Howell v. Kretz

131 So. 204, 15 La. App. 454, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 107
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 1, 1930
DocketNo. 705
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 131 So. 204 (Howell v. Kretz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howell v. Kretz, 131 So. 204, 15 La. App. 454, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 107 (La. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

LeBLANC, J.

Mamie Gray, wife of Joshua Howell, died in the city of New Orleans, on September 8, 1926, leaving an estate consisting of a lot of ground in the city of Baton Rouge, which she had acquired from James D. Brown, on March 24, 1903.

On December 9, 1926, Belle Kretz, a natural child of Mamie Gray, claiming to [455]*455be her sole heir, petitioned the Nineteenth judicial district court in the parish of East Baton Rouge, to be recognized as such and to be placed in possession of the estate. She set out in her petition that while the deed to the property showed that it had been purchased by Mamie Gray, as a matter of truth and fact it had been really bought in equal indivisión by Mamie Gray and her mother, Caroline Gray, and that Caroline Gray was the true and lawful owner of an undivided one-half of the said property. She further alleged that the building on the southern portion of the property had been erected by her and that it belonged to her entirely. On the same day that she presented her petition, the court, on ex parte affidavits, rendered an ex parte judgment decreeing: First, that she was the sole heir of the decedent Mamie Gray and ordering that as such she be sent and placed in possession of the estate;. second, that Caroline Gray and she be recognized as the owners in indivisión of the lot of ground in the city of Baton Rouge; and, third, that she be recognized as the owner of the cottage house built on the southern portion of the said lot of ground, the same having been built and paid for by her.

On June 13, 1927, Joshua Howell, representing himself as the surviving husband of Mamie Gray, opened her succession in the civil district court for the parish of Orleans. In his petition to the court he set out all the proceedings that had taken place in the court in East Baton Rouge parish and averred that they were null and void for want of jurisdiction on the part of that court, as Mamie Gray did not live in the city of Baton Rouge, but in the city of New Orleans, where she died and where she had made her home for more than thirteen years. In default of any legal relatives in either the ascending or descending line, or collateral relations, he claimed the property of the estate and asked to be put in possession thereof. He made Belle Kretz a party to the proceeding and had her cited to appear and assert any rights she might claim.

Belle Kretz appeared through her counsel and on June 28, 1927, filed an exception to the jurisdiction of the court ratione person®. The minutes of court of July 8, 1927, show that the exception was overruled. On March 9, 1928, a preliminary default was entered, and on March 20, 1927, it was confirmed by judgment of court which was signed on March 27, 1928.

Armed with this judgment in his favor, Joshua Howell came into the district court in East Baton Rouge parish and instituted a proceeding by rule to recover possession of the lot of ground in the city of Baton Rouge which was being held by Belle Kretz under the judgment obtained by her in that court.

In defense to the rule Belle Kretz presents all the proceedings conducted in her behalf in the Baton Rouge court, on which she relies for her title to the - property. She further pleads the nullity of the judgment rendered by the civil district court in New Orleans on the ground that that court was without jurisdiction ratione materi®, as Mamie Gray, so she alleges, had her domicile established, in the city of Baton Rouge, and this gave the district court of East Baton Rouge parish jurisdiction over her succession. She attacks the judgment of the civil district court in New Orleans also on the ground that the proceedings instituted in that court had been dismissed. She alleges that although the minutes of that court showed that the exception filed on her behalf to the jurisdic[456]*456tion of the court had been overruled, such minute entry was made through inadvertence, and the true and real fact was that the exception had been sustained by the court and the proceedings dismissed.

The Provident Building & Loan Association, claiming to have a mortgage and vendor’s lien on the lot of ground in controvérsy, intervened in the proceeding brought by Howell and joined the defendant in all of her claims and pretensions.

On the trial of the rule, counsel for Howell objected to the admission of any evidence relying entirely on the judgment obtained, contradictorily with Belle Kretz, as he contended, in the civil district court in New Orleans, which judgment was then more than a year old and had never been attacked. ' The objection was taken under advisement by the court and on a later date overruled. The court then, under objections again strenuously urged on the part of Howell, heard evidence on the question of domicile of the decedent and on the validity of the judgment rendered in New Orleans, and rendered judgment in favor of the defendant in rule, Belle Kretz, and of the intervener, Provident Building & Loan Association, recalling the rule and dismissing plaintiff’s suit at his costs.

Prom that judgment this appeal was taken.

The important, if not the sole, issue presented is the one .of jurisdiction, and to decide that issue it will be necessary to de- ' termine where the decedent, Mamie Gray, had her domicile, if she had a fixed domicile or place of residence in the state, as the only court that had jurisdiction to open her succession was the one of the parish in which that domicile was established. Civil Code, art. 935.

Each of the parties in this proceeding contests the other’s right to attack the respective judgment on which each rests for his or her rights in the succession of Mamie Gray. The defendant by her pleading in answer to the rule, however, places the question of jurisdiction before the court and submitted proof thereon over the objection of counsel for plaintiff.

Prom this proof it appears that the decedent was married to plaintiff, Joshua Howell, in the city , of New Orleans, on January 30, 1913. There is no question but that Joshua Howell resided and had his domicile in the city of New Orleans. When Mamie Gray married him, therefore, his domicile by virtue of law became her domicile also. “A married woman has no other domicile than that of her husband. * * *” Civil Code, art. 39. True it is that they quarreled and separated once or twice and were living apart at the time of decedent’s death, but there never was a judicial or legal separation between them. We do not find evidence of misconduct on the part of Howell or of ill treatment of his wife of such character as would justify a right on her part to establish a separate domicile. He was obliged to receive her and give her what was required for the conveniences of life, according to his means and condition, and she was bound to live with him wherever he chose to reside. Civil Code, art. 120; Birmingham v. O’Neil, 116 La. 1085, 41 So. 323; Stevens v. Allen, 139 La. 662, 71 So. 936, L. R. A. 1916E, 1115.

Aside from the fact that her marital status fixed her domicile in the city of New Orleans, we believe that the weight of the testimony shows that that city was actually her place of residence and her domicile. She rented a home there in which she lived, earned her means of living there, joined benevolent and fraternal insurance societies there, and died there. In consid[457]

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Bluebook (online)
131 So. 204, 15 La. App. 454, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howell-v-kretz-lactapp-1930.