Dean v. Stuckey

356 S.W.2d 622, 234 Ark. 1103, 1962 Ark. LEXIS 821
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 30, 1962
Docket5-2689
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 356 S.W.2d 622 (Dean v. Stuckey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dean v. Stuckey, 356 S.W.2d 622, 234 Ark. 1103, 1962 Ark. LEXIS 821 (Ark. 1962).

Opinion

Paul Ward, Associate Justice.

This appeal concerns certain questions of law which arose out of the administration of the estate of Joe Dean Goodin who died intestate, leaving real and personal property valued at approximately $400,000. It is important at the outset, in order to grasp the issues involved, to understand who constituted the heirs of the deceased and their relationships, and also the nature of the property.

Heirs. Joe Dean Goodin died January 11, 1957, unmarried, leaving no children. The administration of his estate began in March, 1957. The deceased’s mother, Myra C. Goodin, died April 28, 1957, and her estate is being administered under separate proceedings. Myra had a brother, J. J. Dean, who is now living. She also had a sister, Anna Williams, who is deceased, leaving-three children. The above are referred to as the “Dean heirs ’ ’.

The deceased’s father, J. P. Goodin, who died in 1951 had one half-sister and three half-brothers. All of these are now dead. Two of them had one child each (now living); one had five children (now living); one had eight children one of -whom is deceased, leaving six children (now living). These will be referred to as the “Bryan heirs”.

Property. The property affected by the administration of deceased’s estate, for the purposes of this opinion, can be designated as here set out. Paternal ancestral: An undivided one-half interest in 164.6 acres of land and 31.5 acres of land. New acquisition: 711.57 acres of land. Personal property: Among other things (a) On December 24, 1956 decedent leased 80 acres of land for the year 1957 and took a note for $1,950 due that fall; (b) On December 27, 1956 decedent leased the rest of the lands for the years 1957, 1958 and 1959 taking three notes, each in the amount of $21,250; (c) There was certain other income from the estate accruing during the administration.

After the probate judge had made a finding of heir-ship and after a final accounting had been made, the administrator, on March 29, 1961, filed his Petition for Distribution. Thereafter, on July 22, 1961, the judge issued a detailed memorandum opinion indicating what his rulings would be on all questions and issues involved. Based thereon a precedent for a decree was submitted by the Dean heirs (appellants) and another one was submitted by the administrator and the Bryan heirs (appellees), each setting ont in detail the real estate interest and the personal property each beneficiary would receive, and also how the costs attending administration were to be apportioned. Where the two precedents were in agreement such instances will not be discussed or referred to in this opinion. The court, however, approved the precedent submitted by appellees and rendered a decree accordingly.

On appeal appellants set out nine separate points for a reversal, but we have decided that all essential issues can be disposed of under two separate specific points and a third general point.

One. The trial court divided the new acquisition lands per stirpes among the Dean heirs and the Bryan heirs — that is, the court gave a one-sixth undivided interest each to the brother and sister (or the heirs of each) of decedent’s mother, and a one-sixth each to the three brothers and one sister (or the heirs of each) of decedent’s father. In so doing, we think, the court committed error. It is our conclusion that an undivided one-half interest in the new acquisition lands must go to the heirs of decedent’s mother and that the other one-half interest must go to the heirs of decedent’s father.

Ark. Stats. § 61-111 reads:

“Descent where no father or mother. The estate of an intestate, in default of a father and mother, shall go as follows: one-half to the brothers and sisters, and their descendants of the father; and the other one-half to the brothers and sisters, and their descendants, of the mother; provided, that if such line of either the father or the mother shall be extinct, then the entire estate shall go to such line of the other. This provision applies only where there are no kindred, either lineal or collateral, who stand in a near[er] relation, and does not apply to ancestral estates.” (The word near should be nearer. See Daniels v. Johnson, infra.)

In the ease of Daniels v. Johnson, 216 Ark. 374, 386-387, 226 S. W. 2d 571, in an exhaustive opinion, this . Court said:

“It is as though. § 61-111 read: ‘The estate of an intestate, in default of [descendants, or brothers or sisters or their descendants, or] a father and mother, shall go as follows . . .’ This gives § 61-111 its proper function, which is to define tlie manner of descent and distribution of non-ancestral estate under the third sub-paragraph of § 61-101.”

When § 61-111 is read in its entirety in conformity with the above quoted language there can be no doubt that it is controlling under the factual situation in the case under consideration, and that it dictates what our conclusion must be. Joe Dean Goodin’s estate is in default of descendants, brothers and sisters, and father and his mother. Therefore, one-half of it must go to the three brothers and one sister (or their descendants) of his father, and the other one-half must go to the brothers and sister (or their descendants) of his mother.

Appellees’ well reasoned and well presented contention is to the effect that this case is not controlled by § 61-111 but is controlled by §§ 61-101 and 61-110. It is certain that the issue presented is not without its perplexities. Harry E. Meek, in an exhaustive memorandum on the Law of Descent and Distribution written in 1961 and published in the Desk Book of the Arkansas Bar Association, in discussing Ark. Stats. § 61-101, said: “But where the intestate leaves no issue, either Sec. 61-110 or 61-111 must be consulted; and the relationship between the three sections has obfuscated Arkansas lawyers for more than one hundred years.”

However, we think a careful study of the history of these sections and their relation to each other confirms the conclusion heretofore reached. Prior to the passage of Act 52 of 1933 the law preferred the paternal heirs over the maternal heirs. For example, Crawford and Moses Digest §§ 3471, 3480 and 3481 all preferred the paternal heirs, but said Act 52 changed those sections to put the paternal and maternal heirs on the same basis. Sections 3471 and 3480 were changed by said Act 52 to read the same as Ark. Stats. §§ 61-101 and 61-110 respectively. Section 3481 (C. & M. Dig.) was changed by Act 52 to read as follows: ‘ ‘ The estate of an intestate, in default of a father or mother, shall go to the brothers and sisters, per stirpes. ” It is apparent this section did nothing to clarify the issue under discussion. However, the above section was changed by Act 117 of 1937 to read the same as Ark. Stats. § 61-111 (heretofore copied). It is necessary now to consider certain language found in § 61-110 (relied on by appellees) which, in all material parts, reads as follows:

“Descent where no descendants . . .

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pigue v. Grooms
451 S.W.2d 181 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1970)
Locke v. Cook
434 S.W.2d 598 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
356 S.W.2d 622, 234 Ark. 1103, 1962 Ark. LEXIS 821, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dean-v-stuckey-ark-1962.