Carroll v. Carroll

464 S.W.2d 440, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2724
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 8, 1971
Docket8105
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 464 S.W.2d 440 (Carroll v. Carroll) 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
Carroll v. Carroll, 464 S.W.2d 440, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2724 (Tex. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

ELLIS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court of Carson County, Texas, approving a receiver’s sale of approximately 1,280 acres of land comprising substantially all of the corpus of a trust estate created under the provisions of a joint will which expressly prohibited any sale of the trust property except by consent of the trustee and various specified beneficiaries. The appellants challenge the authority of the trial court to place the property in receivership and to order and confirm the sale which they contend was not necessary or justified and effectively destroys the trust estate.

The appellee, Edwin B. Carroll, individually and as sole trustee under a joint will and trust executed by and between himself and his now deceased wife, Miriam Yeates Carroll, instituted suit in the District Court of Carson County, Texas, seeking an order of the court to authorize him as such trustee to sell and convey the land belonging to the trust estate, although express provisions in the will and trust instrument, absent possible relief therefrom by the court, would preclude the proposed sale by the trustee.

The joint will and trust involved herein was executed by and betweeA appellee, Edwin B. Carroll, and his wife on January 3, 1955. On January 22, 1955, the wife died, and the will was duly probated and administered. Under the will all property of appellee and his deceased wife was devised in trust with the appellee as the sole trustee and primary beneficiary for life, upon whose death the remaining property would pass to the secondary beneficiaries who are the eight adult children of Edwin B. Carroll and Miriam Yeates Carroll for their natural life, and then to the ultimate beneficiaries, their grandchildren, all of whom are minors, with the trust terminating when the last of the ultimate beneficiaries reaches the age of thirty. Seven of the secondary beneficiaries participated in these proceedings and are herein generally referred to as appellants.

Pursuant to the terms of the joint will and trust, appellee, Edwin B. Carroll, took charge of the trust property as trustee and primary beneficiary. Among other things, the will and trust contains the following provision:

“ * * * The real estate * * * shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of except upon the written consent and request of each and every sane beneficiary who had reached the age of 17 years and each and every trustee which written consent and request shall be made a part of the conveyance it being intended and expected by the clause to permit the disposition of said real estate only when and if conditions should render it unprofitable to the beneficiaries ' to retain the title to the real estate of which such beneficiaries and the trustees shall be the judge. No lien or liens shall be placed on said real estate, except that existing liens may be refinanced with the same or other lien-holders and new liens executed for the purpose of financing irrigation projects on the land.”

At the time the inventory and appraisement was filed the land was encumbered by an indebtedness secured by mortgage in the approximate amount of $32,000.00. Pursuant to the provisions of the will and trust, Edwin B. Carroll authorized the *443 drilling of five irrigation wells on the land and financed the project by the execution of notes, secured by deeds of trust on the land to the Federal Land Bank of Houston, Texas.

From the time of the death of Miriam Yeates Carroll in 1955, through 1966, Edwin Paul Carroll and David Ralph Carroll, two of the sons, were associated with their father in farming the land in question. On January 3, 1967, the father-trustee and these two sons entered into a ten-year lease covering all of the trust land. At approximately the same time, the landlord and tenants entered into a ten-year Cropland Adjustment Program with the Federal Government which provided for withdrawal of 500 acres of the trust land from production of grain sorghums for a period of ten years in consideration of a lump sum payment by the Federal Government of $119,892.50.

The lease agreement between the father-trustee and his sons proved to be unsatisfactory and it was terminated by court order on April 4, 1968, whereupon Edwin B. Carroll, trustee, took immediate possession and control of the trust land. Throughout the period following the death of Miriam Yeates Carroll, there was much “family” dissension over the operation of the farm as well as other matters which need not be detailed here. It is significant, however, that despite considerable effort, it was not possible for the requisite parties to reach an agreement as provided in the will to enable the consummation of a sale of the trust property. Subsequently, the appellee, as trustee and individually, brought his suit seeking authority to sell the land following which various pleadings were filed and orders entered, including appellants’ answer denying the allegations of appellee’s petition and seeking his removal as trustee, the answer and counterclaim for removal of trustee filed by the court appointed guardian ad litem in behalf of the minor grandchildren born and yet unborn, and a petition in intervention by the United States Government pertaining to its claim for refund of unearned payments under the Cropland Adjustment Program. Thereafter, the trustee filed his petition for receivership. The unpaid balance of the indebtedness in favor of the Federal Land Bank at the time of the filing appellee’s petition for receivership was approximately $95,000.00, and the Federal Land Bank had initiated foreclosure proceedings by posting the required deed of trust notices of sale and had advised appellee that foreclosure would occur on November 4, 1969. On October 30, 1969, the trial court entered its order appointing a receiver, authorizing the receiver to make a sale of the property, and enjoining the Federal Land Bank from proceeding with the contemplated foreclosure. On April 11, 1970, this order was modified so as to terminate the injunction against the Federal Land Bank, thereby enabling the Land Bank to post its trustee’s notice that a foreclosure sale would be held on May 5, 1970. After extensive hearings on pleadings relating to various proposals for sale of the land, on April 29, 1970, the trial court entered its order approving a contract of sale submitted by the receiver, and from such order, appellants have brought this appeal.

The appellants have briefed five points on appeal; however, one of the points, being the fourth point which pertains to the receiver’s bond, is not being pursued, leaving four points urged by the appellants. They assert that the court erred (1) in ordering the land sold in contravention of the clear prohibition against such sale contained in the will; (2) in ordering the land sold without adequate pleading and proof of the need therefor; (3) in exercising its general equitable powers to order a sale of the land when an adequate remedy at law existed to preserve the trust estate and (4) in exercising its general equity powers over the respective interests of the minor beneficiaries of the trust, and over the interest of an alleged non compos mentis beneficiary. In addition to appellee’s various counterpoints to the appellants’ points of *444 error, appellee contends that appellants have waived all complaints set out in their points of error because they failed to perfect an appeal from the order appointing the receiver.

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Bluebook (online)
464 S.W.2d 440, 1971 Tex. App. LEXIS 2724, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-v-carroll-texapp-1971.