Hicks v. Wadsworth

196 S.E. 251, 57 Ga. App. 529, 1938 Ga. App. LEXIS 330
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 17, 1938
Docket26645
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 196 S.E. 251 (Hicks v. Wadsworth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hicks v. Wadsworth, 196 S.E. 251, 57 Ga. App. 529, 1938 Ga. App. LEXIS 330 (Ga. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

Broyles, C. J.

Henry Grady Wadsworth sued W. A. Hicks and John N. Hicks, as executors of the will of W. M. Hicks, for $1353.73, alleged to be due plaintiff under a provision of the will of his mother, Mrs. M. T. Hicks, whereby she bequeathed to her husband, W. M. Hicks “all of her personal property of every character” during his natural life, and directed that at his death “all of the said property which had not been destroyed by the use thereof should vest in and become the property of petitioner for and during his life.” The petition further alleged that Mrs. M. T. Hicks “left as a part of her personal estate money in the amount of $1353.73;” that W. M. Hicks and A. J. Camp Sr. qualified as executors of the' will of Mrs. M. T. Hicks, and W. M. Hicks as such executor “came into1 possession of said $1353.73,” and as legatee under said will “assumed control over . . said sum;” that it was the duty of W. M. Hicks, both as executor of the will of petitioner’s mother and as owner, of a life estate in said sum, “to preserve and protect the said money and cause the same to be paid over to petitioner at the time of . . W. M. Hicks’s death;” and that “said sum of $1353.73 is due and owing to petitioner from the estate of . . W. M. Hicks,” and payment of the same was refused, though plaintiff made demand therefor on the defendants as executors of the will of W. M. Hicks. The defendants pleaded in substance that they were informed and believed that Mrs. M. T. Hicks died leaving about $1300 on deposit in the Merchants National Bank of Rockmart; that said bank failed and was liquidated; that prior to such failure W. M. Hicks did not check out any of said money, but that defendants understand that he did receive from the liquidating agent of the bank dividends on Mrs. M. T. Hicks’s account amounting to about $750; [530]*530that “other dividends were paid out, but . . petitioner received same;” that under the will of Mrs. M. T. Hicks, W. M. Hicks “had the right to use the property and moneys” belonging to her estate “for his own use, and was not accountable for any part of same that was not destroyed by its use;” that W. M. Hicks expended in paying “the debts and obligations of Mrs. M. T. Hicks” designated sums, including $400 “to Mrs. Effie Eatteree under judgment,” and $50 “to E. S. Ault for counsel fees in Eatteree suit;” that defendants “have no property in their possession belonging to the estate of Mrs. M. T. Hicks or to petitioner . ., and that, so far as they know, W. M. Hicks, at his death, had” no such property, “ except that [which] has already been delivered . . to petitioner;” that plaintiff “filed with defendants certain demands for the delivery or payment of certain property belonging to the estate of Mrs. M. T. Hicks, and all of same was delivered to him as . . directed in the will of Mrs. M. T. Hicks;” that though plaintiff, had notice of the death of W. M. Hicks, the probation of his will, and the appointment of defendants as his executors, he never “ demanded the payment . . by defendants of the money herein sued for” or “filed any claim with defendants . . showing that the estate of W. M. Hicks was indebted to him in any sum whatsoever;” that neither at the time of filing this suit, nor since, have “the defendants had in their hands or possession any property or moneys belonging to the estate of W. M. Hicks;” that W. M. Hicks died on October 29, 1934, and defendants qualified as his executors on December 3, 1934; that on December 18, 1935, “defendants paid off and settled with the heirs of W. M. Hicks’s estate;” and “that before the filing of this suit defendants had fully administered the estate of W. M. Hicks, to wit, on December 18, 1935.”

At the conclusion of the evidence the court directed a verdict against the defendants, as executors of the will of W. M. Hicks, for $597.53 and costs, and a judgment was entered accordingly. The defendants’ exception is to the judgment overruling their motion for new trial containing the general and four special grounds. In the amendment to the motion for new trial error is assigned (1) on the refusal of the court to admit in evidence the petition, verdict, and judgment in an action brought by Mrs. Effie Eatteree against W. M. Hicks and A. J. Camp, as executors of [531]*531the will of Mrs. M. T. Hicks; (2) on the refusal of the court to admit in evidence a receipt for $50 paid by W. M. Hicks to Mr. E. S. Ault for legal services rendered in the Eatteree case; (3) on the direction of the verdict against the defendants; and (4) on the failure of the court to deduct from the directed verdict-$400 paid by W. M. Hicks in settlement of the judgment in the Eatteree case, together with the $50 paid Mr. Ault for legal services in that case. Since the questions. presented by the several assignments of error may be better understood by a consideration of the facts in the case, we shall give a resume of those facts as they appear from the agreed statement of facts and the brief of evidence. The substance of the agreed statement of facts is as follows: Mrs. M. T. Hicks died on June 27, 1927. In item 3 of -her will she “bequeathed to her husband, W. M. Hicks, for and during his life . . all of her personal property of every character whatsoever, and provided that” at his death “all of said property which had not been destroyed by its use should vest in and become the property of the plaintiff, Henry Wadsworth, in fee simple for and during his life, and at his death said property to become the property of plaintiff’s bodily heirs, and subject to division when the youngest child of plaintiff shall become 21 years old.” W. M. Hicks and A. J. Camp qualified as executors of the will of Mrs. M. T. Hicks, and “W. M. Hicks had the right to the use and the benefit of all of said property under his life-estate therein until his death, which occurred on the 26th day of October, 1934, in Polk County, Georgia.” At the time of her death Mrs. M. T. Hicks had on deposit in the Farmers & Merchants National Bank, at Eockmart, Georgia, $1147 in a savings account, and $32 in a checking account; and all of said money remained on deposit in said bank in Mrs. M. T. Hicks’s name from the time of her death until the bank failed and was taken over for liquidation by the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States in the latter part of 1931. On dates ranging from August 7, 1931, to December 26, 1933, inclusive, the Comptroller of the Currency “issued checks as dividends on said account payable to W. M. Hicks and A. J. Camp, as executors of M. T. Hicks’s estate,” said checks aggregating $803.17. These checks were cashed by said executors. “And . . the Comptroller of Currency . . issued cheeks, as dividends on the said account, payable to plaintiff, [532]*532Henry Grady Wadsworth, heir as aforesaid of the estate of Mrs. M. T. Hicks, deceased, which were cashed by plaintiff.” Said checks were two in number, each dated April 1, 1935, and aggregating $213.95. When said bank closed for liquidation the said savings account in the name of Mrs. M. T. Hicks amounted to $1352.78, and the checking account of $32 remained the same. '“The difference in the amount of the savings account, at the death of Mrs. M. T. Hicks and at the time said bank closed for liquidation, was the accrued interest, paid by said bank, on savings account.”

The plaintiff testified in substance that Mrs. M. T. Hicks was his mother, that W. M. Hicks was his stepfather, and that the defendants were sons of W. M. Hicks; that on the day the will of W. M. Hicks was probated in Cedartown, he demanded “the money in Farmers & Merchants Bank” from John N.

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Bluebook (online)
196 S.E. 251, 57 Ga. App. 529, 1938 Ga. App. LEXIS 330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hicks-v-wadsworth-gactapp-1938.