Goldstein v. Susholtz

105 S.W. 219, 46 Tex. Civ. App. 582, 1907 Tex. App. LEXIS 157
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 1, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 105 S.W. 219 (Goldstein v. Susholtz) 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
Goldstein v. Susholtz, 105 S.W. 219, 46 Tex. Civ. App. 582, 1907 Tex. App. LEXIS 157 (Tex. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

REESE, Associate Justice.

In September, 1899, L. Unger and S. Goldstein formed a partnership for the purpose of carrying on a mercantile business at Cold Springs, Texas. In 1900, they moved the business to Raywood in Liberty County, where it was conducted until September 28, 1904, when L. Unger died. The business was conducted under the name of S. Goldstein by Unger, who seems to have had charge of the store. On October 30, 1904, Esther Unger, widow of L. Unger, made application for appointment as temporary administratrix of the estate of L. Unger, deceased, and for an order to sell his interest in the stock of goods. Both applications were granted by the same order. Mrs. Unger sold the interest of L. Unger in the goods on November 1 to S. Goldstein for $1,425. The sale was reported to the Probate Court and an application made for appointment as permanent administratrix. Against the protest and objection of Mrs. Susholtz, daughter and sole heir at law, with the exception of the widow, of L. Unger, the sale was approved and Mrs. Unger appointed permanent administratrix, from which orders Mrs. Susholtz appealed to the District Court.

Mrs. Susholtz, joined by her husband, also instituted a suit in the District Court against Mrs. Unger and S. Goldstein for damages for the conversion by them of the said stock of goods, or the interest of her father, the said L. Unger, in said partnership, alleging that the administration was unnecessary and that the proceedings of the administration was in pursuance of a fraudulent scheme between Mrs. Unger and Goldstein to appropriate the property in fraud of her rights as the owner as heir of L. Unger, of one-half interest therein, and that the said sale was unauthorized, fraudulent and void. To this suit the defendants answered by general demurrer and general denial.

In the District Court the appeals from the Probate Court were by agreement consolidated with the suit for conversion, in which plaintiffs dismissed as to Mrs. Unger, and upon trial the application for appointment as permanent administratrix of Mrs. Unger was refused. Approval of the sale to Goldstein was also refused, the court holding that there was no necessity for administration, either temporary or permanent, and that the sale was unauthorized. Judgment was rendered for Mrs. Susholtz against Goldstein for one-half of the value of Unger’s interest in the stock of goods, after taking out the amount of an indebtedness of the community estate to Mrs. Unger of $563. From the judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

The following conclusions of fact are adopted from the findings of fact of the trial court: .

1. Unger died in Liberty County, Texas, on September 28, 1904. He died intestate, and left as the only property of his estate $300 in *586 cash on deposit in the bank, and a partnership interest in a stock of goods and mercantile business situated at Raywood, Texas, and conducted under the firm name of S. Goldstein; said L. Unger being a silent partner in said business.

2. Said money and the partnership interest of the said L. Unger in the business aforesaid was community property between himself and his wife, Esther Unger, and that he left surviving him as his sole heirs at law his widow, Esther Unger, and his daughter, Rosa Susholtz.

3. After the death of said L. Unger, the defendant, S. Goldstein, continued in charge of the partnership business, and was proceeding to wind up said business in his capacity as surviving partner, and that Esther Unger also continued in the possession of said stock of goods jointly with the said Goldstein until the 31st day of October, 1904, at which time application was made to the Probate Court of Liberty County by Esther Unger to be appointed temporary administratrix of the estate of L. Unger, deceased, and in the application for appointment she also prayed that she be authorized to sell the property of said estate.

4. Under the application hereinbefore referred to, the -Probate Court of Liberty County appointed the said Esther Unger temporary administratrix of the estate of L. Unger, and as a part of the order making said appointment, the temporary administratrix so appointed was authorized to sell the property of the estate at public or private sale.

5. On Rovember 1, 1904, Esther Unger, as temporary administratrix of the estate of L. Unger, deceased, sold all of the property of said estate, which consisted of the interest of the said estate in said stock of goods and mercantile business, to S. Goldstein, for the sum of $1,436, which sum was paid by the said Goldstein to the said Esther Unger, and thereafter the said Goldstein has treated and regarded said stock of goods and mercantile business as his own, and has sold and disposed of a portion of said stock, and has mixed and mingled the same with other goods of his own of like character which he subsequently placed in said store building, so that it is impossible now to obtain a correct accounting of the amount of goods as sold by him, or the amounts of money received by him therefor, or the goods belonging to said business which is still on hand.

6. The sale of the property of the estate of L. Unger, deceased, was made without the knowledge or consent of the plaintiff, Rosa Susholtz, or her husband, but the same was acquiesced in and agreed to by Esther Unger individually.

7. The community estate of L. Unger and his wife, Esther Unger, was indebted to Mrs. Esther Unger in the sum of $563 for advancements made by the said Esther Unger out of her separate estate to said community estate. L. Unger was not indebted to S. Goldstein for any- rent individually, but the claim of S. Goldstein for rent was a claim against the partnership, and constituted a part of the expenses of the firm.

8. After the death of L. Unger, Mrs. Esther Unger collected from the Houston Rational Bank the sum of $300 in money, which *587 was likewise the community property of the estate of L. Unger, deceased, and out of such community property she paid the sum of $63.50 for funeral expenses of the deceased, L. Unger.

9. The interest of the estate of L. Unger in the stock of goods and mercantile business at Baywood was of the reasonable value of $2,737.09 on the 1st day of November, 1904, when the same was taken in charge by the said S. Goldstein under his claim of ownership.

10. No necessity existed for the appointment of a temporary administratrix of the estate of L. Unger when such appointment was made on October 31, 1904, and there were no circumstances existing at the time which authorized the sale of the property of said estate.

11. There existed on January 7, 1905, no debts against the estate of L. Unger, deceased, except the claim in favor of Mrs. Esther Unger hereinbefore referred to, and the claim in favor of S. Goldstein against the partnership composed of Goldstein and Unger.

The $563 which the court finds to be an "advancement made by Esther Unger out of her separate estate to the community estate,” represented a sum of that amount which Mrs. Unger, then residing with her husband in the State of New York, owned in her own right, and it was used for the purchase of a stock of goods in New York before the parties came to Texas.

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Bluebook (online)
105 S.W. 219, 46 Tex. Civ. App. 582, 1907 Tex. App. LEXIS 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goldstein-v-susholtz-texapp-1907.