Hellman Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Looney

197 S.W. 144, 271 Mo. 545, 1917 Mo. LEXIS 104
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 16, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 197 S.W. 144 (Hellman Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Looney) 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
Hellman Commercial Trust & Savings Bank v. Looney, 197 S.W. 144, 271 Mo. 545, 1917 Mo. LEXIS 104 (Mo. 1917).

Opinion

ROY, C.

This is a proceeding to quiet title to two hundred acres of land in Polk County, under section 2535, Revised Statutes 1909.

Benjamin Looney died in January, 1875, seized of 258 acres of land in that county of which the land in controversy is a part. He, at the time of his death, was living upon the land in controversy with his family, which consisted of his wife, Mary M., and three sons by said wife, to-wit, Benjamin L., Jesse E., and William S., all of whom are still living, the defendants herein being the only living children of those three children of the deceased. All of the defendants are minors, appearing by their guardian ad litem.

The deceased and his wife each had three children by former marriages. He left a will the material parts of which are as follows:

“(3rd.) I will and bequeath to my beloved wife, Mary Malica Looney, two work horses, my two-horse wagon and harness, four milch cows and calves, twenty head of hogs and all my sheep, all my household and kitchen furniture and a sufficiency of all the provisions that may be on hand at the time of my death for her and her children that may at that time reside with her as members of the family, for one year’s support, and I further will that my said wife have and be allowed three hundred dollars in hard money out of what hard money may be on hand at my death, and I will that the above described and mentioned articles be allowed to my wife, Mary Malica Looney, absolutely, they and the property and interest hereinafter willed and devised to her to be in lieu of all her dower interest in my estate, both real and personal.
“(4th.) I will that all my real estate situated in the county of Polk, in the State of Missouri, known and described as the home place on which I now reside, remain in the possession and control of my wife, Mary Malica Looney, as long as she remains my widow, for the [549]*549use and support and maintenance of herself and Benjamin Leonidas Looney, Jesse Edward Looney and William Stanford Looney, my youngest sons. And in the event of the death or marriage of my said wife, then and in that event, all of said before mentioned real estate shall descend and absolutely belong to my said sons, Benjamin Leonidas Looney, Jesse Edward Looney and William Stanford Looney, and the heirs of their bodies, share and share alike, and in case of the death of either of them, without heirs of his body, then and in that event the said named real estate shall descend and rest absolutely in the survivors of them, and in case of the death of all three of them without bodily heirs, then and in that case, all of said lands shall be equally divided between my other children, as follows: To Alzira Ruyle one-third part of said real estate, to Matilda Mitchell one-third part of said real estate, to the heirs of Mary Ruyle, deceased, equal shares of one-third part of said real estate, and in the event that said real estate cannot be divided between them in accordance with this my last will, then the same shall be sold to the best advantage by my executor and the proceeds divided as before stated. ”

The testimony tends to show that three subscribing witnesses to that will appeared before the judge and ex-officio clerk of the probate court in vacation and. proved, the execution of the will, and that their evidence in making such proof was put in writing and subscribed by them before such officer and certified by him and that such proof had subsequently been lost. Attached to said will was the following writing:

“In the Polk County Probate Court.
“Be It Remembered, That, on the 30th day of January, A. D. 1875, personally appeared before me, Judge of Probate for the County and State aforesaid, James P. Slagle, James Utley and Joseph Davis, the subscribing witnesses to the within will of Benjamin Looney, deceased, and being by me first duly sworn, depose and say that the’ said Benjamin Looney, the testator, subscribed the same in their presence, and published said [550]*550will or instrument of writing as his last will. That he, the said testator, was at the time of publishing his said will, of sound mind, and that they, said deponents, attested said will as witnesses thereto by subscribing their names to the same in the presence of each other and of said testator.”

That will was duly recorded at the time in the “Register of Wills” in the probate court, but was never recorded in the office, of the recorder of deeds.

At the trial no formal entry of a judgment of the probate court admitting the will to probate was put in evidence. Judge Recho.w of the probate court testified that he helped counsel for defendants search the records of said estate in that court, and, during his cross-examination, the following occurred:

“Q. Now, did you find any order of record admitting this will to probate? A. No, sir, I don’t think I did.
“Q. Do yon know whether you did or not? A. Yes, sir, I don’t think it was ever found.”

But the records of the court were not put in evidence to show that they contained no such entry.

The letters testamentary contained this recital:

. “Know Ye, That the last will of Benjamin Looney, deceased, hath in due. form of law been exhibited, proved .and recorded, a copy of which is hereunto annexed; and inasmuch as it appears that Reuben C. Gilmore has been appointed executor in and by said last will to execute the same,” etc.

The executor made his settlements as such in the court, and, so far as the evidence shows, the whole administration was conducted by the executor and by the court as though there had been a formal judgment of probate of the will. The distributions were made on that basis, and the widow receipted to the executor for the personal property devised to her.

The widow, for several years after her husband’s death, lived on the land in controversy, with the three children of her last marriage, then moved elsewhere, dying in the West about ten years before the trial; but [551]*551during all her life after Looney’s death she was in receipt of the rents of all the lands of the estate. In 1895 said Benjamin L. and Jesse E. Looney conveyed the land in controversy to their brother William S., under whom the plaintiff claims through intermediate conveyances.

At the trial plaintiff’s counsel produced an abstract of title to the land in controversy, showing thereon an abstract of said will as being of record in the probate court of that county. That abstract was certified as having been originally made a few days before the conveyance of the land in 1895 by two of the Looney brothers to the other. Mr. Sea, of counsel for the plaintiff, testified that he got the abstract from lawyers in California who represented this plaintiff, but he made no explanation as to when the plaintiff or those under whom, it claims first came into possession of the abstract. The children of Mrs. Looney by a former marriage conveyed any interest they may have had in the land to the plaintiff.

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Related

Ragan v. Looney
377 S.W.2d 273 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1964)
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189 S.W.2d 306 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1945)
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46 S.W.2d 516 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1932)
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252 S.W. 437 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 S.W. 144, 271 Mo. 545, 1917 Mo. LEXIS 104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hellman-commercial-trust-savings-bank-v-looney-mo-1917.