Burdin v. Burdin

129 So. 651, 171 La. 7, 1930 La. LEXIS 1870
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 2, 1930
DocketNo. 30242.
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 129 So. 651 (Burdin v. Burdin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burdin v. Burdin, 129 So. 651, 171 La. 7, 1930 La. LEXIS 1870 (La. 1930).

Opinion

ROGERS, J.

John J. Burdin, the defendant, was married twice. I-Iis first wife, Elizabeth Pranz Burdin, died on or about November 13, 1906. Defendant’s second marriage was contracted on July 18, 1911.

Defendant opened the succession of his first wife on December 6, 1906, praying to be confirmed as natural tutor of his four minor children, issue of the marriage, of whom, the plaintiff, Prances Hilda Burdin, now the wife of Barnard Cummings, was the eldest However, nothing was done at the time except to make an inventory of certain swamp lands situated in the parish of Iberia. Later, namely, on'June 6, 1911, plaintiff presented another petition to the district court in the same proceeding praying to be confirmed as natural tutor of his children and that an undertutor be appointed. An inventory of the property in the parish of St. Martin was then taken, defendant was confirmed as natural tutor, and an undertutor was appointed.

After due proceedings, the community real estate in St. Martin and Iberia parishes was, on June 28, 1911, adjudicated to defendant. Subsequently defendant filed an account of his tutorship, which' account was homologated by the district court, fixing the respective claims of his minor children, $1,859.54 each, against him. Thereafter, on defendant’s application, a special mortgage on specific property was substituted for the general mortgage resulting from the tutorship and the special mortgage resulting from the adjudication.

The plaintiff, Frances Hilda Burdin, wife of Barnard Cummings, became of age September 26, 1912. She lived with her father, the defendant, until her marriage with Cummings on February 23, 1921, which marriage took place at the defendant’s home in the town of St. Martinville. The present suit was *11 filed on February 19,1927, fourteen years after sbe bad reached ber majority and six years after ber marriage to Cummings.

Plaintiff, in ber petition, charges that defendant failed to inventory all,the property belonging to the marital community, particularly the movables, for the fraudulent purpose of converting the property to bis own use. Sbe also attacks as false and fraudulent the tutor’s account, the judgment of adjudication, the special mortgage and, generally, all the proceedings bad in the succession of ber mother. Plaintiff avers want of knowledge of the alleged fraudulent acts of the defendant until the year 1926, when sbe was informed thereof by the attorneys whom sbe. bad consulted in regard to the matter. Plaintiff prayed for judgment, recognizing ber as an heir of ber deceased mother, and, as such, entitled to ber undivided interest in the community property; annulling the judgment of adjudication, and decreeing the property described therein to form part of the community estate, to the end that it may be partitioned after the liquidation of the marital community; setting aside the judgment homologating the account of tutorship; annulling the order of court authorizing the substitution of the special mortgage for the general mortgage and reinstating the general mortgage; ordering an accounting by the defendant for all moneys and other property belonging to the marital community, which be failed to have inventoried; and ordering defendant to account for all rents and revenues of the community property since November 13, 1906.

In the alternative, plaintiff prayed for judgment against defendant for $1,859.54, with legal interest thereon from June 29, 1911, the date the account of tutorship was homologated, and ordering defendant to account for all cash and movables omitted from the inventories and forming the community estate, with interest, including the value of timber removed from lands in the parishes of Iberia, St. Martin, and Iberville.

The defendant excepted to plaintiff’s demand, and also filed pleas of prescription of one, -three, four, five, and ten years to the various elements making up the demand. After hearing the parties, the judge of the district court maintained the pleas of prescription and dismissed plaintiff’s suit. Plaintiff has appealed from the judgment, and defendant has answered the appeal, praying that his exceptions as well as his pleas of prescription be maintained.

Manifestly, it is unnecessary to consider defendant’s exceptions if his pleas of prescription are well founded, which is the ease unless the prescription pleaded has been interrupted by defendant’s fraudulent acts, or renounced by defendant’s acknowledgment of the claims on which plaintiff predicates her action. ■

So far as plaintiff’s allegations of fraud are concerned, the judge of the district court found that they were not only not sustained by the evidence, but that the evidence did not even suggest any ground for such charges. Our examination of the record has caused us to reach the same conclusion.

The testimony shows: That the plaintiff resided with and was cared for by her father up to the date of her marriage. That she was not in normal health, and because of that fact he established a home in San Antonio, Tex., where she could reside for the benefit of her health, and, at the same time, receive an education at one of the schools at that city. That plaintiff received an excellent education and traveled extensively at her father’s expense. That defendant was a kind and devoted father to all his children, particularly *13 towards plaintiff wiio was Ms eldest cMld and in ill health. That defendant was a man of moderate means only, and his care and devotion to his children was exhibited at some personal sacrifice on his part. That, after the marriage of plaintiff in 1921, the same relations continued between her and her father. That, though living at some distance from the paternal dwelling place, plaintiff and her husband frequently visited her father, staying at his home for long periods of time. That defendant not only extended financial assistance from time to time to plaintiff, but also extended the same hind of assistance to her husband. That these relations continued up .to the year 1926, prior to which time there was no question between plaintiff and her father relative to her rights in the succession of her mother, which were regarded by them as having been satisfactorily settled prior to defendant’s second marriage. That plaintiff had full access to the boohs and records of her father’s office, as well as access to the public records. That the requests by plaintiff’s husband on the defendant for financial assistance were for larger loans each time, until finally defendant wrote his son-in-law that he was doing what he could for all his children, and should not do for one more than he did for the other. That thereafter plaintiff’s husband caused an investigation to be made into the proceedings in the succession of plaintiff’s mother, and this suit was finally brought without any amicable demand on the defendant.

There is no room for doubt that the suit was wholly instituted at the instigation of plaintiff’s husband and that plaintiff is an unwilling party thereto.

The proceedings in the succession of plaintiff’s mother, the first wife of the defendant, are regular in form, and are not suggestive in any manner whatever of fraud or wrongdoing. They were evidently undertaken for the purpose of settling the first community before defendant’s second marriage.

On the account filed by the defendant as tutor, he shows an indebtedness to his children collectively of $7,438.18.

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Bluebook (online)
129 So. 651, 171 La. 7, 1930 La. LEXIS 1870, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burdin-v-burdin-la-1930.