Dudding v. Pitman

1929 OK 259, 280 P. 801, 138 Okla. 222, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 526
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 25, 1929
Docket20070
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1929 OK 259 (Dudding v. Pitman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dudding v. Pitman, 1929 OK 259, 280 P. 801, 138 Okla. 222, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 526 (Okla. 1929).

Opinion

RILEY, J.

John R. Dudding, plaintiff in error, was appointed .guardian of the estate of Wilson S. Pitman, a minor, December 31, 1924, and removed as such guardian May 2, 1928, by order of the county court of Muskogee county.

On December 39, 1926, that county court, upon the petition of the Commercial National Bank of Independence, Kan., ordered that certain personal property then held by Dudding as such guardian be surrendered and delivered to that bank. The basis of that order was the fact that Pitman, the minor, had removed.to Kansas, and the bank had been appointed guardian in Wilson county, Kan. The subject-matter of the order was “all notes, stocks, bonds, money and personal-property of every kind and description which, he now has on hand.'’

Thereafter, as before, Dudding continued to act as guardian, and he collected royalties and rents arising from the minor’s estate located in Oklahoma. Dudding, as guardian, filed his annual report for the period January 1, 1927, to December 31, 1927, and amongst other items of expenditure, listed as ‘‘miscellaneous expenses” the following:

Wilson iS. Pitman & Trustee June 28, 1927 — $1,955.00 Wilson iS. Pitman & Trustee Dec. 28, 1927— 1,230.00 Aggregating) $3,18>5.00.

Thereafter, and on March 28, 1928, the county court issued "to Dudding, as guardian, a citation, commanding him to appear on April 5, 1928, to- show cause why he should not be removed as guardian for making unwarranted disbursements, wastefulness, and gross mismanagement.

Dudding, guardian, filed response in which mismanagement of the estate was denied. It was alleged that the minor was a resident of Kansas, and that in that state majority rights had been conferred upon him. A copy of such a judgment of the Kansas court was attached which by its text

“decreed that full rights of majority within the state of Kansas are hereby conferred upon Wilson S. Pitman, and that the said Wilson S. Pitman shall hereafter have and exercise full rights and power to hold, convey, and dispose of his property within this state.”

It being also shown that Pitman, a minor, had entered into a trust agreement with the Commercial National Bank of Independence, Kan.

Dudding moved for judgment on the pleadings. The motion was overruled. The cause proceeded to trial, and on May 2, 1928, the court found and adjudged that Dudding, guardian, on June 28, 1927, had withdrawn from funds of the minor the sum of $1,955, as evidenced by cheek payable to order of Wilson S Pitman and the Commercial National Bank of Independence, Kan., trustee, and that on December 28, 1927, he had withdrawn the sum of $1,230, upon a check to same payees; that the aggregate of said checks, '$3,185, was withdrawn from the funds of said ward without authority of *223 -court, and that the same should be surcharged against the guardian and his bonds-unen. The surcharge was made, the guardian was removed, and a successor appointed.

Upon appeal to the district court the judgment of the county court was in all respects .affirmed.

This appeal is presented from the order overruling motion for new trial on the district court’s judgment.

Plaintiff in error, Dudding, now says:

“All errors complained of resolve themselves into one proposition and that is given by assignment No. 10, which is as follows:
“ ‘That the court erred in refusing to rule, ■hold and decide that the situs of the personal property of Wilson S. Pitman, is, or was, in the state of Kansas, the same being the state of his residence and citizenship and that a contract or transaction had with him in Kansas concerning his personal property is binding in Oklahoma.’ ”

The contention of plaintiff in error is:

(1) Majority rights were conferred upon this minor in Kansas. He became sui juris.

(2) The laws of a sister state are presumed to he the same as the laws of this state, without an affirmative showing to the contrary.

(3) The law governing personalty, section 8544, O. O. S. 1921, is:

“If there is not law to the contrary in the place where personal property is situated, it is deemed to follow the person of its owner, and is governed by the law of his domicile.”

Doftis v. Farmers’ & Mechanics’ Nat. Bank, 133 Pa. 97, 19 Atl. 347, 7 L. R. A. 313:

“The settled' general rule is that the validity of a transfer of personal property is to be determined by the law of the domicile of the owner.”

Consequently it is urged the situs of the personal property of Pitman was divested from the jurisdiction of the courts of Oklahoma and vested in the proper court of Kansas. Full faith and credit will be given to acts and judgments of a court of a sister state. Harding v. Harding, 198 U. S. 317; 23 Cyc. 1345.

The principle is well settled that a “voluntary conveyance of personal" property “good by the law of the place where it was made, passes title wheresoever the ‘property’ may be situated.” Hovt v. Thompson, 19 N. Y. 224; Edgerly v. Bush, 81 N. Y. 203: Aetna Ins. Co. v. Aldrich, 26 N. Y. 96; Minor et al. v. Cardwell, 37 Mo. 350.

In 5 R. C. L. 927, the rule is stated:

“Personal Property. The dominion of a state over personal property within its borders is complete and its right to regulate its transfer and subject it to process and execution in its own way and by its own laws is unquestioned, though by a legal fiction generally recognized by county, personal property is supposed to adhere to the person of the owner and is usually considered as having no situs other than his domicile.”

Thus far we have cited practically all cases relied upon by plaintiff in error, and we have set out the reasoning underlying his contention. These are weighty principles. These are sound cases where the facts are applicable. We would not hesitate to follow them, but for the peculiar situation here presented by the facts in the case at bar.

We further quote from plaintiff’s brief:

“No state will suffer laws of one to interfere with her own; and in the conflict of laws, when it must often be a matter of doubt which shall prevail the court which decides will prefer the law of its own country to that of the stranger. Smith v. McAtee (Md.) 92 Am. Dec. 641.”

Kersey v. McDougal, 79 Okla. 53, 191 Pac. 594, lays down the rule that:

“* * * The order of the court transferring the personal property of the minor to the foreign guardian and the filing with the county court of the receipt therefor of the foreign guardian of the absent ward did not suspend the power of the local guardian over the residue of the property of the estate of the minor remaining in Oklahoma in any particular. * * *”

Section 6583, C. O. S. 1921, provides:

“In all cases the court making the appointment of a guardian has exclusive jurisdiction to control him in the management and disposition of the person and property of his ward.”

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Bluebook (online)
1929 OK 259, 280 P. 801, 138 Okla. 222, 1929 Okla. LEXIS 526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dudding-v-pitman-okla-1929.