Mathews v. Autry

65 S.W.2d 798
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 9, 1933
DocketNo. 7882.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 65 S.W.2d 798 (Mathews v. Autry) 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
Mathews v. Autry, 65 S.W.2d 798 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

BAUGH, Justice.

Appeal is from a judgment of the district court in a trial upon certiorari to the county court, involving a claim for services rendered to the former guardian of the estates of Lennie L. Mathews et al., minors, by S. C. Autry, attorney for such guardian.

Mrs. J. C. Mathews, the paternal grandmother of said minors, was appointed guardian of the estates of said minors in July, 1926, after J. H. Mathews, the present guardian and father of said minors, had waived his right to such appointment. It appears that Mrs. J. C. Mathews was wholly inexperienced in such matters, selected S. C. Autry as her attorney, agent, adviser, and business manager in handling the estates of said minors, and left all matters in connection with same entirely in his hands. The lands of said minors were situated in or adjacent to the Yates oil field, and, upon the discovery of oil there, became very valuable, and involved in much litigation. Autry, in addition to representing said guardian in litigation, and under orders of the probate court, sold royalties in said lands aggregating some $262,000, and attended to the collection and investment and reinvestment of same, and paying out the expenses of such guardianship. Mrs. Mathews filed no annual accounts as required by law, and it appears that Autry began handling transactions on behalf of said minors in his own name, depositing considerable portions of their moneys to his personal account, and paying out same by personal checks. In December, 1929, Mrs. J. 0. Mathews, upon motion of J. H. Mathews, her son and father of said minors, was removed, and J. H. Mathews was appointed guardian of the es-. tates of said minors, and qualified as such on December 27, 1929.

On October 25, 1930, ten months after Mrs. Mathews’ removal as guardian, S. O. Autry filed in the probate court, duly verified, what he termed a statement of his account with the estates of said minors, wherein he showed collections of money belonging to said minors and deposited to his personal account, without giving any dates of such collections, sums aggregating $36,472.88; and showing disbursements, likewise undated, for various items, including personal expenses, aggregating $31,152.39. In this statement he also set up a claim for 15 peí-cent. on $262,026.26, sales of royalties in said minors’ lands amounting to $39,303.33, credited this sum with payment by Mrs. J. G. Mathews of $31,140 as attorney’s fees, leaving a balance of $8,163.93, with which he credited the $5,320.49 excess of his collections over his disbursements, leaving a claimed balance due him for services rendered the estates of said minors of $2,843.-44. This statement was approved by the probate court on the same day it was filed and the guardian ordered to pay him such ■ balance. It was never presented as a claim to J. H. Mathews, then guardian, who had no notice of it; nor was it entered on the claim docket of the probate court. The claim and the probate court’s order approving and ordering it paid were attacked on numerous grounds in appellant’s application for cer-tiorari to the district court, and a trial de novo had thereon. In response to special issues submitted, a jury found that the value of S. O. Autry’s services to Mrs, Mathews, guardian, was $30,000; and that he had incurred no necessary expenses in connection with the handling of the estates of said minors. The latter inquiry related to an item of $4,117.25, claimed by Autry as personal expenses on behalf of said estates. On the trial in the district court, Autry admitted having received and deposited to his personal account $4,927.50 belonging to said minors, in addition to the sums shown in his statement filed in the probate court, which sum he alleged and testified that- he had overlooked, giving said estates credit for in his original stated account. ' The district court thereupon restated said account, allowing Autry $30,000' for his services, decreed that same had been paid in the $31,-140 received by him, disallowed the personal expense item of $4,117.25, declined to adjudicate any other items involved in said claim, but left them to be subsequently adjudicated .in proper proceedings in the proper court, and ordered such judgment certified to the probate court for observance.

This appeal' is by the present guardian from that judgment.

Appellant’s first contention is that, because Autry’s claim was never presented to nor allowed by the guardian, nor placed upon the claim docket, the probate court was, without jurisdiction to approve it or to or *800 der its payment; and that therefore the district court could do nothing hut vacate, set .aside, and hold for naught such void order, and was without power to restate such account or claim of Autry.

The method prescribed by statute of establishing the claim of a third party either against an estate of a decedent or that of a minor is to present same to the administrator or to the guardian and have same allowed or rejected, and, if rejected, to establish it by suit' in a court of competent jurisdiction. Chapter 18, title 54 (article 3502 et seq.), and chapter 11, title 69, R. S. 1925 (article 4239 et seq.). If Autry had undertaken to establish his claim in the usual manner as a fixed indebtedness against the estates of the minors, he clearly should have pursued the course • prescribed by the statutes. However, appellant himself has not treated it as the claim of a third party under chapter 11, title 69, R. S. 1925, but rather as an account for attorney’s fees and .expenses incurred in the management and preservation of said estates under* article 4312, R. S. Were it deemed a claim of a third party against the estates of said minors as contemplated in chapter 11, supra, there would be serious doubts as to appellant’s right to review the trial court’s order thereon by certiorari. In guardianship matters it has been held that such review in the district court is by appeal only under article 4252, R. S. See De Cordova v. Rogers, 97 Tex. 60, 75 S. W. 16; Bolton v. Baldwin (Tex. Civ. App.) 57 S.W.(2d) 957, 961; 21 Tex. Jur. 293. But, being governed by article 4312, R. S., compliance by Autry with chapter 11, title 69, relating to presentation and allowance of such claims, was not required, The value of such services not being capable of definite ascertainment in advance, Autry was not required to file his account as such claim. While a better course would perhaps have been to present such statement to the new guardian, failure to do so, did not deprive the probate court of jurisdiction to act upon it. Greer’s Estate v. Cooper (Tex. Civ. App.) 50 S.W.(2d) 345; Rowe v. Dyess (Tex. Com. App.) 213 S. W. 234. The value of such services as Autry rendered and the necessity therefor were both primarily matters for determination by the probate court, rather than by the guardian; and the allowance therefor is in reality one to the guardian, rather than to the attorney. Rowe v. Dyess, supra. Clearly, therefore, the probate court had jurisdiction to pass upon the matter, and article 4312, R. S., makes it the duty of the court to determine by satisfactory proof the necessity for, and value of, the services rendered.

It is true that Autry represented the guardian, not only as attorney, but also in the capacity of adviser in managing the estates of the minors, and as broker in the sale of the minors’ royalties. The right to compensation for services in the latter capacity did not necessarily depend upon authority given to the guardian in advance by order of the probate court to so employ him. While employment of brokers in such cases should be done only when necessary (Jones, Adm’r, v.

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65 S.W.2d 798, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mathews-v-autry-texapp-1933.