Estabrook v. Wise

506 S.W.2d 248, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2125
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 14, 1974
Docket750
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 506 S.W.2d 248 (Estabrook v. Wise) 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
Estabrook v. Wise, 506 S.W.2d 248, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2125 (Tex. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinions

McKAY, Justice.

Appellant (plaintiff below) brought suit against appellee alleging that there were certain mineral interests in the States of Alabama and Florida which were acquired during their marriage, but such mineral properties were not known to her nor disclosed by defendant in his inventory and, therefore, were not divided by the court or the parties in their 1965 divorce judgment and property settlement. Plaintiff prayed for the court to exercise its equitable in personam jurisdiction over defendant to require him to execute such deed and conveyances as necessary to vest title in her to her one-half interest in the property in question. The trial court sustained defendant’s plea to the jurisdiction over the subject matter and dismissed plaintiff’s petition and cause of action. The sole question on this appeal is whether the trial court had jurisdiction to grant the relief prayed for by appellant. We hold that it did and accordingly reverse and remand.

Appellant and appellee were married in 1930. They were divorced May 25, 1965, by a decree of the Court of Domestic Relations, Smith County, Texas, and both parties resided in Tyler, Texas, at that time. A sworn detailed inventory, which appellee represented to be a complete inventory of all property in his possession or under his control, whether community or separate, was filed in the divorce case. The Alabama and Florida mineral interests were not listed in the inventory. Appellant alleges she learned of the existence of the Alabama and Florida mineral interests by persons contacting her in March, 1972, seeking to purchase oil and gas leases for development. The interests were acquired by appellee in 1944 and 1945, and appellant and appellee were husband and wife at'that time.

Appellant’s one point complains that the trial court erred in dismissing her petition and cause of action without prejudice for want of jurisdiction over the subject matter. Appellant concedes at the outset that Texas courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction over the determination of title to lands in other states; but plaintiff seeks a finding by the trial court that such property was, in fact, community property and a judgment in personam, ordering defendant to convey to her her rightful interest in the properties which are outside the State of Texas. Appellee contends the district court was without power and jurisdiction to determine title to lands in foreign jurisdictions, which issue is, he maintains, the real issue in the case.

The divorce decree of 1965 was binding only on such property as was brought before it for adjudication or for approval of a property settlement agreement, and if property was omitted from such consideration, subsequent litigation to adjudicate the property rights of the parties would be permitted. 3 Speer’s Marital Rights in Texas, sec. 889.

It is a generally recognized rule that real property is exclusively subject to the laws of the country or state where it is situated, and that all matters concerning the title and disposition of real property are determined by the law of the situs of the property. 16 Am.Jur.2d, Conflict of Laws, sec. 14, p. 29; 15 Tex.Jur.2d, Courts, sec. 61, p. 490.

In an early case our Supreme Court in Moseby v. Burrow, 52 Tex. 396 (1880), wrote in a receivership case:

“It is also a well-established general rule, founded upon reasons of public pol[250]*250icy, that the courts of one State or country cannot make a decree ordering the conveyance of land situated in another, which will be recognized as valid binding by the courts of that other.”

A few years later the same court held in Morris v. Hand, 70 Tex. 481, 8 S.W. 210 (1888):

“ * * * But it is settled without conflict of authority that courts of one state or country have no authority under any circumstances to divest the title to real estate situated in a foreign state or country, or to direct the sale of such land to be made by any one occupying a fiduciary capacity; the extent of the power in such cases being to decree that the person invested with the title make conveyance of it, which may be enforced by personal process against the owner. But the decree is not effectual unless the owner of the land in person executes a conveyance to it." (Emphasis added.)

Two years later the Supreme Court in Fryer v. Meyers, 13 S.W. 1025 (Tex.Sup.1890) quoted with approval the above quote from Morris v. Hand, supra, and cited Moseby v. Burrow, supra, as authority.

In 1894, the court in Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Gay, 86 Tex. 571, 26 S.W. 599 (Tex.Sup.) cited Moseby v. Burrow, supra, and quoted with approval from Morris v. Hand, supra. In its opinion in Gay, the court said at page 605:

“Where the subject-matter is situated within another state or country, but the parties are within the jurisdiction of the court, any suit may be maintained, and remedy granted, which directly affect and operate upon the person of the defendant, and not upon the subject-matter, although the subject-matter is referred to in the decree, and the defendant is ordered to do or to refrain from certain acts toward it, and it is thus ultimately, but indirectly, affected by the relief granted. * * * On the other hand, when the suit is strictly local, the subject-matter is specific property, and the relief, when granted, is such that it must act directly upon the subject-matter, and not upon the persons of the defendant, the jurisdiction must be exercised in the state where the subject-matter is situated.”

In Holt v. Guerguin, 106 Tex. 185, 163 S.W. 10 (Tex.Sup.1914) the court held that a Texas court did not have the power to annul a deed or to partition land situated in Mexico, and quoted from Carpenter v. Strange, 141 U.S. 87, 11 S.Ct. 960, 35 L.Ed. 640 as follows:

“ ‘The real estate was situated in Tennessee and governed by the law of its si-tus, and, while by means of its power over the person of a party a court of equity may in a proper case compel him to act in relation to property not within its jurisdiction, its decree does not operate directly upon the property nor affect the title, but is made effectual through the coercion of the defendant, as, for instance, by directing a deed to be executed or canceled by or on behalf of the party.’ ”

In Fain v. Fain, 6 S.W.2d 403 (Tex.Civ.App. — Galveston, 1928, writ dism’d) the court quoted with approval on page 407 our quote, supra, from Texas & Pacific Rwy Co. v. Gay.

In Hall v. Jones, 54 S.W.2d 835 (Tex.Civ.App. — San Antonio 1932, no writ) is found this language:

“It is elemental that the courts of one state have no authority or jurisdiction to determine a naked question of title to real property situated in another state, or to divest or invest the title.
“But it seems to be equally well settled that the courts of one state may exercise' jurisdiction, when affirmatively invoked or acquiesced in, to determine the validity or effect of a deed of conveyance of real property situated in another state so as to bind the parties to such decree, which operating directly upon them per[251]*251sonally, prohibits them from disputing it in another state.”

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Estabrook v. Wise
506 S.W.2d 248 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
506 S.W.2d 248, 1974 Tex. App. LEXIS 2125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estabrook-v-wise-texapp-1974.