Doll v. Doll

19 So. 2d 249, 206 La. 550, 1944 La. LEXIS 764
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 26, 1944
DocketNo. 37308.
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 19 So. 2d 249 (Doll v. Doll) 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
Doll v. Doll, 19 So. 2d 249, 206 La. 550, 1944 La. LEXIS 764 (La. 1944).

Opinion

O’NIELL, Chief Justice.

The question in this case is whether a judgment sending the heirs of a deceased person into possession of the estate unconditionally, and thereby closing the succession, is a bar to a subsequent demand for collation.

Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll died at her residence in Shreveport on December 9, 1939, leaving as her heirs three daughters, namely, Mrs. Maude Doll Broghan, Miss Loretta Doll, and Mrs. Mary Lou Doll Butler, and four sons, namely, Frank T. Doll, Howard F. • Doll, Charlie Doll and John M. Doll, and a grandson, Howard C. Belcher, who was the only child of a predeceased daughter, Fredericka Doll Belcher.

Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll possessed a large estate, and during her lifetime divided among her sons and daughters all of her property except a store building in Shreveport, called McCrory’s Store. She left a will in which, after making a special bequest of certain personal property and bequeathing cash legacies to some of her grandchildren, she expressed a desire that her liberty bonds should be divided among her children, and that the building called McCrory’s Store should be rented and the income divided equally among her sons and daughters. The will was probated on January 20, 1940. Thereafter 'the three daughters and four sons and the grandson, all being of the age of majority, filed a joint petition in court, accepting the succession unconditionally, and praying to be recognized as the sole heirs of the deceased, Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll, and to be sent into possession of her estate as the owners thereof. Accordingly, a judgment was rendered recognizing the petitioners to be the only heirs of the deceased and sending them into possession of her estate as joint owners. The only property specifically described in the judgment sending the heirs into possession of the estate was (1) the undivided half interest in the McCrory building in Shreveport, of which the eight heirs owned *555 already the other half interest, and of which no valuation was given in the judgment, (2) an undivided half interest in a judgment against a man named Noel Barnes, the half interest being valued at $50, and (3) cash deposited in several banks in Shreveport amounting to $41,515.-76. The judgment especially recognized the eight heirs to be the joint owners of the property described specifically in the judgment, namely, the McCrory building, the $100 judgment against Noel Barnes, and the bank deposits amounting to $41,-515.76. The judgment was rendered and signed in open court on February 8, 1940.

Nearly three years afterwards, that is, on December 5, 1942, four of the heirs of the deceased, namely, Miss Loretta Doll, Howard F. Doll, Mrs. Mary Lou Doll Butler, and Howard C. Belcher, brought this suit against the four other heirs, namely, Mrs. Maude Doll Broghan, John M. Doll, Charlie Doll, and Frank T. Doll, for collation of certain sums alleged to have been received by them from their mother during her lifetime. The plaintiffs demanded of Mrs. Maude Doll Broghan collation of the sum of $18,746.10, of John M. Doll collation of the sum of $29,402.77, of Charlie Doll collation of the sum of $14,-238.94, and of Frank T. Doll collation of the sum of $35,946.47. The plaintiffs averred that if the defendants should be required to collate the sums demanded of them, they, the plaintiffs, were willing to collate the amounts received by them from the deceased Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll during her lifetime, as follows: Miss Loretta Doll was willing to collate $718.75; Howard F. Doll was willing to collate $8,545.19; Mrs. Mary Lou Doll Butler was willing to-collate $10,366.68; and Howard C. Belcher was willing to collate $10,718.75.

The plaintiffs claimed also in their petition that three of the four defendants received certain sums out of the funds derived from the succession, and that .such funds should be charged against their shares in the succession, respectively, thus: It was claimed that Mrs. Maude Doll Broghan received $718.75 after her mother’s death, out of the funds derived from the succession of her mother; that John M. Doll received $1,486.02 after his mother’s death; and that Charlie Doll received $2,-688.08 after his mother’s death.

The claim of $718.75 against Mrs. Maude Doll Broghan is alleged in the plaintiffs’ petition to be her proportionate share of the fee of the attorney for opening the succession and sending the heirs into possession of the estate unconditionally, as owners. The claim of $1,486.02 against John M. Doll is alleged in the petition to consist of his proportionate share, being $718.75,. of the fee of the attorney for opening the succession and sending the heirs into possession of the estate unconditionally and as owners, and $767.27 for rent of property alleged in the plaintiffs’ petition to belong to them and the defendants in indivisión. The claim of $2,688.08 against Charlie Doll consists of two items. One item is. alleged to be his proportionate share,, amounting to $718.75, of the fee of the at-.f torney for opening the succession of the deceased Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll and obtaining the judgment sending the eight *557 heirs into possession of her estate unconditionally, as owners. The other item is an alleged loan of $1,969.33, represented by a promissory note for that amount signed by Charlie Doll, dated January 4, 1940.

The three claims which we have referred to, namely, the claim of $718.75 against Mrs. Maude Doll Broghan, the claim of $1,486.02 against John M. Doll, and the claim of $2,688.02 against Charlie Doll, are not demanded as collation, but consist merely of debts alleged to have been incurred subsequent to the death of Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll, of which the plaintiffs claim that they are entitled to their proportionate share of one-eighth for each of them.

The plaintiffs prayed that each of them should be recognized as the owner of one-eighth interest in the amounts for which they demanded collation, and in the amounts which they claimed were received by the defendants after the death of Mrs. Doll. The plaintiffs prayed also for a partition, either in kind or by licitation, as the court might direct, of all of the property inherited by them and the defendants from the deceased Mrs. Doll, and described in their petition, except the commercial building called the McCrory Store, as to which they asked to have the right reserved, under certain conditions, to demand a partition hereafter.

As the judge of the district court states in his reasons for the judgment dismissing this suit, the plaintiffs’ petition discloses that the judgment which they obtained on February 8, 1940, placing them and the defendants in possession of the estate of the deceased Mrs. Doll, has been executed by the plaintiffs and defendants by their holding the property in indivisión, collecting the rents and dividing the same among them equally, and making certain loans or advances out of the common funds. And, as the judge says, the plaintiffs virtually or in effect admit in their petition that the only purpose or object of this suit — so far as it is a suit for a partition — is to collect and divide among the plaintiffs their share of the sums of money which they claim the defendants should have collated in the succession of the deceased, Mrs. Ludeweka J. Doll.

The defendants filed exceptions of no cause or right of action and pleas of res judicata and estoppel.

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Bluebook (online)
19 So. 2d 249, 206 La. 550, 1944 La. LEXIS 764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doll-v-doll-la-1944.