Bruce v. Owen

65 P.2d 380, 19 Cal. App. 2d 322, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 427
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 23, 1937
DocketCiv. No. 1834
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 65 P.2d 380 (Bruce v. Owen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bruce v. Owen, 65 P.2d 380, 19 Cal. App. 2d 322, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 427 (Cal. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an appeal from an order settling an account of the executors of this estate.

[323]*323H. S. Bruce died on November 5, 1930. His son Lewis Bruce and one Chester Dowell were appointed executors of his will on December 8, 1930. The inventory and appraisement, filed on March 7, 1931, in setting forth the property belonging to the estate which had come into the hands of the executors, listed 125 shares of stock in a certain bank appraised at $14,000, a note executed by Lewis Bruce appraised at $2,640, and a note executed by Orpha E. Owen appraised at $119.05, a total of $16,759.05.

On December 17,1935, the executors filed their first account, in which they included the proceeds of twenty-five shares of this bank stock which had been sold, together with the dividends received from these particular shares, but omitted all reference to the other one hundred shares of bank stock or the dividends thereon. On December 20, 1935, two daughters •of the deceased filed a contest to this account, demanding, among other things, that the executors be charged with the other hundred shares of bank stock and the dividends thereon. Thereupon the executors filed a supplemental account, sworn to by Lewis Bruce, alleging that this one hundred shares of bank stock was not and never had been the property of said estate, but was and at all times had been the property of Lewis Bruce, and that the same had been included as an asset of the estate “by réason of inadvertence and mistake”. After a hearing upon the account and the exceptions thereto the court made its order settling the account, finding, among other things, that Lewis Bruce held title to one hundred shares of this bank stock in trust for the said H. S. Bruce, and charging the executors with said stock, including all dividends thereon. This appeal was taken by Lewis Bruce from that portion of this order which charged the executors with this one hundred shares of bank stock and dividends therefrom.

The appellant contends that the trial court, sitting as a probate court, had no jurisdiction to pass upon the question of ownership or title to this stock. He relies upon the general rule that a probate court, in settling an account, has no jurisdiction to determine the rights of parties claiming adversely to the estate. (Texas Co. v. Bank of America etc., Ass'n, 5 Cal. (2d) 35 [53 Pac. (2d) 127].) This case falls within a well-recognized exception to the rule referred to. (Estate of Roach, 208 Cal. 394 [281 Pac. 607], and cases there cited.)

[324]*324The main question presented is whether the order and the findings to the effect that the bank stock in question was held by Lewis Bruce in trust for H. S. Bruce and is a part of his estate are supported by the evidence. It appears without dispute that the appellant purchased one hundred shares of the bank stock in 1909 and that at or near the same time the deceased purchased the other twenty-five shares. The one hundred shares of stock was issued in the name of the appellant. The appellant testified that he used his own funds to purchase this stock, and that at all times he had dealt with the same as his own property and had asserted an absolute ownership therein. Chester Dowell testified that he sold one hundred shares of the stock to the appellant and twenty-five shares to the deceased, that the appellant paid the consideration for the one hundred shares, that both the appellant and the deceased were present at the time the stock was sold, and that nothing was then said by the deceased about his owning any interest in the one hundred shares or that any of his funds had been used in purchasing the same. Because this evidence was not directly disputed the appellant contends that it was and is conclusive and that there is, therefore, no evidence to support the findings and conclusions of the court.

The will of the deceased read in part as follows:

“My estate consists of a note signed by my son, Lewis Bruce, for $2000.00, one hundred twenty five (125) shares of stock in the Los Angeles-First National Trust and Savings Bank, 100 shares of which are held in the name of Lewis Bruce.”

The petition for probate, sworn to by the appellant, listed as one asset of the estate one hundred and twenty-five shares of this bank stock, and alleged that it was of the value of-$11,500, or thereabouts. Following his testimony at the hearing of the petition for probate of the will on December 8, 1930, the appellant signed a “Testimony of witness on probate of holographic will” in which it was stated that the deceased left personal property, the value and character of which was correctly set forth in the petition for probate of the will and that this property was of the value of $14,000 or thereabouts. At the hearing which resulted in this appeal the appellant, when asked whether the statements contained in the document just referred to were true at the time they were made, replied: “Well, to a certain extent, yes. That is, [325]*325if I could have carried out the intentions that I had at the time, of giving the estate one hundred shares of stock to probate, such a hearing as we are having today, it would have been a fact, and at that time I expected to do that.” The inventory and appraisement was sworn to by the appellant and listed the one hundred and twenty-five shares of this bank stock as a part of the property of the estate.

On January 1, 1931, the appellant wrote a letter to his sister, one of the contestants, enclosing a copy of the will and saying in part:

“You will see by the copy of the will that there is bank stock to be divided between you, Orpha and I. What would you prefer: That the stock be divided and you keep your share of it, or would you rather it be sold and send you the cash? It is worth $88.00 per share now, has been down to $76.00, and, of course, I cannot tell how much it will be worth at the time the estate is ready to be divided.”

On December 7, 1933, the appellant wrote to the same sister, mentioning the price at which the “bank stocks” were then selling and saying that $83 was still due on the cemetery lots and that he had promised to pay half of this from the dividends to be received the next July and the balance from the dividends the next January. It may be observed that the dividends then being paid on this bank stock would amount to but $16.25 on twenty-five shares, which would be much less than the amount required to pay half of the $83 while the dividends on all of the bank stock would be ample for that purpose.

Chester Dowell testified that while he signed most of the papers in the estate he left the management of the estate entirely to the appellant, that he knew the provisions of the will, and that when he signed the petition for probate and the inventory and appraisement he knew that these documents listed the one hundred and twenty-five shares of bank stock as property of the estate. He also testified that at one time when the deceased was involved in divorce proceedings with a former wife “he did tell me that she would never get any of his money and that he Avas going to dispose of it in a manner some way that she never could get it. He told me that. And I had reasons to believe, just by, you might say guess work, that he had turned it over, whatever it was, to Dr. Bruce, but I never knew it and had nothing to prove [326]*326it anyway. ’ ’ He further testified that he knew there was an argument in the family at different times before the death of H. S.

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Related

Estate of Bruce
80 P.2d 82 (California Court of Appeal, 1938)

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Bluebook (online)
65 P.2d 380, 19 Cal. App. 2d 322, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bruce-v-owen-calctapp-1937.