, C.

This was an .action instituted in the district court of Rogers •county in 1918,- by the defendant in error, Annie Merry, against T. C.--Bowling et al. for the possession of land in Rogers county. Eor convenience, the parties hereto will be designated as they appeared in the court below.

The plaintiff in her petition sets forth that she was a Cherokee allottee of certain lands In Rogers county, and was entitled to the possession thereof, and that the defendants unlawfully withheld possession thereof from her for seven years, and she attaches to the petition her allotment deed to said land, and asks the court to decree that she is the legal and equitable owner of said lands, and entitled to immediate possession thereof, and that she have judgment against the defendants for said lands, and further, judgment for the sum of $700 for the use and occupancy of said lands for a period of seven years.

To the petition of the plaintiff, the defendants Bowlings filed their separate answer, in which they answer by general denial, and for further answer say that on the 18th day of March,, 1911, Eli Tadpole (father .of plaintiff) was the duly appointed, qualified, and acting guardian of the plaintiff, and, as such, sold the lands involved to this defendant, and that thei. same were sold under the order of the probate court of Rogers county, who had appointed the said Eli Tadpole as guardian, and that on the 29th day of March, 1911, the county court of Rogers county duly approved and confirmed the sale and ordered the guardian to execute to the defendant a guardian’s deed, which was accordingly done, and which is attached to the answer and made a part thereof, together with the order confirming the sale, etc.

It was disclosed by the record that Annie Merry, plaintiff, was the daughter of Eli Tadpole, and that Eli Tadpole was appointed guardian of Ms daughter in Mayes county on the 30th day of September, 1908. The record is not clear as to whether or not Annie Merry owned any land in Mayes county, but it does appear from the record that an order was made directing and authorizing Eli Tadpole, the guardian, to sell the ward’s land, but what land it referred to is not shown by the record, hut it does appear that the sale was not consummated or < confirmed, and upon this being shown to the court, the court ordered the guardianship discharged and terminated and ihe case was marked “Closed.” This part of the record, showing that the guardianship was terminated, and discharged,’ except for the word “closed” appearing on the appearance docket, appears only in the record by nunc pro tunc order entered by the county court of Mayes county in 1919, just prior to the trial of this canse, and the nunc pro tunc order is as follows, omitting the caption:

“Now, on this the 2nd day of -September, 1919. the above entitled cause comes on for hearing upon the petition of T. O. Bowling, for an orden of this court entered as of the 31th day of December, 1908, discharging Eli Tadpole, as guardian in the above entitled cause, and it being first proven to the satisfaction of this court that notice of this hearing was given to the above named Annie Tadpole, now Annie Merry, and to the said Eli Tadpole, on the 21st day of August, 3919, and the said T. O. Bowling, appearing in person and by his attorneys, Langley & Langley, and the said Annie Tadpole, now Annie Merry, each failing to appear, or except or object to tbis petition, and tbe evidence baying been offered in support of said petition, tbe court find-s from said evidence that all the allegations of said petition are true, and finds that the said Eli Tadpole was hy the above entitled court duly discharged as such guardian, on the 11th day of December, 1908, and tbe *178 court finds that said petition should now" be sustained.
“It is therefore ordered by the court that the journal entry of order made by the court on the 11th day of December, 1908, be, and the same is hereby entered upon the journal of this court as of date of December, 11th, 1908, with the same force and effect as though entered on that date, in words and figures, as follows:
“ ‘And now. on this 11th day* of December, 1908, the above entitled cause came on for hearing upon the application of Eli Tadpole, guardian, to be discharged from said guardianship trust, the said guardian appearing in person and by B. Kirkpatrick, his atroiney, and the court having heard the evidence of the parties, finds the guard.-ian has come into possession of no property belonging to his ward, and said wards have no property except their real estate, and to sell some inherited interests belonging to said wards in some real estate, this guardianship was instituted, and said sale haying failed, there is no longer any necessity for this guardianship, and the court being fully advised in the premises, it is hereby ordered that the said guardian be, and he is hereby discharged of and from his said trust, and ‘he sureties upon his 'bond are hereby released and the above entitled cause is fully closed.
“‘(Seal) T. L. Marteney, County Judge.’”

The record further discloses that after Eli Tadpole was appointed guardian ’he, with his daughter and ward, moved into Rogers county and there filed a petition to have Eli Tadpole appointed guardian of the estate of Annie Merry, nee Tadpole. It would appear that the application was regularly made for the appointment of Ell Tadpole as guardian of Annie Merry in Rogers county, and that he was duly appointed guardian and was by ihe order of the court duly authorized to sell the property in question, and upon making his return to the court, the sale was confirmed and the guardianship deed then ordered to issue, which was accordingly done.

It further appears that Annie Merry, at the time her guardian filed his final accounting, had attained her majority, having reached the age of 18, and by the further fact that she hadi married; that upon filing of the final account of her guardian she appeared in court and was questioned by the court and stated to the court that she understood thoroughly the nature of the proceedings ; that she understood the land had been sold, was thoroughly familiar with, the price obtained therefor, and was satisfied with the administration of her affairs by the guardian. Subsequent thereto she brings this action against Bowling and Randolph to recover possession of the land. The evidence discloses the fact that Bowling is an innocent purchaser for value; that he subsequently sold the land to Randolph, who was an innocent purchaser for value.

Tlhe firsit question raised, and bo our mind the only question to be determined in this court, is whether or not the county court of Rogers county had jurisdiction to annoint a guardian over the person and es-ta •; of Annie Merry at the time of the said appointment, and to order the sale of the ward’s land. Several questions are asked by the parties hereto in their briefs, and incidentally involved in this paramount question:

(1) Did the county court of Mayes county have power to close the estate and suspend or release the guardian? (2) Did the county court of Mayes county have power to correct its records by nunc pro tunc order? (3) Did the plaintiff in error, Bowling, he not having b.een a party to the guardianship proceedings in Mayes county, have the power to petition the county court of Mayes county for a correction of its records by1 nunc pro tunc order?

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1923 OK 435, 217 P. 404, 91 Okla. 176, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowling-v-merry-okla-1923.