Hay v. Yokell

32 P.2d 578, 147 Or. 148, 1934 Ore. LEXIS 108
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 13, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 32 P.2d 578 (Hay v. Yokell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hay v. Yokell, 32 P.2d 578, 147 Or. 148, 1934 Ore. LEXIS 108 (Or. 1934).

Opinion

BAILEY, J.

This proceeding was instituted by Ida Delphine Hay as plaintiff against Frank Allen Yokell, Frank Allen Yokell as.executor of the estate of Jennie B. Yokell, deceased, Ruth Hay, Lindell Hay and Barbara Hay as defendants, to procure a construction of the joint and mutual will and codicil of George Yokell and Jennie B. Yokell, his wife, both deceased. Frank Allen Yokell is the brother of Ida Delphine Hay, and the other individual defendants are her children.

*149 On March 5,1912, George Yokell and Jennie B. Yokell, his wife, executed a joint and mutual will wherein each of them devised and bequeathed to the survivor all property, “both real and personal, of whatsoever kind and wheresoever situated, of which we may die possessed, for the use and benefit of the survivor of either of us during his or her life; subject to said life estate in the survivor of either of us to our beloved children, Frank Allen Yokell and Ida Delphine Yokell, in equal shares, share and share alike”.

Ten years later the testators executed a codicil in the following language:

“We, the undersigned, make this edition to our will: Ida Delphine, now Ida Delphine Hay, her share of the estate is to be held in trust for her & children by Frank Allen Yokell, to be given to them as he thinks they need it to be used for them only said Frank Allen Yokell to act as guardian and administrator without bonds.”

George Yokell died on September 10, 1928, and Jennie B. Yokell died June 12, 1929.

After this proceeding was started, upon the petition of the plaintiff, the attorney for the defendant Frank Allen Yokell, individually and as executor of the estate of Jennie B. Yokell, deceased, was appointed guardian ad litem for the three minor children of the plaintiff, who were made defendants in this proceeding. It was the contention of the plaintiff that the codicil was so indefinite and uncertain that it could not be enforced and that therefore she was entitled under the provisions of the will to a one-half interest in the estate of her late mother. The minors claimed that according to the codicil they were entitled to one-half of the share of the estate which by the terms of the will, *150 had not the codicil been executed, would have become the property of their mother, free and clear of any trust in their uncle, Frank Allen Yokell.

The case was tried by the court on the pleadings, with resulting judgment and decree entered to the effect that by the terms of the codicil Frank Allen Yokell was the owner of an undivided one-half interest in his mother’s estate and held the other half as trustee for his sister, and that the children of the latter had no interest therein. From this judgment and decree the plaintiff on May 26, 1933, served and filed her notice of appeal.

Thereafter, on July 8, 1933, August 7, September 7, October 6 and November 7 of the same year, the attorneys for the parties caused to be filed stipulations providing “that the time for filing the transcript on appeal in the above entitled matter may be extended to and including” the dates specified respectively in the several stipulations. No order, however, except as hereinafter mentioned, was entered concerning those stipulations. On November 21,1933, a motion was filed by attorneys for the respective parties requesting the court “for orders nunc pro tunc approving the stipulations heretofore entered into between the parties hereto”, referring to the dates of the several stipulations, and further stating that the motion was based on the joint affidavit of the said attorneys. The affidavit set forth that the assets of the estate involved consisted solely of real property; that notice of appeal had been given on a certain date; “that none of the heirs under the will have had necessary funds with which to finance such an appeal; and that ever since the entry of the judgment herein the parties hereto have been endeavoring to raise funds to finance the appeal through mortgaging some of the real property *151 of the estate, which efforts finally were successful on November 15, 1933”. The affidavit further stated that “due to the delay in procuring such funds, it was necessary from time to time to file stipulations providing for further time in which to file the transcript”; and that “orders should have been made as a matter of course expressing the court’s approval of such stipulations for further time, but were not presented to the judge for his signature”.

Based on said motion and affidavit, the court on November 21, 1933, entered an order which stated, among other things, that “it appearing to the court that such orders should have been made as a matter of course and as a legal duty, * * * now, therefore, it is ordered that this court approves the stipulations for extensions of time”, mentioning the dates of the stipulations, “providing for further time within which to file with the supreme court of this state the transcript of appeal pursuant to notice of appeal entered on the 27th day of May, 1933, as of the dates of said stipulations, to-wit:” here setting forth said dates.

The order entered on November 21, 1933, expresses only the approval by the court of the stipulations of the parties for extension of time for filing the transcript with the clerk of this court. It does not purport to take the place, and be entered as, of the various dates when the several stipulations were filed. In fact, it is difficult to see how such order could in its entirety have been entered nunc pro tunc as of those different dates. The circuit court did not, on November 21, 1933, or at any other time, attempt to make a separate order for each of the numerous extensions of time and have such orders entered as of and within the time allowed by law for filing the transcript.

*152 There is, however, a more serious objection to the effectiveness of the order of November 21, 1933. The trial court was never requested until the date of the last mentioned order to “approve” the stipulations, previously filed, consenting to an extension of time in which to file the transcript, nor had the court, at any time prior thereto, been asked for orders for such extensions. All that had previously been done was the filing of the stipulations.

■ Section 7-507, Oregon Code 1930, requires that within thirty days after the appeal has been perfected the appellant shall file the transcript with the clerk of the supreme court, and that unless the same is filed within said time the appeal shall be deemed abandoned “and the effect thereof terminated”. The trial court or the supreme court, however, “may, upon such terms as may be just, by order enlarge the time for filing the same, but such order shall be made within the time allowed to file transcripts”.

This court, in Kelly v. Pike, 17 Or. 330 (20 P. 685), after calling attention to the provision of the above statute authorizing the court to extend, by order, the time within which to file the transcript, and pointing out that the statute requires such order to be made “within the time allowed to file the transcript”, said:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 P.2d 578, 147 Or. 148, 1934 Ore. LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hay-v-yokell-or-1934.