In re the Estate of Merrick

630 S.W.2d 500, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4129
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 9, 1982
DocketNo. 9315
StatusPublished

This text of 630 S.W.2d 500 (In re the Estate of Merrick) 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 the Estate of Merrick, 630 S.W.2d 500, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4129 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

BOYD, Justice.

The prior opinion of the court is withdrawn and this opinion is issued in lieu thereof. This is a will contest case. A brief resume of the rather complicated history of the case is necessary. Appellee Keith L. Merrick on August 7, 1979 filed suit in the Lubbock County Court to compel appellant Rowena G. Jones and others to produce a will of Frances Edith Merrick, deceased, alleged to have been in their possession. In that same cause, appellant, on August 28, 1979, then made application for letters of administration, alleging that the deceased left no valid will. Upon contest of this application by appellees, the cause was transferred on October 10,1979 by the Lubbock County Court to the 140th District Court of Lubbock County, Texas.

[502]*502On September 10, 1979, an application to probate an alleged lost will of the deceased was filed in the Taylor County Court by appellee Jack Richard Merrick. On November 9, 1979, upon motion of appellees, the Taylor County proceedings were transferred to the 140th District Court of Lubbock County, Texas. In the district court, upon joint motion of all parties, the various causes were consolidated. Trial was to a jury upon one issue, which inquired if the deceased had revoked the lost will in question. The jury found she had not, and the will was admitted to probate. Hence, this appeal by appellant.

Appellant, in his first two points of error, alleges lack of jurisdiction in the 140th District Court, due to the invalidity of the transfer orders from the Taylor County Court and the Lubbock County Court. Ap-pellees, by their first counterpoint, assert the appeal should be dismissed because of “appellant’s failure to file pleading under Probate Code, Section 10.”

In order to preserve logical continuity we initially discuss appellee’s first counterpoint. Section 10, Tex.Prob.Code Ann. (Vernon 1980) provides:

Any person interested in an estate may, at any time before any issue in any proceeding is decided upon by the court, file opposition thereto in writing and shall be entitled to process for witnesses and evidence, and to be heard upon such opposition, as in other suits.

In probate matters, less strictness is required in pleading, particularly when the averments questioned relate to matters which the other party must affirmatively establish. Perdue v. Perdue, 208 S.W. 353, 355 (Tex.Civ.App.—Texarkana 1918), aff’d on other grounds, 110 Tex. 209, 217 S.W. 694 (1920). The application for probate of the lost will alleges that appellees are the sole beneficiaries under the will. Appellant’s application for letters of administration contains the allegation that the deceased left no valid will and therefore her surviving brothers and sisters would inherit her estate. The joint motion to consolidate contains statements that appellees “seek to show that Frances Edith Merrick died testate and that they are the beneficiaries under the alleged will” and appellant “and others seek to show that the Decedent died intestate and that they are the heirs at law of the said Frances Edith Merrick.” No exceptions or allegations as to deficiencies or lack of pleading were made until appel-lee’s motion for instructed verdict, made after the completion of appellee’s evidence.

We think the pleadings are sufficient to show there were two or more parties or claimants to the assets of this estate, each of whom had some legally ascertained pecuniary interest, real or prospective, which would be impaired or benefited, or in some manner materially affected, by the probate or nonprobate of the will in question, and that a bona fide dispute existed between them concerning the validity of the alleged will. This is sufficient to constitute all of the claimants persons “interested in an estate.” Logan v. Thomason, 146 Tex. 37, 202 S.W.2d 212, 215 (1947). Reasonableness and practicality dictate that pleadings exist joining issue and sufficiently complying with section 10, Tex.Prob.Code Ann. (Vernon 1980). Appellee’s counterpoint one is overruled.

We next consider appellant’s points one and two. Succintly stated, they raise the question whether, in Lubbock County, the district courts and/or the county courts at law have jurisdiction to try matters of this nature. In discussing these points, a brief consideration of pertinent constitutional and statutory provisions is necessary.

In 1973, article 5, section 8 of the Texas Constitution was amended to give the district court, concurrently with the probate court, general probate jurisdiction. The legislature was specifically empowered to “increase, diminish or eliminate the jurisdiction of either the district court or the county court in probate matters ...” and “to adopt rules governing the filing, distribution and transfer of all such cases and proceedings as between district courts, county courts, and other courts having jurisdiction thereof ...” Tex.Const., art. V, § 8. Pursuant to that grant of power, the 63rd [503]*503Legislature amended section 5 of the Probate Code,

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Related

Meek v. Mitchusson
588 S.W.2d 665 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Brown v. Crockett
601 S.W.2d 188 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Perdue v. Perdue
208 S.W. 353 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1919)
Logan v. Thomason
202 S.W.2d 212 (Texas Supreme Court, 1947)

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Bluebook (online)
630 S.W.2d 500, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-estate-of-merrick-texapp-1982.