Broughton v. Millis

67 S.W.2d 650
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 7, 1933·No. No. 9880.·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

LANE, Justice.

John F. Markham and Sarah Frances Markham, the Markhams' mentioned in the suits hereinafter mentioned, were married on the 24th day of October, 1S88. ’They had no child. During their married relations they amassed a community estate of the value of $79,653.29. Sarah Frances Markham was adjudged of unsound mind on the 30th day of July, 1909, and she has been ever since said date of unsound mind and was at the time of the trial of said suits an inmate and patient of Greenwood’s Sanitarium, one for the confinement and treatment of persons with mental disorders.

At the time of the trial of said suits Mrs. Markham was approximately seventy-two years of age. Her parents at the time these suits were tried were both dead. Mrs. Markham had no brothers or sisters.

John F. Markham died on the 25th day of June, 1928, and left a will of date February 11, 1927, with a codicil attached thereto of *651 date March 9, 1927. Said will and codicil in words and figures reads as follows:

“Feby. 11, 1927.
“This is to certify that at my death my property is to bee sold and my dets are Paid and the Ballance are to pay my wifes expence at Greenwoods Hospital except the Corner of Houston Avenue and Winter is to go to G. S. Settegst 100 x 110 feet and the Ballance to bee divided Beteen my too Sisters Hattie Broughton at Pensacolia florida and- Ella Young of Mobile Alabama. Miss Ethel Kent gets nothing off my Estate as She has broken Her promis.
“J. F. Markham.
“Mar. 9, 1927.
“This is to certify that J. F. Markham at His Death Wills to Mrs. Ella Millis 111 Preston St.”

Such will and codicil was duly admitted to probate on the 22d day of November, 1928.

John F. Markham, from the time Mrs. Markham was adjudged a non compos mentis in July, 1909, up to the time he made his will on the 11th day of February, 1927, and up to the date of his death in 1928, managed and controlled said community estate of himself and wife just as if it was his own. During the eighteen years intervening between the date Mrs. Markham was confined in said sanitarium and the time John F. Markham made his will, and the time of his death, he (John F. Markham) provided for the care and treatment of his wife, Mrs. Markham. After the death of John F. Markham in 1928, to wit, on the 17th day of April, 1929, the Houston Land & Trust Company was duly appointed guardian of the estate of Mrs. Sarah Frances Markham, and duly qualified as such guardian; said company was also appointed administrator of the estate of John F. Markham, deceased, with his will annexed, and it duly qualified as such administrator.

The community estate of John F. Markham and his wife, Sarah Frances, at the time of the death of Mr. Markham and at the time of the trial of said suits, consisted of $S,153 in cash on deposit in banks, and five lots, parcels of tracts of land situated in Harris county, Tex., all of the value of $79,653.29. That certain tract of land devised to C. S. Sette-gast by the will of J. F. Markham described as the “corner of Houston Avenue and Winter, * * * 100x110 feet,” and that certain tract devised to Mrs. Ella Millis by said will as “111 Preston St.,” were parts of the property belonging to the community estate of John F. Markham and his wife, Sarah Frances. Said two tracts will hereinafter, for convenience, be referred to respectively as the Settegast tract and the Millis tract

On the 19th day of February, 1930, Mrs. Ella Millis, joined by her husband, H. Lee Millis, filed this suit against Houston Land & Trust Company, as administrator of the estate of John F. Markham, deceased, and as guardian of the person and estate of Mrs. Sarah Frances Markham, non compos mentis, Mrs. Hattie C. Broughton, and Mrs. Ella M. Young. By plaintiffs’ first amended petition, upon which trial was had, they sue in trespass to try title to the Millis lot or tract of land, which is fully described by metes and bounds in said petition. They allege that since the institution of their suit the city of Houston has condemned, for street purposes, a part of the lot mentioned and paid therefor $5,227.54; that said sum of money so paid was paid to Houston Land & Trust Company, the guardian of the person and estate of Sarah Frances Markham, and also the administrator of the estate of John F. Markham, deceased; that as Mrs. Ella Millis was at the time of such condemnation the owner of the land so condemned, she is entitled to a recovery of said money so paid to the Houston Land & Trust Company to take the place of that part of her lot so condemned and taken.

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Broughton v. Millis, 67 S.W.2d 650 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

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