Jarvis v. Goforth

1930 OK 372, 296 P. 477, 147 Okla. 168, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 380
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 9, 1930
Docket19114
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1930 OK 372 (Jarvis v. Goforth) 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
Jarvis v. Goforth, 1930 OK 372, 296 P. 477, 147 Okla. 168, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 380 (Okla. 1930).

Opinions

HEFNER, J.

Ida was a male citizen of the Seminole Nation and died in 1905, intestate, without issue and was never married, and was the owner of the land allotted to him at the time of his death. Samsochee was his father and Muttee was Samsochee’s father and the paternal grandfather of the intestate. Co-ho-kee was Samsochee’s mother and Ida’s paternal grandmother. He was survived by three sisters of Muttee, who was his paternal grandfather. These three constituted all of his nearest relatives on his paternal grandfather’s side and were great paternal aunts of the intestate.

He was also survived by three sisters and one brother of Co-ho-kee, who was his paternal grandmother. Those four constituted all of his nearest relatives on his paternal grandmother’s side.

After his death and before the case was tried two of the sisters and the brother of the paternal grandmother and all of the sisters of the paternal grandfather died, but each left issue. The trial court held that on his death, the paternal half of his allotment was inherited by the great uncle and the sis great aunts in equal parts, and it was distributed to the surviving great aunt and to the issue of the deceased great uncles and the five deceased great aunts on this basis. From this decree the representatives of the three sisters of the paternal grandfather have brought the case here for review.

At the time the intestate died, the laws of descent and distribution of the state of Arkansas were in force in this jurisdiction. Both the father and mother of the deceased allottee were members, by blood, of the Seminole Tribe of Indians. This being true, we must consider the allotment as an ancestral estate and one-half of it as coming from his father and the other one-half as coming from his mother. Schulthis v. McDougal, 170 Fed. 529; Palmer v. King, 75 Okla. 276, 183 Pac. 411. On the death of the intestate one-half of his allotment was inherited by his heirs who were of the blood of his father and the other one-half thereof by his heirs who were of the blood of his mother. The maternal one-half of the allotment is not involved herein, because the litigation as to it has been settled, and unless otherwise stated, when we refer herein to the allotment or estate, reference is made to the paternal half.

It is. contended that the paternal half interest, on' the death of the intestate, did not go to his heirs, but ascended to the heirs of Samsochee, who was his father. On the death of the intestate, who’s heirs inherited the estate? The determination of this question largely determines the question of heirship involved herein. Were the heirs of the intestate or were the heirs of the intestate’s father called to the inheritance?

In reference to this question some confusion has arisen in some of the decisions of this ,pourt. The confusion probably arose because of the language used in section 2531 of Mansfield’s Digest of the Laws of Arkansas, which provides:

“Where the intestate shall die without descendants, if the estate came by the father, then it shall ascend to the father and his heirs; if by the mother the estate or so much thereof as came by the mother shall ascend to the mother and her heirs.”

It is the estate of the intestate that is being administered. It is his heirs who are called to the inheritance and not the heirs of his father, who was the ancestor from whom the estate came.

This is the construction that has been placed .on .the statute by the Supreme Court of Arkansas. There have been numerous decisions construing the statute, but we shall only call' attention to a late and an early case. By reference to- the case of Scull v. Vaugine, 15 Ark. 695, it will be seen that Stephen Vaugine died in 1831 leaving his widow, Matilda, and his son, Joseph, an infant. Joseph died in 1846 and without issue and possessed of the estate *170 wliieli he inherited from his father. The court awarded the personal property to the mother, but as to the real estate it said:

“But the real (estate, having been inherited by Joseph from his deceased father, Stephen, was in his hands an ancestral estate, ex parte paterna, according to the doctrines settled in the case cited (Kelley’s Heirs v. McGuire), and upon his (Joseph’s) death without issue, passed by inheritance to his next of kin of the blood of his father.

In the case of Carter v. Carter, 129 Ark. 573, 195 S. W. 1185, the court said:

“In short, according to the rule in Kelly v. McGuire and West v. Williams, if the estate is ancestral, and come to the intestate by gift, devise, or descent on the part of the father or mother, it passes to the heirs of the intestate who are of the blood of the ancestor from whom it came.”

These cases do not hold that on the death of the intestate the land ascended to the heirs of the ancestor from whom it came, but they do hold that it is inherited by the heirs of the intestate who are of the blood of the ancestor from whom it came. This we think is a correct interpretation of the statute, and we so held in the case of Lincoln v. Herndon, 141 Okla. 212, 285 Pac. 120.

We therefore hold that on the death of Ida, half of his allotment went to his heirs who were of the blood of his father and the other half went to his heirs who were of the blood of his mother.

It then becomes necessary for us to determine who were the heirs of the intestate who were of the blood of his father. He was survived by three sisters and one brother of his paternal grandmother and three sisters of his paternal grandfather. They were the nearest relatives who survived him and were all related to him in the same degree and were all of the blood of his father and were his heirs unless the surviving brother and the three sisters of his paternal grandmother are excluded from the inheritance under the claim made by the cross-petitioners in error. Their contention is that the estate ascended to the heirs of Samsochee, who was the father of the decedent, and that the three sisters of Muttee, who was Samsochee’s father, inherited the estate to the exclusion of the surviving brother and sisters of the paternal grandmother. In support of their contention they say that section 2532 of chapter 49 of Mansfield’s Digest is applicable. It is as follows:

“The estate of an intestate, in default of a father and mother, shall go, first, to the brothers, and sisters, and their descendants, of the father; next to the brothers and sisters, and their descendants, of the mother. This provision applies only where there are no kindred, either lineal or collateral, who stand in a nearer relation.”

Had this statute been applicable, the estate would have been divided, not between the seven uncles and aunts of Samsochee, but between the three aunts of Samsochee, who were the surviving sisters of Muttee, Samsochee’s father. We have already held that it was not the heirs of Samsochee who were called to the inheritance. Those who were called were heirs of the intestate who were of the blood of Samsochee. Before section 2532, supra, could be applicable the father and the mother of the intestate must have been dead and the father must have left a surviving brother or sister or a descendant of one or the other. It is true that the father and mother of the intestate predeceased him, but his father did not leave surviving brothers or sisters or their descendants.

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Bluebook (online)
1930 OK 372, 296 P. 477, 147 Okla. 168, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jarvis-v-goforth-okla-1930.