Jinkins v. Jinkins

522 S.W.3d 771, 2017 WL 1953346, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 4340
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 11, 2017
DocketNO. 01-16-00194-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 522 S.W.3d 771 (Jinkins v. Jinkins) 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
Jinkins v. Jinkins, 522 S.W.3d 771, 2017 WL 1953346, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 4340 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

Rebeca Huddle, Justice

This appeal involves a dispute among the four children of Wiley Junior Jinkins, Jr. (“Father”) regarding ownership of mineral interests in 17 properties. One of those children, John Randolph Jinkins, M.D. (“Randy”), appeals a summary judgment declaring that the four children each own a 1/4 interest in the properties. Randy had contended that he and Wiley Junior Jinkins, III (“Wiley”), the biological children of Father’s first wife, each owned a 1/2 interest in the properties, to the exclusion of their half-siblings, Jeffrey Jinkins and Mary Jinkins.

The case turns on whether Father’s interest in the properties passed into a trust that benefitted Randy and Wiley exclusively, or whether the interests either did not pass into that trust or were later removed from the trust, in which case they would pass to all four children in equal shares. Randy argues that the trial court erroneously construed the terms of the relevant wills and trust, and, for this reason, erro[775]*775neously concluded that Jeffrey and Mary own an interest in the properties. Randy also contends that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment dismissing his declaratory-judgment claim and adjudicating the case solely as a trespass-to-try-title action.

Because the trial court properly concluded that Randy’s claims must be brought via a trespass-to-try-title action, we affirm the trial court’s summary judgment dismissing Randy’s declaratory-judgment claim. But we reverse the trial court’s summary judgment regarding ownership of the 17 properties in dispute and render judgment that they, having been distributed under the terms of the parents’ trust, are owned in equal 1/2 shares by Randy and Wiley alone.

Background

The parties agree about the series of events that led to this dispute, but they disagree about the effect of the various implicated wills and trusts. Randy argues that his parents’ joint will, which was probated in 1952 after his mother’s death, transferred the disputed property interests into a trust of which he and Wiley were the sole beneficiaries. The other siblings argue that the properties were not held in trust for Randy and Wiley after their mother’s death but, instead, remained Father’s separate property for five more decades and ultimately passed to all four children under the terms of Father’s 1993 will.

The grandparents’joint will & trust

The siblings’ paternal grandparents, Wiley Junior Jinkins (“Grandfather”) and Celeste Jinkins (“Grandmother”), originally owned the property interests in dispute. In 1942, the grandparents executed a joint will which provided that if either of them died, all of their separate and community property, other than jewelry, household goods and personal effects, would pass into a trust in which the surviving spouse would have a life estate in the revenue. Upon the surviving spouse’s death, the trust corpus would pass to their only child, Father. The Grandparents’ will said:

It is our joint will and we so direct that all the rest and residue of the property, separate and community, real, personal and mixed, of whatsoever kind and wheresoever situated, which we—that is, each and both of us—may own or be entitled to receive on the day when the first of us shall die, shall pass to the Trustees hereinafter named and appointed, in trust, however, for the following purposes and under the following terms and conditions:
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(b) The entire net revenue from said property and estate, after deduction of expenses incident to administration of the trust, shall be paid over periodically, at least quarterly, by our Trustee to the survivor of us during his or her lifetime, except as hereinafter provided....
(c) Upon the death of the survivor of us, then our Trustee is directed to turn over and deliver to our said beloved son all of the trust property and estate and this trust shall terminate.

After Grandfather died in 1947 and the grandparents’ joint will was probated, the their property, which included the mineral interests in dispute and a Galveston residence, passed into the grandparents’ testamentary trust, with Grandmother having a life estate and Father having a remainder interest.

The parents’joint will & trust

In 1950, while Grandmother was still living, the parents of Randy and Wiley, Mother and Father, executed a joint will. Mother died two years later, at the age of 31, and Mother and Father’s joint will was [776]*776probated. Their joint will had terms similar to the grandparents’ will—it provided that if either of them died, all of their separate and community property, other than jewelry, household goods, and personal effects, and expressly including any interest ' Father had in property in the grandparents’ trust, would pass into a trust in which the surviving spouse would have a life estate in the revenue. The will said:

We give, devise and bequeath all the rest and residue of the property, separate and community, real, personal and mixed, of whatsoever kind and wheresoever situated, which we, or either of us, may own or be entitled to receive on the day when the first of us shall die, and also all property subject to disposition by [Father] under the joint will of [Grandfather] and [Grandmother], shall pass to the trustee, hereinafter named and appointed, in trust, for the following purposes and under the following terms and conditions.
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(b) The entire net revenue from said property and estate after deduction of expenses incident to administration of the trust, shall be paid over periodically, at least quarterly, by our trustee to the survivor of us during his or her lifetime, except as hereinafter provided....

Mother and Father’s joint will expressly addressed the impact of the surviving spouse’s remarriage on distributions from the trust. It provided that if the surviving spouse remarried, the trust corpus should be split in two, with the revenue from one half going to the surviving spouse during them lifetime. Specifically, it provided:

(c) If the survivor of us should marry again during the lifetime of our child or children, then our Trustee shall, at the time of such marriage, divide the trust estate hereby created, into two equal parts, paying and delivering all of the entire net revenue from one. of such parts to said survivor.

The revenue from the other half of the trust was to be used for the benefit of the parents’ children under age 30 until the surviving spouse died, and after the surviving ■ spouse died, the entire trust corpus was. to be divided equally between the parents’ children who lived to the age of 30:

(d)Upon the marriage of said survivor, then the revenue from the other one of such ’ parts provided in the pre-ceding sub-paragraph (c), and upon the death of the survivor, then all of the net revenue shall be used by said trustee for the maintenance, education, or benefit of such of our children as shall be under the age of thirty (30) years.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
522 S.W.3d 771, 2017 WL 1953346, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 4340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jinkins-v-jinkins-texapp-2017.