Marks v. Brightwell

114 So. 2d 268, 269 Ala. 506, 1959 Ala. LEXIS 536
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 25, 1959
Docket3 Div. 853
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 114 So. 2d 268 (Marks v. Brightwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marks v. Brightwell, 114 So. 2d 268, 269 Ala. 506, 1959 Ala. LEXIS 536 (Ala. 1959).

Opinions

MERRILL, Justice.

This appeal is from a decree based upon a petition of the executors of the estate of Guy R. Brightwell, deceased, requesting instructions on various questions encountered in the administration of the estate, a demurrer, plea, answer and cross-petition of appellants.

Ethel Marks Brightwell died in 1922, leaving a will in which she left certain real and personal property to her husband, Guy R. Brightwell, hereinafter referred to as Brightwell, for life, with remainder to her brother, William Marks, if living, or if not living, to his children. The children of William Marks are the appellants in this cause. Certain specific bequests were also made in the will and the residue of the estate went to Brightwell. The will named Brightwell executor without being required to make a bond, inventory, report or returns, and gave him the power of sale of the property for reinvestment in which he held a life estate.

It is conceded that the following property passed to Brightwell, for life, with remainder to appellants: (1) Registered Liberty Bonds, 4th Series, par value $35,000; (2) a residence at 420 Bibb Street in Montgomery; (3) undivided interests in four parcels of commercial real estate in Birmingham.

Brightwell died August 9, 1957. His will was admitted to probate in September and' letters testamentary were issued to his second wife, Jule R. Brightwell, and the First National Bank of Montgomery, hereinafter referred to as appellees.

The petition for instructions filed by appellees concerned bequests in both the will of Ethel Brightwell and the will of Guy R. Brightwell, and the decree dealt with other bequests not discussed in this opinion. This, appeal concerns only those parts of the decree of the lower court affecting the property which was devised to appellants as remaindermen. The other devisees and interested parties did not appeal.

Appellees sought instructions on, among others, the following questions :

1. Were the owners of the remainder in the Liberty bonds entitled to all the interest thereon, becoming due since the death of Guy R. Brightwell?

2. Were appellants entitled to reimbursement from Brightwell’s estate for funds-used by him as life tenant from the corpus of the life estate in improving the life estate?

3. Should rents on property held by Brightwell for life have been apportioned [509]*509to the date of his death between the estate of Brightwell and the remaindermen?

Appellants filed a demurrer raising the question that the Ethel Brightwell estate should be settled independently of the Guy R. Brightwell estate, and an answer and cross-bill alleging that Ethel Marks Bright-well, at her death, owned $5,500 worth of Victory Liberty Loan notes which passed for life to Guy R. Brightwell with remainder to appellants and should be accounted for; that neither the expenses for improvements to the property nor the tax on the Laura Marks estate, all as shown on said Guy R. Brightwell’s memorandum, should have been charged to the corpus of the life estate and that those amounts should be paid to appellants; that all the assets held by Brightwell for life, with remainder to appellants, were not assets of the Guy R. Brightwell estate but were, under the provisions of the will of Ethel Brightwell, a part of her estate held by Guy R. Brightwell during his lifetime in a dual capacity as trustee (by virtue of his being life tenant with the appellants remaindermen) and as executor (by virtue of the provision in the will that the life estate property should be held in Ethel Marks Brightwell’s estate until Guy R. Brightwell’s death); and that all assets found by the court to have belonged to the estate of Ethel Marks Brightwell, at the death of Guy R. Brightwell, should be given appellants.

The guardian ad litem appointed by the court to represent the interest of any minors possibly interested filed a plea raising, among other things, the issue of applicability of the statute of non-claim (Tit. 61, § 214, Code 1940). Appellants filed their answer and cross-bill in this cause after the expiration of the six months period from the date of the issuance of letters testamentary in the estate of Guy R. Brightwell.

Appellants contend that the trial court erred when it (1) overruled the demurrer, and after a hearing, (2) denied appellants’ cross-bill seeking an accounting from Guy R. Brightwell’s estate of that property held by him for life with remainder to appellants; held that (3) appellants were not entitled to all the interest on certain bonds, but that Brightwell’s estate should receive the pro rata interest accrued up to the time of his death, (4) appellants were not entitled to reimbursement for funds used by Brightwell to improve the life estate, (5) appellants were not entitled to rents for the month in which the life tenant died which were collected prior to his death, though a portion was earned between the date of his death, August 9, and August 31, 1957.

The first assignment of error charges that the court erred in overruling the demurrer which was based on the theory that the Ethel Brightwell estate should be settled separately from the Guy R. Brightwell estate. The question presented by this assignment is not whether appellants were entitled to an accounting; but whether they were entitled to a separate accounting under Tit. 61, § 320, primarily, and Tit. 61, Article 17, Chapter 2, Subdivision 3, generally.

Appellees have not attempted to withhold an accounting from appellants. Immediately after Brightwell’s death, they made available to appellants all memoranda and information in their possession. In addition to this, the original petition in effect seeks to account to the appellants for the proceeds of the sales of the properties held by Brightwell for life, and also seeks settlement of any liability which Bright-well’s estate might then owe to appellants arising out of such transactions. All the parties are before the court in this equity proceeding and appellants could certainly obtain all the relief in equity that they could have obtained at law. Furthermore, the petition reflects, and appellants concede in brief, that it would have been impracticable for appellees to account for Brightwell’s acts outside of the proceeding relating to his own estate for the reason that the funds of the fiduciary account have been commingled with the personal funds of the deceased fiduciary and his personal representatives have in good faith taken possession of the commingled property. In [510]*510view of the fact that all the proceedings were before the equity court and that court could give all necessary relief, the demurrer was properly overruled.

The next question can be treated under two headings — (1) The $5,500 Victory Loan notes and (2) The Bibb Street Property.

(1) In her will, Ethel Brightwell provided :

“I give and bequeath to my husband, Guy R. Brightwell, for the use of his natural life, the use, benefit, rentals and returns from all real estate that I may own at time of my death, excepting that specifically disposed of in other clauses of this will, and also the use, interest and returns from the Registered Liberty Bonds (or funds invested in them which may be invested in other securities later) I may own at time of my death. My husband to have full benefit of said real estate and bonds during his life, with the privilege of selling the same, either or both, for reinvestment, if for any reason he at any time may consider a sale or exchange advisable.

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Bluebook (online)
114 So. 2d 268, 269 Ala. 506, 1959 Ala. LEXIS 536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marks-v-brightwell-ala-1959.