Edwards v. Twine

1950 OK 306, 225 P.2d 359, 203 Okla. 646, 1950 Okla. LEXIS 538
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 12, 1950
DocketNo. 33624
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1950 OK 306 (Edwards v. Twine) 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
Edwards v. Twine, 1950 OK 306, 225 P.2d 359, 203 Okla. 646, 1950 Okla. LEXIS 538 (Okla. 1950).

Opinion

ARNOLD, V.C.J.

This appeal is a sequel to the appeal in cause No. 31643 on the docket of this court, decided January 22, 1946 (Twine, Adm’r, v. Edwards et al., 196 Okla. 382, 165 P. 2d 143). That appeal was from an order and judgment of the district court of Muskogee county sustaining the special appearance and challenge to the jurisdiction of their persons by the defendants. This court reversed that judgment, holding that the district court of Muskogee county had jurisdiction of the persons of the defendants and vacated the judgment dismissing plaintiff’s cause of action.

Thereafter the defendants, D. G. Hart, H. H. Edwards, and U. S. Fidelity & Guaranty Company, as surety, filed separate answers to plaintiff’s petition in which it was alleged that H. H. Edwards and D. G. Hart, respectively, were successive guardians of Bolie Vaughn, an incompetent veteran of World War I; that their appointments were lawfully made by the county court of Seminole county and that their accounts and final reports were approved by that court and that therefore the district court of Muskogee county was without jurisdiction of the subject matter of an accounting sought by the administrator of the estate of Bolie Vaughn, deceased.

Plaintiff replied separately to each of these separate answers denying generally the allegations of each and affirmatively alleged that the proceedings in the guardianship of Bolie Vaughn, an incompetent, in the county court of Seminole county, were invalid for want of jurisdiction in that court, there having been a prior appointment of a guardian for the incompetent in Tulsa county which guardianship was never transferred to Seminole county.

[647]*647Upon a trial of the issues thus presented the district court of Muskogee county approved the report of D. G. Hart but surcharged the account of H. H. Edwards in the sum of $1,500. From this judgment, Edwards and his surety, United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, a corporation, appealed.

On May 5, 1924, Bolie Vaughn, a veteran of World War I, was adjudged by the county court of Tulsa county to be an incompetent, and his sister, Maudie Langster, was appointed guardian of his person and estate. By virtue of his war service Bolie Vaughn was entitled to certain benefits from the Veterans Administration which amounted to the sum of $100 per month and these benefits were paid by the Veterans Administration until the death of Bolie Vaughn in Muskogee county on November 9, 1941.

On August 24, 1927, Jim Vaughn filed a petition in the county court of Seminole county asking to have Bolie Vaughn adjudged an incompetent and himself appointed as guardian, which was done. Thereafter the pendency of the guardianship proceedings in Tulsa county was discovered and the appointment of Jim Vaughn as guardian in Seminole county was vacated. On September 2, 1927, Jim Vaughn, joined by his mother, Jennie Vaughn, filed a petition in the county court of Tulsa county in which it was alleged in substance that Bolie Vaughn was a resident of Seminole county and that it would be to his interest to have his guardianship conducted in that county and asking that Maudie Langster be discharged as guardian by the county court of Tulsa county. No request was contained in this petition for a transfer of the guardianship' proceedings from Tulsa county to Seminole county, but on October 14, 1927, the county court of Tulsa county entered an order discharging Maudie Langster as guardian of Bolie Vaughn and in said order used this language:

“The court further finds that proper and sufficient notice for the hearing for final report has not been given and that the hearing of said final report should be continued until the 14 day of November, 1927, and that said guardian be required to give the notice provided for by law and as heretofore ordered by this court.”

The court then ordered the hearing and final report continued until November 14, 1927. On October 15, 1927, Jim Vaughn petitioned the county court of Seminole county for appointment as guardian of the incompetent, and on the 20th day of October, 1927, the county court of Seminole county adjudged Bolie Vaughn to be an incompetent and appointed Jim Vaughn as guardian. He failed to qualify because the Veterans Administration refused to approve the bond which he tendered and thereupon Jim Vaughn was removed and on November 7, 1927, H. H. Edwards was appointed as guardian successor. Upon filing his bond and taking the oath of office letters of guardianship were issued to H. H. Edwards and he continued in that capacity until 1939 when he resigned and D. G. Hart was appointed to succeed him. Upon the filing of the final account of H. H. Edwards the Veterans Administration filed objections to the report but after the hearing said objections were overruled except as to one small item and the guardian’s report was approved and an order of discharge entered.

Later Bolie Vaughn removed to Muskogee county and in October, 1940, the guardianship proceeding pending in Seminole county was transferred to Muskogee county, and in 1941 the guardianship proceeding originally begun in Tulsa county was likewise transferred to Muskogee county and Thomas Wright was appointed guardian there.

This presents a brief summary of the facts disclosed by the record in this [648]*648case and on which the judgment of the district court was based. For reversal defendants present their argument under four propositions thus stated in the brief:

“1. The order of the County Court of Tulsa County entered on October. 14, 1927, taken in conjunction with the petition before the court and the proceedings in the County Court of Seminole County, brought to the attention of the County Court of Tulsa County, constitutes a defective order of transfer.
“2. Irregularities in the transfer of a cause from a court of competent jurisdiction to a court of competent jurisdiction may be waived, and if waived, orders made by the court to which the cause was transferred are valid.
“3. By recognizing the jurisdiction of the County Court of Seminole County and actively invoking the jurisdiction of that court on behalf of Bolie Vaughn, the Administrator of Veterans Affairs, for Bolie Vaughn, waived any objections to the method by which the County Court of Seminole County acquired jurisdiction.
“4. The order of the County Court of Seminole County settling the accounts of H. H. Edwards as guardian upon the presentation of H. H. Edwards’s final account and exceptions thereto on behalf of Bolie Vaughn, unappealed from, is final and conclusive and the District Court of Muskogee County is without jurisdiction to require an accounting from H. H. Edwards.”

In support of their first proposition for reversal of the judgment defendants make several contentions which are summarized in the first paragraph of their argument in this language:

“Although the County Court of Tulsa County originally had jurisdiction and never properly divested itself of jurisdiction, yet all the requirements and all the findings necessary for the transfer of the guardianship to Seminole County appear in the proceedings of the County Court of Tulsa County. All that was lacking was a proper order of transfer.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1950 OK 306, 225 P.2d 359, 203 Okla. 646, 1950 Okla. LEXIS 538, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edwards-v-twine-okla-1950.