Jeffress v. Hicks

116 P.2d 905, 189 Okla. 310
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 27, 1941
DocketNo. 29030
StatusPublished

This text of 116 P.2d 905 (Jeffress v. Hicks) 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
Jeffress v. Hicks, 116 P.2d 905, 189 Okla. 310 (Okla. 1941).

Opinion

HURST, J.

This is a probate appeal and is the third time disputes over the estate of George W. Hicks, deceased, have reached this court. The first case (Jeffress v. Hicks, 156 Okla. 291, 10 P. 2d 419) originated in the district court and therein the contention of Mrs. Hicks, the widow, that the property standing in the name of Mr. Hicks belonged to her and him as partners was rejected. The second case (Hicks v. Jeffress, 178 Okla. 109, 61 P. 2d 1079) was a probate appeal from the final decree of distribution of the entire estate entered on March 27, 1926, by the county court of Pontotoc county, and this court therein affirmed the county court decree, with a certain exception to be hereinafter mentioned. The final decree carried out the will of the decedent, and [312]*312after directing the payment of certain legacies and expenses distributed the estate as follows: One-third to the widow, and the remaining two-thirds to Lena Jeffress, an adopted daughter.

On April 3, 1926, six days after the said final decree of distribution was entered, the county court entered an order directing the executor to pay Mrs. Hicks a widow’s allowance of $150 per month “until said estate is finally settled and the funds and property thereof distributed and the administrator discharged.” No appeal seems to have been prosecuted from said order. It appears that some $3,300 was paid under said order. On March 6, 1937, after the second appeal in this court had been finally disposed of, the county court, in passing upon the final report of the executor, determined that there was due on said widow’s allowance the sum of $15,150 and adjudicated same to be a charge against the estate. No appeal was taken from that order.

On October 19, 1937, Mrs. Hicks filed a petition for sale of the real property belonging to the estate to satisfy her accumulated widow’s allowance. Lena Jeffress filed a “demurrer” to this petition and as a ground thereof stated that “said petition and the proceedings upon which it is based does not give the court jurisdiction to entertain said petition for sale of real estate by petitioner,” and she therein prayed that “said petition be dismissed.” On November 19, 1937, the county court overruled said “demurrer” and entered a decree of sale of the real estate covered by the decree of distribution of March 27, 1926. In that same order the court overruled two motions filed by Mrs. Jeffress, but under the view we take of the case those matters are not now material. Mrs. Jeffress filed a notice of appeal from said order, as follows:

“Comes now Lena Jeffress, an interested party, in the above-entitled estate, and excepts to the order of the court made and entered on the 19th day of November, 1937, overruling the motion of the said Lena Jeffress to strike the report of the commissioners appointed to make partition in said estate; and the order of the court overruling the demurrer of this movant to the proceedings instituted to sell the real estate herein, and the order of the court denying the motion of this movant to require the executor to charge the sum of $300 paid to Mrs. Hicks on the 19th day of November, 1937, against the $15,150 claim that she holds, and gives notice of appeal from said orders to the district court of Pontotoc county, Oklahoma, and that said appeal is taken upon both the question of law and of fact.”

On January 10, 1938, Lena Jeffress filed a motion to vacate said order of March 6, 1937, determining the amount due on the widow’s allowance. On January 24, 1938, this motion was denied, and Lena Jeffress appealed from said order.

The two appeals were consolidated in the district court. From a judgment affirming the order for sale of real estate and dismissing the appeal from the order refusing to vacate the order of March 6, 1937, this appeal was taken.

1. The first question presented is whether, under the notice of appeal, there is anything before this court to review in connection with the decree of sale of the real estate. It will be observed that the notice mentioned only that part of the order overruling the demurrer to the petition, and the two other parts of the order not now material, and did not mention the part of the order decreeing the sale of the real estate. Defendant urges that a demurrer is not a recognized pleading under the Code of Probate Procedure. This is true, but we are of the opinion that a pleading is to be judged by the contents of it, rather than the name the parties give to it. Under this rule it has been said that a pleading denominated “demurrer” in a probate cause “may be treated as an answer, or as an objection to the jurisdiction, or as an exception to the sufficiency of the aver-ments of the petition to state a cause of action.” 68 C. J. 968. See, also, Hamill v. Hamill, 162 Md. 159, 159 Atl. 247, 82 A. L. R. 878. Under this view, [313]*313we hold that the demurrer was in fact an objection to the entry of a decree of sale on jurisdictional grounds. The trial court properly so treated it, and heard the cause on its merits.

But it is said that the overruling of such a pleading is not an appealable order. Defendant cites cases from California and Montana to sustain this contention. We note, however, that the Probate Codes of those states do not contain a provision similar to paragraph 8 of section 1397, O. S. 1931, 58 O. S. A. § 721, which authorizes an appeal “from any other judgment, decree, or order of the county court in a probate cause, or of the judge thereof, affecting a substantial right.” It appears that only South Dakota has a similar provision. See Ross, Probate Law & Practice, pp. 901-903, for the terms of the Codes of the western states authorizing probate appeals. We have been unable to find any decision by this court, or by either of the Dakota courts, construing this provision that sheds any light on the subject. It is apparent that this provision is much broader than the seven preceding provisions of the section, which deal with specific orders. We are of the opinion that the “demurrer” was effectively overruled by the action of the court in decreeing the sale of the real estate, which did affect a substantial right of Lena Jeffress, and that the notice was sufficient to bring to this court for review the question as to whether the county court had jurisdiction to enter the decree of sale, and that same was an appealable order.

2. The next question for determination is whether the county court had jurisdiction to enter the decree of sale. The demurrer to the petition for sale raised this question. As we understand the contention of Lena Jeffress, it is that the decree of distribution of March 27, 1926, deprived the county court of the power to make the order of sale because by that order the estate was closed and no further orders could be made. She also argues that the evidence shows that the estate became insolvent in January, 1929, and for that reason no widow’s allowance could be made or approved thereafter as was done by the order of March 6, 1937, fixing the amount of the allowance then due. Mrs. Hicks contends that the estate was not closed by the order of March 27, 1926, and that the evidence does not show that the estate was insolvent on March 6, 1937, and even if it was, the orders of April 3, 1926, and of March 6, 1937, not being appealed from, were not subject to the collateral attack thus made on them. Assuming the correctness of the contention made by Mrs. Hicks, it does not follow that she is entitled to prevail.

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Bluebook (online)
116 P.2d 905, 189 Okla. 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jeffress-v-hicks-okla-1941.