Lester v. Smith

1921 OK 254, 200 P. 780, 83 Okla. 143, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 325
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 28, 1921
Docket11407
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1921 OK 254 (Lester v. Smith) 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
Lester v. Smith, 1921 OK 254, 200 P. 780, 83 Okla. 143, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 325 (Okla. 1921).

Opinion

M|ILLER, J.

This action was commenced in the district court of Carter county by Wesley Lester -and D. E. Booker, as plaintiffs, against C. R. Smith, Marie S. Smith, Mrs. Mary Stuar-d Smith, Will H. Smith, Margaret L. Smith, Charles Robert Smith, Jr., and C. S. Davis, defendants, to recover 120 acres of land situated in Carter county and which was a part of the allotment of the said Wesley Lester, he -being •a Chickasaw Indian of three-eighths blood. The enrollment record shows that he was born on the 21st day of September, 1897. The case >was tried to the court without a jury and resulted in a judgment in favor of the defendants, to reverse which the plaintiffs perfected this appeal an,d appear here as plaintiffs in error. For convenience, the parties will toe referred to as they appeared in the court below.

*144 The facts, briefly stated, are as follows:

Wesley Lester was the son of Ella Williams, who had intermarried with George M. Williams subsequent to the birth of the said ■ Wesley Lester, Ella Williams also had another son, Moran S. Lester, who was about two years older than Wesley. Pour children were born to George M. Williams and Ella Williams. The two Lester boys resided with their mother and stepfather as members of the family, and it appears they were cared for by them .the same as the Williams children.

In February of 1911, George M. Williams instituted proceedings in the county court of Carter county to have himself appointed as guardian of his. minor children, also Moran and Wesley Lester. At this time, and for a long time prior thereto, Williams lived in Carter county with his family, which included the two Lester boys. Letters of guardianship were issued by the county court to George M. Williams as guardian of the two Lester boys and three Williams children.

Thereafter proceedings were instituted by George M. Williams, as guardian, to sell 120 acres of land belonging to Wesley Lester and being a part of his allotment. The land was sold to one of the defendants herein, and is the land in controversy in this action. Certain other conveyances were .made by the defendants in this action and ' this suit was brought to have all of said deeds canceled.

The petition states that the defendants were in the possesion of the land and had been in possession for sis years prior to thé bringing of this action and had received the rents and profits therefrom.

After Wesley Lester became of age and before this suit was instituted, he deeded a one-half interest in this land to his co-plaintiff, D. E. Booker. The plaintiffs contend that the appointment and the proceedings leading up to the appointment of George M. Williams as guardian of Wesley Lester, are void, and for that reason the deed made by Williams, as such guardian, is. likewise void and did not convey any title to the defendants.

■ Plaintiffs make this contention in their brief:

“It appears from the petition of the said George M. Williams as the purported guardian of Wesley Lester that Wesley Lester was at the time of filing said petition over the ajgfebf 14 years; that said Wesley Lester did not appear and consent that the said George M. Williams be appointed as guardian, and, no notice was served upon him that the said George M. Williams would ask to be appointed guardian over his person and estate.
“(b) That at the time of the filing said petition by said George M. Williams, the said Wesley Lester was above the age of 14 years and was living in the care and custody of his mother, Ella Williams; that the said Wesley Lester is the illegitimate son of Ella Williams and that the said Wesley Lester did net nominate George M. Williams as his guardian, nor did he appear in court by a pleading or otherwise by which he gave to the county court of Carter county, jurisdiction to make the appointment; that George Williams was at the time married to Ella Williams and was living with her as her- husband, but the plaintiffs alleged that the appointment of said George M. Williams as guardian of the said Wesley Lester was procured by fraud, in that the said George M. Williams did not procure the written consent of said Wesley Lester to have himself appointed guardian over the said Wesley Lester and the said Wesley Lester did not appear in open court and consent that the said George M. Williams be appointed as guardian; that the said George M. Williams procured the appointment of himself as guardian of the person and estate of the said Wesley Lester in order to secretly obtain the title to the lands allotted the said Wesley Lester, for his own use and benefit or for the use and benefit of some other person.”

The plaintiffs have made several assignments of error, but make their argument and submit their authorities on the following two propositions:

“1st. That the attempted appointment of George M. Williams as guardian of Wesley Lester in 1905, was void, and all _ proceedings pursuant to said appointment, including the deed from George M. Williams to C. R. Smith, are likewise void for the reason that no notice of the appointment was given.
- “2nd. The attempted appointment of George M. Williams as guardian of Wesley Lester in February, 1911, is void and all proceedings pursuant thereto, including the deed of George M. Williams to C. R. Smith, are void for the reason that no notice of the application for appointment was given.”

The first proposition refers to the appointment of George M. Williams as guardian of Moran Lester and Wesley Lester and the Williams children in 1905¿ but we do not believe this has anything to do with the ease, as we conclude the proceedings leading up to the appointment and the appointment of George M. Williams as *145 guardian of Wesley Lester in 1911 are valid; therefore it will be unnecessary to pass upon the question raised by tbe. paragraph marked “1st.”

In the first part of plaintiffs’ brief they claim the appointment was void because Wesley Lester was over 14 years of age and did not nominate George M. Williams as his guardian. They base their argument on the theory that he was not 14 years of age and no notice was served on him of this application or proposed hearing for the appointment of a guardian of his person and estate.

The petition for appointment of guardian filed in the county court of Garter county, omitting the caption, reads as follows:

“In the Matter of the Guardianship of Moran S. Lester, Wesley 'Lester, Orin Williams, Ruth Williams, Geo. Kelton Williams, minors.
“Gomes now Geo. M. Williams and shows to the court that he is a resident of Eox, Carter county, state of Oklahoma, and Moran S. Lester age 16 years, Wesley Lester age 14 years, Orjn Williams, age 10 years, 'Ruth Williams age 7 years, Geo. Kelton Williams, age 5 years. That all of said minors reside with petitioner, near Eox, Carter county, Oklahoma.
“That said named wards have estate of the following general character and value in the counties of Carter, Stephens, Jefferson, Murray, state of Oklahoma, to wit:
“That each of said minors have an allotment of land as members of the Chickasaw Tribe of Indians.

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Bluebook (online)
1921 OK 254, 200 P. 780, 83 Okla. 143, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lester-v-smith-okla-1921.