Harbison v. James

90 Mo. 411
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 15, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 90 Mo. 411 (Harbison v. James) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harbison v. James, 90 Mo. 411 (Mo. 1886).

Opinion

Rat, J. —

This case is before us on appeal from the special law and equity court of Jackson county. The material facts of the case, as we gather from the record, will appear in the progress of this opinion. Bartlett M. Hall, a citizen and resident of the state of Kentucky, died in that state somewhere between February, 1869, and September, 1870, leaving his wife and several children surviving him. He had been twice married, but left no children by his last wife. Shortly before his death he made and published his last will and testament, as follows :

“1. I desire all my just debts to be paid.

“2. I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Mary F. Hall, all my property, including real and personal of any and every description whatever, giving her the right to sell and reinvest, as she may desire, any part of the same for her separate use and benefit, and at her death I desire that any portion of my estate remaining undisposed of shall go to my three daughters, Mary Davis, Annie Harbison, and Amelia Wilson.

[418]*418“ 8. I have given to my son, William Hall, and my daughter, Yelinda Nuckels, more than I am able to give the rest of my children, therefore, I give to them nothing more.

“4. I have also given to Mary Davis and Annie Harbison more than I have to my daughter, Amelia Wilson, and after the death of my wife, Mary F. Hall, I wish Amelia Wilson to be made equal; and so with each of the other two, Mary Davis and Annie Harbison, I desire that they should • come in for their proportion equally, after what they have already received be counted to them and taken into consideration ; my object being to let each of these three daughters, Mary, Annie, and Amelia, share alike, and get all my estate remaining after the death of my wife, and after each and all of them has accounted for the portion already received.

“5. I desire that my wife, Mary F. Hall, shall qualify as my executrix.”

The will was duly probated in the proper court in said state, and his wife, who was appointed executrix, qualified as such, and entered upon the discharge of her duties thereunder.

The most valuable part of the testator’s estate consisted of certain real estate in Shelby county, of that state. These lands were sold by the executrix, and after applying the proceeds to the payment of his debts, there remained in her hands somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000, as variously estimated by different witnesses. After considering all the evidence on this point we con elude that it did not exceed the sum of $5,000 or $5,300, so far as this record shows.

The widow, it seems, had no property except such as she derived under her husband’s will, and what she borrowed from her sister, Mrs. Kate C. Anderson, as hereinafter stated.

Some $2,000 of the money so received from the testator’s estate the widow invested in certain promissory [419]*419notes, on one Merriweatlier, of Louisville, Kentucky, secured by mortgage on real estate in that city ; and upon the bankruptcy of said Merriweatlier, and in order to save the investment, she purchased the property at the assignee’s sale in bankruptcy, at the price of $3,000, and received a credit on said notes for the sum of $1,833.26, ■and a deed for the property. In order to enable her to make the purchase, she borrowed of her sister, Mrs. Anderson, eight hundred dollars, and, to secure the same, executed her note and mortgage on the property ■so purchased, and gave her note for the balance of the purchase money. And thus this investment stood at the time of her death, and, so far as this record shows, so remains outstanding, unless it has been recovered by the children and devisees in the testator’s will.- The only ■amount shown by the record to have been realized by Mrs. Hall on this investment is the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, paid her by the assignee in bankruptcy, -on account of interest thereon.

It appears also that some $2,500, or more, of the proceeds of said estate was for a time loaned by the widow to Woolf oik & Company, of Louisville, Kentucky (but at what rate of interest, -or whether any was collected, does not affirmatively appear), and was subsequently brought with her to Kansas City, Missouri, in the fall of 1875, and, together with eleven hundred dollars borrowed from the defendant, Mrs. Anderson, she invested in a loan to the defendant, J. Crawford James, and took from him and his wife a promissory note in the sum of $3,750, bearing date September 29, 1875, due and payable in twelve months at ten per cent, interest, payable semi-annually. This note was also secured by a deed of trust on certain real estate in said Kansas City, where the defendant, James, resides.

On the twenty-third of June, 1879, at Fort Wayne; Indiana, this note was indorsed and sold and transferred by the said Mary F. Hall to the defendant, Kate C; [420]*420.Anderson, by assignment in writing, reciting, among other things, that said sale and transfer was for value received, and that the interest on said note was paid to' March 29, 1879, and that six hundred and fifty dollars of the principal had also been paid, leaving at that date due and unpaid the sum of $3,100, and that the transfer ■of said'note was made for the sole purpose of securing the said Kate C. Anderson for the sum of $2,500, which she, the said Hall, had borrowed from her, the said Anderson.'

This note, and the. fund it represents, thus made and secured, and transferred, is the subject matter of this suit.

One month after the assignment of said note, the said Mary F. Hall departed this life, intestate, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, leaving as her only heirs at law, her brother and sister, J. W. Crawford and the defendant, Kate C. Anderson, and also leaving debts to various parties due and unpaid, including expenses of last sickness, funeral expenses, etc., to the amount of $290.55, which, the record shows, were afterwards paid by the defendant, Kate C. Anderson.

In September afterwards, the plaintiff, Harbison, was appointed administrator de bonis non, with the will annexed, of the estate of said Bartlett M.'Hall, deceased, by the probate court of Jackson county, Missouri, and thereupon commenced this suit against the said J. Crawford James, Kate C- Anderson, and her husband, Samuel Anderson, for the recovery of said promissory note, and the fund represented thereby, claiming, in his petition, ■that the same belonged to the estate of said B. M. Hall, for whose interest, and the interest of said legatees, Mary Davis, Annie Harbison, and Amelia Wilson, this suit was brought, and also claiming that by the terms of said will the testator’s wife, Mary F. Hall, had only the right and power to sell and reinvest said estate, or any part thereof, for the benefit of said estate, and the [421]*421legatees named, without the power of absolute disposal of the same; and that she only had the right to the interest or usufruct arising from said estate during her life, for her personal support and maintenance, and that, at her death, all of said estate remaining and undisposed of, was to go to and be divided, according to the terms of the will, among the daughters of the testator above named.

The petition also charges that said Mary F.

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90 Mo. 411, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harbison-v-james-mo-1886.