In Re Kohpay's Estate

1952 OK 220, 245 P.2d 79, 206 Okla. 548, 1952 Okla. LEXIS 637
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 3, 1952
DocketNo. 34376
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1952 OK 220 (In Re Kohpay's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Kohpay's Estate, 1952 OK 220, 245 P.2d 79, 206 Okla. 548, 1952 Okla. LEXIS 637 (Okla. 1952).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The plaintiff in error, John R. Pearson, as executor of the estate of Hugh Kohpay, deceased, an Osage half-blood Indian, having a certificate of competency, appeals from the order of the district court of Osage county, which court upheld the judgment of the county court of Osage county in connection with the hearing on the final account and petition for distribution decreeing that the estate be held open until sufficient funds should accumulate from the quarterly Osage annuity payments to pay the claims of the defendant in error general creditor, Nellie Newkirk, for board, room and nursing care during the lifetime of said Osage Indian, and the claim of defendant in error general creditor, Chas. S. Crouse, for money loaned to him.

The plaintiff in error contends that income accruing to the headright of an Osage Indian subsequent to his death may not be appropriated for the payment of claims of general creditors under the provisions of section 4 of the Act of Congress of March 2, 1929 (45 Stat. 1478, 1480), providing in part:

“Upon the death of any Osage Indian of less than one-half of Indian blood, or upon the death of an Osage Indian who has a certificate of competency, his monies and funds and other property accrued and accruing to his credit shall be paid and delivered to the administrator or executor of his estate to be administered upon according to the laws of the State of Oklahoma.”

The defendants in error contend (1) that income from an Osage Indian headright may be used to pay general creditors when the heirs or beneficiaries are white persons and not of Indian blood; (2) that Hugh Kohpay by will executed and approved by the Secretary of Interior in accordance with section 8 of the Osage Act of Congress of April 18, 1912 (37 Stat. at Large 86) specifically provided for the payment of “all my just debts” in the first paragraph thereof, thus payment is authorized; (3) that the beneficiaries and heirs agreed by stipulation to the payment of “all claims, debts and charges against the estate hereafter allowed by the County Court,” which agreement was approved by the Secretary of Interior and thus authorizes the use of the income from the headright in payment of these claims of general creditors.

The first paragraph of Hugh Koh-pay’s will provided:

“(1) I will and direct that all my just debts, including funeral expenses and expenses of my last illness be paid as soon after my death as my executor may do so.”

[550]*550The pertinent provision of the stipulation of settlement entered into prior to the approval of said will by the Secretary of Interior between the widow of the testator who was to receive one-half, Floyd Soderstrom, who was beneficiary of one-half, and Elsie Kohpay Shelton, sister of the decedent, and Franklin Eugene Kohpay, nephew of the decedent, the last two named being heirs but not beneficiaries under said will, provides as follows:

“Agreed and understood by and among the parties hereto, that in consideration of the mutual concessions made herein and in full compromise and settlement of their conflicting claims to said estate, said estate, after the full payment and discharge of all claims, debts and charges against the same hereafter allowed by the County Court of Osage County, Oklahoma, shall be divided as follows:”

with a provision for division one-half to the widow of the decedent, one-fourth to Floyd Soderstrom, one-eighth to Elsie Kohpay Shelton, and. one-eighth to Franklin Eugene Kohpay.

Plaintiff in error assigns as error the overruling of the motion for new trial, the sustaining and affirming of the judgment of the county court of Osage county, Oklahoma; that said decision and judgment are contrary to law and that the district court erred in ordering that the income accruing to the headright of Hugh Kohpay, deceased, subsequent to the death of said decedent, could be appropriated for the payment of the claims of the general creditors of the said decedent.

The defendants in error have filed a motion to dismiss the executor’s appeal on the ground that the executor has no appealable interest in the question involved, citing the case of Love v. Wilson, 181 Okla. 558, 75 P. 2d 876. Therein it was held that an administrator in his representative capacity is not a “party aggrieved” or a “party interested” in a decree which merely determines the heirs at law of the estate for which he is administrator and that he cannot maintain in his representative capacity an appeal from such decree. That case is distinguishable from the instant case. We think the applicable rule is set out in the case of Barnes v. Logsdon, 178 Okla. 645, 63 P. 2d 964, wherein it quotes vol. 2 of American Jurisprudence, page 960:

“The general rule is that one who acts in a representative capacity by which he is charged with a duty to protect an estate committed to his charge in the interest of all concerned has such an interest as entitles him to appeal or bring error proceedings from a judgment, order or decree affecting the interests of the estate adversely.”

The motion of the defendants in error that the appeal of the executor be dismissed is denied.

Turning now to a consideration of the chief questions raised by this appeal, ever since the case of Denoya v. Arrington, 163 Okla. 44, 20 P. 2d 563, the rule has been that income accruing to the headright of an Osage Indian subsequent to his death may not be appropriated for the payment of claims of general creditors. Therein the court, after considering fully the various Acts of Congress affecting the Tribe of Osage Indians, held:

“There is no act of Congress providing for the sale, encumbering or alienation of headrights by those of Indian blood. * * * If there is no such provision, how can it be consistently urged that the income from the head-right of deceased Osage Indian allottee accruing subsequent to his death over an indefinite period can be taken to satisfy the debt of said allottee? This would be in effect an encumbering, assigning, transferring or an alienation of such headright unauthorized by Congress.
it* * *
“* * * To permit the estate to be held open to pay the claims of the creditors from the income of the head-right in question would be discordant to every act of Congress dealing with the headright and permit defendants in error to do indirectly what cannot be done directly. The headright is restrict[551]*551ed, and any income accruing thereto subsequent to the death of the allottee cannot be appropriated in any manner by the creditors of such deceased allot-tee. * * * To hold otherwise would be to thwart the will of Congress on this subject, and it would quickly lead to the incurring of indebtedness by the members of the Osage Tribe of Indians equal to the value of their head-rights and thereby indirectly incumber and alienate the headright which Congress has uniformly and steadfastly sought to safeguard and protect for the allottees and their heirs. The government is interested not only in the allottees but also in their heirs.
“We conclude that the income accruing to the headright of a deceased Osage allottee subsequent to the death of such allottee is not an asset of the estate of such decedent which can be appropriated for the payment of the claims of creditors.”

While the Denoya case has been modified by the subsequent cases of Bruce v. Evertson, 180 Okla. 111, 68 P.

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Related

General Creditors of the Estate of Harris v. Cornett
416 P.2d 398 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1966)
Steger v. Gibson
287 P.2d 687 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1952 OK 220, 245 P.2d 79, 206 Okla. 548, 1952 Okla. LEXIS 637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-kohpays-estate-okla-1952.