Kreis v. Kreis

75 S.W.2d 938
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 22, 1934
DocketNo. 4162
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 75 S.W.2d 938 (Kreis v. Kreis) 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
Kreis v. Kreis, 75 S.W.2d 938 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

MARTIN, Justice.

Two former appeals of this case are reported in 36 S.W.(2d) 821, and 57 S.W.(2d) 1107, where the facts are sufficiently stated. To render this opinion intelligible without reference to these, some of the more important facts are restated. J. M. Kreis and wife, Minerva B. Kreis, owned certain community property, mostly real estate. They had three children. This suit is by the heirs of one of these against the heirs of the other two, the exact nature of which fully appears in the opinions on former appeals. J. M. Kreis, after giving two of these children a large portion of the said community estate during his lifetime, died leaving a will with two codicils, ,as set out in 36 S.W.(2d) 821. This will was construed as giving only one-half of this property (see opinions supra) to his third and youngest child. Appellants are the heirs of this youngest child, and again vigorously contend that we have erred in this construction. They earnestly insist that the W. O. J. given both of the above opinions by the Supreme Court could mean nothing else. We cannot know what was in the mind of the Supreme Court in dismissing the two applications for writs of error by appellants, but we can and do know what the Supreme Court has said about the construction of wills in substantially the same language. In the will under consideration, the estate devised was “all my estate both real and personal of which I shall die seized and possessed, or to which I shall be entitled at the time of my decease.” The codicils refer to it as “sade property.” One-half of all property in controversy admittedly belonged to his wife. Judge Phillips, in Avery et al. v. Johnson et al., 108 Tex. 294, 192 S. W. 542, 544, said:

“The law presumes that no man will attempt a testamentary disposition of the property of others. It deprives no man of his property merely by conjecture. Therefore, for a will to be given the effect of an attempted disposition of property not owned by the testator, it is required that the language of the will conclusively evidence such a purpose. In such cases it is not sufficient that the will may be construed as revealing such an intention. It is necessary that it be open to no other construction. * * *
“The devises of land made by the testator in the second paragraph of the will, it is distinctly therein stated, were out of the real estate ‘owned by him at the time of the death of Jane Avery.’ The devises made in the third paragraph likewise dealt only with such land as he owned. * * * If effect be given to the express limitation of each of the devises to only such land as the testator owned, it is plain that the will cannot be construed as an effort to dispose of land he did not own. For the will to be given such construction, unequivocal language must be found in it which effectually negatives this express limitation and makes it clear beyond any reasonable doubt that, notwithstanding the testator’s use of these restrictive terms, his attempt was to dispose of the land which [940]*940the children of the first marriage owned in .their own right.”

In the case of Slavin et al. v. Greever et al. (Tex. Civ. App.) 209 S. W. 479, approved hy ■the Supreme Court, the will is in substantially the same language as the instant one, and the rule laid down by Judge Phillips is followed.

To the same effect are the more recent cases of Sailer v. Furche (Tex. Com. App.) 22 S.W.(2d) 1065, and Hocker v. Piper (Tex. Civ. App.) 2 S.W.(2d) 997.

The trial court found against the claim of Mrs. Emeline Smith, presumably upon the two former opinions in this case. We have already indicated our views with respect to (ier suit, and decline to be drawn again into a full discussion of the Question. Suffice it to say that in our opinion an issue of fact was presented, which the trial court found against her. Both sides claim the evidence is conclusive in their respective favor, but we will go no further than above. We call attention, however, in reply to appellants’ contention that she could only divest herself of title by ⅛ separately acknowledged instrument, that a judgment was entered against her in Chil-dress county. The legal title was already in I>. F. Kreis, who held by purchase from one who bought at an administrator’s sale regular •on its face, and. it took no affirmative act on .her part to invest him with the legal title. The probate court of Uvalde county had already divested her of title, and her real suit • was one in the nature of an equitable proceeding to establish his trusteeship for her. The •trial court held impliedly, if not expressly, that she had validly settled her claim against appellees and ratified the judgment entered against her in Childress county which denied her all relief. We have concluded that sufficient evidence is shown to support his finding.

In this Childress county suit appellants sued in trespass to try title, and appellees answered by plea of not guilty and asked for affirmative relief removing cloud from their title.

The land described in appellants’ said petition included section No. 83, block 1. The .judgment entered reads, in part: “It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed by the Court that the plaintiffs take nothing against the defendants, and that the cloud cast upon the title of defendants in and to the lands and premises hereinafter mentioned be removed ; and that the defendants’ title in and to said land be in all things quieted as against the plaintiffs and each of them; which said lands are located and situated in Childress County, Texas, and described as follows, to-wit.”

The description which follows fails to include said 83, and Mrs. Smith now claims that she is entitled to recover her interest in said section because of such failure. The judgment does two things, viz.: (1) Denies to her any recovery, which would necessarily include the property mentioned in her pleadings; (2) it removes cloud from title to the property therein described. The most that can be said of this judgment is that it is defective in that it failed to remove the cloud cast upon appellees’ title to section 83, under their prayer for affirmative relief. But it did effectually dispose of her claim to the property by denying her any recovery. All this is upon the hypothesis that a judgment was necessary to divest her of any claim to the real estate in question, by reason of the married woman’s separate acknowledgment statute. This we feel is unnecessary to decide under the particular facts of this record. The trial court correctly held, we think, that the omission of description discussed did not entitle her to recover as prayed for.

Appellees have filed cross-assignments of error.

Under our construction of the above will, one-half interest in the property of testator passed to his son Arthur Kreis, father of appellants. After coming into possession of same, Arthur Kreis died, and his brother D. F. Kreis was appointed administrator of his estate by the county court of Uvalde County. Subsequently thereto a claim was filed against the estate of Arthur Kreis, was allowed by the administrator, D. F. Kreis, and the property involved herein ostensibly sold at administrator’s sale to A. West, who almost immediately thereafter conveyed same to the administrator, D. F. Kreis. It is the theory of appellants that the claim and sale were fictitious and fraudulent; that A. West was but the conduit through which the title passed to the administrator in violation of article 3579, R. S. 1925, prohibiting the purchase by the administrator either directly or indirectly of the property of the estate.

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

Related

Burket v. Delaware Drilling Corporation
435 S.W.2d 307 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1968)
Harcrow v. Reed
425 S.W.2d 59 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1968)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 S.W.2d 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kreis-v-kreis-texapp-1934.