Kininmonth v. Carson

137 P.2d 173, 156 Kan. 808, 1943 Kan. LEXIS 97
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMay 8, 1943
DocketNo. 35,859
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 137 P.2d 173 (Kininmonth v. Carson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kininmonth v. Carson, 137 P.2d 173, 156 Kan. 808, 1943 Kan. LEXIS 97 (kan 1943).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Smith, J.:

This was an action by the administrator of an estate to quiet title to the real estate and to set aside certain conveyances of interests in it. Judgment was for the plaintiff. Defendants appeal.

[809]*809The action arose out of the business affairs of Sarah Pennington and Amanda Pennington, two elderly spinsters, who spent their lives together on a farm in Cowley county. The petition alleged the appointment of the plaintiff as the administrator of the estate of Sarah C. Pennington; that during her lifetime she owned the real estate involved, in fee simple; that plaintiff was in actual possession of the real estate; that the defendant, Martha J; Carson, claimed some title to it by virtue of certain instruments; that the defendant, Henry D. Pennington, claims some title on account of certain instruments.

The petition then set out another group of defendants which were referred to as the heirs of one Anderson D. Pennington, who was a brother of Sarah. The petition then set out another group of defendants and alleged that they claimed title to the property by virtue of certain instruments and alleged that these defendants were the devisees and legatees or their successors in interest under the will of Amanda C. Pennington and the executors of this will. The petition then alleged that at all the times mentioned Sarah was an incompetent and insane person, and that the grantees in the deeds and conveyances knew or should have known of her insanity and incompetency, and that there was no consideration given for the purported conveyances, and that they were wholly void and of no force and effect as against the plaintiff and the beneficiaries under the will of Sarah C. Pennington, deceased, and that these deeds, conveyances and claims constituted a cloud upon the title to the real estate described. The petition then alleged that defendant, W. E. Broadie, claimed to have some right in the real estate by virtue of a warranty deed wherein Henry D. Pennington was grantor and Broadie was grantee; that Broadie was not an innocent purchaser and should have known at -the time of receiving the purported deed that Henry D. Pennington held no title; that Sarah was an incompetent person and that the conveyances were void. The petition next alleged that O. W. Torrance claimed to have some interest in the property, the exact nature of which plaintiff did not know but that the claim constituted a cloud upon the title of this plaintiff. The petition asked that the defendants, W. E. Broadie, Martha J. Carson, Henry Pen-" nington and O. W. Torrance be forever barred from having or claiming to have any interest in the real estate, and asked that the two groups of defendants, which were referred to in the petition as heirs at law of Anderson D. Pennington and the devisees under the will of [810]*810Amanda C. Pennington, be forever barred from claiming to have any interest arising out of the purported conveyances, and that the title of the plaintiff be quieted in the real estate and that he be adjudged to be the owner of the fee-simple title to it. The conveyances referred to in the petition were mineral assignments executed by Sarah C. Pennington on April 11, 1936, conveying to each of her brothers and sisters, Henry Pennington, Martha Carson, Anderson D. Pennington and Amanda C. Pennington one-fortieth of the minerals in and under her lands in Sumner and Cowley counties, and also deeds executed by Sarah C. Pennington September 16, 1936, conveying her land in Cowley county to the two brothers and two sisters named and another deed conveying her land in Sumner county to the same parties. The petition was later amended to show that the plaintiff, A. S. Kininmonth, was on March 15, 1938, appointed administrator of her estate and that on the 6th day of October, 1939, an after-discovered will was admitted to probate and he was appointed administrator, c. t. a., of Sarah’s estate and by order of the probate court after due notice to all interested parties on May 6, 1938, was granted possession of the real estate involved in this action; that a copy of this order is attached to the petition. This order was signed by the probate judge on May 6, 1938. .It directed the administrator to take possession of the real estate belonging to deceased, to lease the same, collect rents, keep in repair, pay taxes, hold the income not expended in taxes, repairs and insurance until the further order of the court. Rebecca Porter, who was one of the defendants, and O. W. Torrance disclaimed any interest in the subject matter of the action, and a qualified disclaimer was filed by W. E. Broadie. Myrel W. Green and Ada Bee-man filed separate answers and cross petitions. In their answer they admitted all the statements contained in the petition and in their cross petition they adopted the allegations of the amended petition and alleged that they were each residuary legatees under the will of Amanda C. Pennington, which was admitted to probate May 3,1939, and alleged that the real estate involved was the property of Amanda C. Pennington by virtue of the will of Sarah C. Pennington, which was admitted to probate October 6, 1939. They prayed judgment be rendered as prayed for in the petition.

To the amended petition defendants, Roy H. Wasson and Myrel W. Green, executors of the estate of Amanda C. Pennington, filed similar pleadings except that in their cross petition they alleged [811]*811that they were the executors of Amanda’s estate and that they were interested in the real estate involved because Amanda was the principal beneficiary under Sarah’s will, dated January 1, 1910; that Amanda died in April, 1939 and Sarah died March 4,1938 and that Sarah’s will was admittéd to probate October 6,1939. These parties prayed that judgment be rendered as prayed for in the petition.

Another group of defendants filed an amended answer and cross petition, in which they admitted the allegations of the petition to be true and adopted the same as their cross petition and stated that they were not in possession of the real estate except through the plaintiff, pursuant to the order of May 6, 1938, which has been referred to, and alleged that they were .legatees and devisees under the will of Amanda and made the allegations already referred to; that the real estate was the property of Amanda by virtue of Sarah’s will, and alleged also that these defendants were also the heirs at law of Anderson D. Pennington, deceased, one of the grantees in .the instruments referred to in the petition and if the instruments were< not set aside they will be the owners of the respective interests in the property conveyed by said instruments; that judgment be rendered as prayed for in the petition.

The defendants, Martha J. Carson and Henry D. Pennington, filed a demurrer upon the grounds that the plaintiff as administrator had no legal capacity to sue; that in the petition several causes of action were improperly joined; that the petition as amended did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in favor of ■plaintiff and against defendants.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Boldridge v. Estate of Keimig
564 P.2d 497 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1977)
Bell v. Hanes
378 P.2d 13 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1963)
Larsen v. Employers Mutual Casualty Co.
374 P.2d 47 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1962)
Estate of Rosey v. Kirkpatrick
356 P.2d 849 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1960)
In Re Estate of O'Leary
304 P.2d 547 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1956)
In Re Estate of Slaven
277 P.2d 580 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1954)
Crowder v. Lindbergh
265 P.2d 851 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1954)
Lanning v. Goldsberry
232 P.2d 611 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1951)
Bisagno v. Lane
211 P.2d 85 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1949)
Waldorf v. Waldorf
190 P.2d 879 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1948)
First National Bank v. Dion
190 P.2d 386 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1948)
Felton v. Rubow
179 P.2d 935 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1947)
Houdashelt v. Sweet
180 P.2d 604 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1947)
Asendorf v. (John F. Asendorf
176 P.2d 535 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1947)
Pennington v. Wasson
148 P.2d 516 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1944)
Barker v. Fleming
148 P.2d 493 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1944)
Sheedy v. Willoughby
142 P.2d 801 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1943)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 P.2d 173, 156 Kan. 808, 1943 Kan. LEXIS 97, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kininmonth-v-carson-kan-1943.