In Re Ogier's Estate

125 N.W.2d 68, 175 Neb. 883, 1963 Neb. LEXIS 240
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 22, 1963
Docket35471
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 125 N.W.2d 68 (In Re Ogier's Estate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Ogier's Estate, 125 N.W.2d 68, 175 Neb. 883, 1963 Neb. LEXIS 240 (Neb. 1963).

Opinion

Carter, J.

This is an action under the Declaratory Judgments Act to determine the ownership of certain personal property listed in the executor’s inventory in the estate of Raymon A. Ogier, deceased. The trial court found for the executor and the guardian ad litem of Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier, minor defendants, has appealed.

Raymon A. Ogier died testate on April 25, 1960. He left surviving his widow, Irene Ogier, and two adopted children, Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier, twins of the age of 16 years. By the terms of the will of the deceased, Irene Ogier was the legatee and devisee of personal and real property inventoried at approximately $175,000 about which there appears to be no dispute. The testator also conveyed certain described business properties *885 and all interest in two partnerships known as Ogier’s of Wallace and Ogier’s of Stratton in trust for the benefit of Irene Ogier during her lifetime, with the power of appointment, the remainder otherwise to become a part of the corpus of trusts set up for Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier. The residue of the estate was set up in the form of trusts with Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier as the beneficiaries. The issues in this case are whether or not certain securities hereafter described were held in joint tenancy with Irene Ogier and became her property as survivor, or whether or not they, or some part of them, are a part of the residue of the estate and therefore a part of the corpus of the trusts established for the benefit of Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier. Specific legacies were given to Margaret White, a cousin of the deceased, and her husband, J. M. White. The latter was the assistant manager of Ogier’s, of North Platte and a faithful employee of the deceased and his business enterprises. J. M. White was the named executor in the will of the deceased and the designated trustee of the trusts established by the will with full and complete discretion in their handling.

The deceased was an equal partner with Irene Ogier in businesses designated as Ogier’s of Wallace, and Ogier’s of Stratton. The deceased and Irene Ogier each owned a 26 percent interest in the partnership designated as Ogier’s of North Platte. Other interests were owned by the trustees of trusts in favor of Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier established by the will of Nicholas E. Ogier, the father of the deceased. Margaret White and J. M. White were also partners to the extent of 4 percent each. The deceased and Irene Ogier each owned a 30 percent interest in Ogier’s of McCook. The record does not reveal the owners of the interest in Ogier’s of McCook other than that of the deceased and Irene Ogier.

The personal property involved in this litigation consists of municipal bonds of the face value of $91,000, General Motors Acceptance Corporation notes of the *886 face value of $275,000, and United States government bonds of the face value of $25,000.

The will was admitted to probate and J. M. White was appointed the executor of the estate. The executor proceeded immediately to inventory the assets of the estate. The executor’s original inventory was filed in the county court of Lincoln County on December 12, 1960. The municipal bonds were listed as the property of the deceased. The government bonds and'General Motors Acceptance Corporation notes were not listed, they evidently being included in the provision of the inventory stating that property held in joint tenancy with Irene Ogier was not included. The executor asked and was granted leave to amend his inventory by showing that the City of Cambridge bonds in the amount of $5,000 were the property of Irene Ogier and erroneously included, and that a bank account in the McDonald State Bank in the amount of $2,050.96 shown as belonging to the deceased was in fact a joint tenancy account with Irene Ogier and should not have been listed as an asset of the estate.

On or about November 23, 1960, the executor filed an inventory of assets in which he stated that from an examination of books and records he had determined that the listed property was owned by the deceased and Irene Ogier in joint tenancy at the time of the death of the deceased. Among the assets so listed as being held in joint tenancy at the time of the death of the deceased are $200,000 of General Motors Acceptance Corporation notes, $5,000 of Mutual Building and Loan Association certificates, government bonds in the amount of $32,100 which includes the $25,000 in bonds here in dispute, and $37,290.57 in bank accounts. The appellee asserts in his brief that the $75,000 in notes over and above the $200,-000 of General Motors Acceptance Corporation notes were in fact joint tenancy notes owned by the deceased and Irene Ogier.

On August 22, 1962, the executor filed his petition for *887 the final settlement of his account in the county court of Lincoln County. On the same day the executor filed a petition in the county court of Lincoln County for a declaration and determination of ownership of the property in question in this appeal. Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier, minors, and James E. Schneider, guardian ad litem, were made defendants in this action. On September 10, 1962, James E. Schneider, the guardian ad litem of Ray E. Ogier and Joanne K. Ogier, filed his objection denying the allegations of the petition asserting that the questioned property was held in joint tenancy and demanding that the executor account for the property described in his petition. The county court, after a hearing, held for the executor and the guardian ad litem appealed to the district court.

In the district court the parties stipulated that the case be tired on the pleadings made up in the county court. It was also stipulated that the evidence taken in the county court could be used as evidence in the district court, subject to the objection of the guardian ad litem that the evidence of Irene Ogier was incompetent under the dead man’s statute, section 25-1202, R. R. S. 1943, and subject to objection as to any and all conclusions and opinions of the witnesses contained in the evidence taken in the county court. It was further stipulated that the witnesses testifying in the county court could be further examined in the district court and that additional evidence might be adduced by either party in the district court. The evidence taken in the county court was offered in evidence in the district court and additional evidence was adduced in that court. The trial court found for the executor and against the guardian ad litem. The latter has appealed to this court.

The guardian ad litem insists that Irene Ogier is an incompetent witness under the dead man’s statute, section 25-1202, R. R. S. 1943. An examination of her evidence, in the light of the conclusion that we have reached, reveals that it does not tend to support a finding that *888 a joint tenancy was created. Her evidence was just as consistent with the establishment of a tenancy in common, if not more so, as with a joint tenancy. We do not deem it necessary, therefore, to pass upon or discuss her competency as a witness.

The executor asserts that the $275,000 in General Motors Acceptance Corporation notes were held in joint tenancy by the deceased and Irene Ogier.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 N.W.2d 68, 175 Neb. 883, 1963 Neb. LEXIS 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ogiers-estate-neb-1963.