In Re Estate of Gibson

893 S.W.2d 749, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 340, 1995 WL 71065
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 23, 1995
Docket06-94-00100-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 893 S.W.2d 749 (In Re Estate of Gibson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Estate of Gibson, 893 S.W.2d 749, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 340, 1995 WL 71065 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

GRANT, Justice.

Angus G. Gibson appeals from a trial court judgment determining that a surviving spouse under a'joint will had the authority to dispose of funds as she chose.

Gibson contends: (1) that the trial court erred in concluding that Martha Gibson, as a surviving party to a contractual will, had the authority to dispose of the property in which she received a life estate during her lifetime without restriction, (2) that the trial court erred in concluding that execution of signature cards created valid survivorship rights pursuant to Tex.PROb.Code Ann. § 439(a), and (3) that the trial court erred in concluding that execution of signature cards created valid survivorship rights pursuant to Tex. Prob.Code Ann. § 439(b).

Angus B. Gibson and his wife, Martha Gibson, executed a joint will on February 19, 1957. Upon Angus B. Gibson’s death, Martha Gibson probated the 1957 will. She then placed funds into nine savings accounts. Martha Gibson died on July 25, 1990. Betty *751 Rizer, Martha Gibson’s daughter, filed an application to probate a second will executed by Martha Gibson on October 14, 198B." Angus G. Gibson filed a contest to the probate of the 1983 will, contending that the 1957 will was a contractual will that should have been admitted into probate. The trial court admitted the 1983 will to probate and refused to admit the 1957 will.

Angus G. Gibson appealed this judgment, and this Court found that the trial court had erred. The opinion reflected that the Court found that the 1957 will was a contractual will creating a life estate for the surviving spouse. Gibson v. Gibson, No. 06-92-00054-CV (Tex.App.-Texarkana, 1993, not published). On remand, the trial court voided its previous order admitting the 1983 will to probate and admitted the 1957 will. The trial court then determined that the savings accounts established after Angus B. Gibson’s death were not part of the Gibson estate to be inherited under the 1957 joint will and that Martha Gibson had the authority to dispose of this money as she chose. The trial court concluded that the signature cards on each of the accounts created valid rights of survivorship in the surviving parties to the accounts. The trial court then ordered the funds in these savings accounts to pass according to the survivorship agreements, rather than the terms of the original will.

By his first point of error, Gibson contends that the trial court erred in concluding that Martha Gibson, as a surviving party to a contractual will, had the authority to dispose of the property in which she received a life estate. The trial court ruled that Martha Gibson had the authority to dispose of money by placing it in a survivorship account held with other individuals.

Conclusions of law are always reviewable. Westech Engineering v. Clearwater Constructors, 835 S.W.2d 190, 196 (Tex.App.-Austin 1992, no writ). They will not require reversal unless they are erroneous as a matter of law. Id. Incorrect conclusions of law will not require reversal, however, if the controlling findings of fact will support a correct legal theory. Kotis v. Nowlin Jewelry, Inc., 844 S.W.2d 920, 922 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist] 1992, no writ).

In a contractual-joint will, the balance remaining from the estate of the first to die and the estate of the last to die is treated as a single estate and jointly disposed of by both testators in the secondary dispositive provisions of the will. Fisher v. Capp, 597 S.W.2d 393 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1980, writ ref'd n.r.e.). The survivor who takes a life estate in the common property of the spouses is estopped to deny the provisions of the instrument and may not make dispositions inconsistent with it or defeat the rights of remainder beneficiaries. Murphy v. Slaton, 154 Tex. 35, 273 S.W.2d 588 (1954). The first issue to be resolved, then, is whether the 1957 will grants to Martha Gibson the unqualified power to dispose of the property during her lifetime.

Where the life tenant under a joint and mutual will has an unqualified power to dispose of the property during his or her lifetime, the remainder beneficiaries are effectively relegated to the position of contingent remainder beneficiaries having no justi-ciable interest in any property except that remaining undisposed of at the life tenant’s death. Dickerson v. Keller, 521 S.W.2d 288, 292 (Tex.Civ.App.-Texarkana 1975, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

Texas courts have held the power of disposition “to be absolute and unlimited when words such as “with full power to dispose of or ‘absolutely to dispose of ... according to her pleasure’ or ‘as such survivor may desire’ or. the like are used to create or describe the power, or where language of a conditional fee is used.” Dickerson, 521 S.W.2d at 291. In McKamey v. McKamey, the survivor was given the right to give inter vivos gifts. 332 S.W.2d 801 (Tex.Civ.App.-San Antonio 1960, writ ref'd). The wording under such a contract indicated that property was “to be used, occupied, enjoyed, encumbered or conveyed and expended, without the joinder of any or our surviving children, ... and that upon the death of such survivor, any of such estate then remaining, shall be divided among our beloved children.” Id. (Emphasis added.) Rizer cites Edds v. Mitchell for the proposition that a life estate holder can be granted *752 the power to dispose of the property during the survivor’s lifetime. 143 Tex. 307, 184 S.W.2d 823 (1945). In that case, however, as in the others, the will granted the right to “convey.” Id.

In Dickerson v. Yarbrough, a will gave only the right to “use, possess, and control.” The court found that the will gave no right to sell or dispose of the same. 212 S.W.2d 975, 979 (Tex.Civ.App.-Dallas 1948, no writ). In the case at bar, the will provides that the survivor is to have “all of the rights, title and interest” and “to have and enjoy the use and benefit of said lands and property, including the rents and profits therefrom.” No right to convey or dispose was granted in the 1957 will. The trial court erred in concluding that Martha Gibson had the right to dispose of the property that was to pass under the secondary disposition of the 1957 will.

Though Martha Gibson did not have the right to dispose of this property, this is not the end of the issue. Rizer contends that much of Martha’s estate was made up of after-acquired-separate property and is, therefore, not subject to the 1957 will. She points to Jackson v. Stutt,

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893 S.W.2d 749, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 340, 1995 WL 71065, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-gibson-texapp-1995.