Buckner Orphans Home v. Maben

252 S.W.2d 726, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1793
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 24, 1952
Docket2953
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 252 S.W.2d 726 (Buckner Orphans Home v. Maben) 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
Buckner Orphans Home v. Maben, 252 S.W.2d 726, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1793 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

LONG, Justice.

The children of J. W. Patton, deceased, sued Buckner Orphans Home and Texas *728 Pacific Coal & Oil Company in trespass to try title to a one-fourth mineral interest in 160 acres of land in Fisher County, and to recover the proceeds of oil runs produced from said property and collected by Buckner Orphans Home. Plaintiffs dismissed as to Texas Pacific Coal & Oil Company and the case proceeded to trial between plaintiffs and Buckner Orphans Home. The trial was before the court with the aid of a jury and at the conclusion of the evidence the trial court, on motion of plaintiffs, withdrew the case from the jury and peremptorily rendered judgment for plaintiff for title and possession of the property together with $2,381.51 as proceeds .for oil runs collected by defendant. From this judgment defendant has appealed.

Defendant contends there . were issues of fact to be determined and that the' trial court erred in instructing a verdict in favor of plaintiffs. The mineral interest involved was acquired 'by J. W. Yopp on September 29, 1929, by a deed from -Jess E. Patterson and wife. At the time of the execution and delivery of said deed, J. W. Yopp was married to B. E, Yopp. B. E. Yopp, wife of J. W. Yopp, died in 1931-and left a will whereby she bequeáthed all of her property to defendant, Buckner Orphans Plome, subject to a life estáte to J. W. Yopp. By the terms of the will, J. W. Yopp was appointed independent executor of the estate of his wife and was authorized arid directed therein to pay her debts. J. W. Yopp caused said will, to be probated and qualified thereunder as independent executor. Thereafter, on April 16, 1935, J. W. Yopp executed a deed to J. W. Patton, the father of plaintiffs, conveying the mineral right involved herein. It is undisputed that at the time of the death of Mrs. Yopp, and of the' execution of the deed by J. W. Yopp to J. W. Patton, there were taxes owing by the community estate to J. W. Yopp and his wife. We believe the court did not err in rendering judgment for plaintiffs because J. W. Yopp as independent executor of the estate of his deceased wife, had. the power to sell the property of the estate, if necessary, to pay debts against her estate. There was no specific provision in the-will authorizing him to sell the property of her estate but he had such right to sell for the purpose of paying debts pf the estate, notwithstanding the absence of such authorization in the will. It is undisputed that the estate of Mrs. Yopp was indebted for delinquent taxes at the time of the sale of the property by Mr. Yopp to J. W. Patton. It is true that J. W. Yopp did not pay the delinquent taxes but it seems to be well settled that a purchaser from an independent executor, where the sale is made for the purpose of paying a debt due by the estate, is not bound to see that the consideration paid for the property is applied to the payment of such debt. The following quotation from Blanton v. Mayes, 72 Tex. 417, 10 S.W. 452, 453, is applicable here:

“If the evidence was sufficient to show that debts, legally a charge on the estate of the testator, existed at ■ the time appellee bought from the executor, then the judgment must be affirmed * * *.
“Taxes ori the estate seem to have amounted to about $800 annually, and, if no other indebtedness than for accrued taxes for the' years 1874, 1875 and 1876 were shown (testator died May 6, 1875) to have existed, this would be sufficient to confer on the executor the power to sell which he exercised in making the sale to appellee. Looking to the evidence, there was no error in that part of the. court’s charge which informed the jury that the existence of indebtedness on the part of the estate, at the time the executor sold to appellee, would' confer on the former the power to make the sale; for the indebtedness shown was all such as would confer on the executor the power to-sell.
‘(Appellant, for the purpose of showing that the executor had not applied the money received from appellee to the discharge of the debts of the estate, proposed to prove a settlement made between the executor o'f Howard’s will and the appellant as the administratrix of the estate, of Schlutter, but, on objection, it was excluded. Such evi *729 dence would have been admissible for the purpose of showing that neither the estate of Schlutter, nor the beneficiaries under his will, ever received benefit from the money paid to Howard by appellee, but as the case was disposed of became unimportant; for, in order that appellee should be entitled to the land under his purchase from the executor, it was not necessary that he should show that the latter properly appropriated the money paid by him for the land. It was sufficient that he showed a state of facts that gave the executor power to sell.” See also Sutton v. Lewis, Tex.Civ.App., 176 S.W. 2d 765 (Writ Ref.); Masterson v. Wingate, Tex.Civ.App., 151 S.W.2d 956, 959 (Writ Ref.).

It is undisputed that the mineral right involved was community property of J. W. Yopp and his deceased wife. It is our belief that after the death of Mrs. Yopp, J. W. Yopp had the power to sell this mineral right to pay community debts. The law is well settled that the community property of husband and wife is subject to the payment of community debts and that the heirs of the wife are entitled to orie-hálf of the community property after the discharge of the debts for which such property is properly liable. The husband is entitled to the exclusive management and disposition of the community property during the marriage and has the right to dispose thereof after the death of his wife for the purpose of discharging debts due by the community estate. When community. debts exist and the sale of land belonging to the community estate is made by the survivor, it will be presumed that such sale was made for the purpose of paying such debts. Davis , v. Magnolia Pet. Company, 134 Tex.

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Bluebook (online)
252 S.W.2d 726, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1793, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buckner-orphans-home-v-maben-texapp-1952.