Matter of Estate of Blankenship

1977 OK CIV APP 47, 571 P.2d 874, 1977 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 157
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 4, 1977
DocketNo. 49820
StatusPublished

This text of 1977 OK CIV APP 47 (Matter of Estate of Blankenship) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matter of Estate of Blankenship, 1977 OK CIV APP 47, 571 P.2d 874, 1977 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 157 (Okla. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

ROMANG, Judge:

This case was commenced in 1946 in the County Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, to probate the Last Will and Testament of G. T. Blankenship who died on October 7, 1946 as a resident of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. His heirs, devisees and legatees were his widow, Daisy D. Blankenship, and two children, G. T. Blankenship, Jr., and Eudeana Blankenship Newcomb.

Daisy D. Blankenship was appointed executrix as provided by the Will, and she served in that capacity throughout the probate in the County Court. The estate included real properties and producing oil and gas leases. Three of the leases were in Texas and Mr. Blankenship owned them in partnership with former Governor Trapp.

The issues on this appeal relate to the widow’s allowance and the three oil and gas properties located in the State of Texas which were devised in trust to the children.

The Final Report and Petition for Distribution and Discharge, which is 48 pages in length, was filed on June 7, 1954. The daughter and her husband, as her trustee, hereinafter referred to as objectors, filed Exceptions to Final Report. Hearings were held and briefs were submitted, after which the Honorable C. J. Blinn, Judge of the County Court of Oklahoma, who heard this case throughout the entire probate proceedings, entered a four-page letter decision on February 11, 1957, approving the Final Report after making certain adjustments. The objectors filed Notice of Appeal to the District Court on February 21, 1957. Thereafter, on April 23, 1957, a Final Decree of over 24 pages in length was filed.

No action was taken on the appeal to the District Court until in 1975, when G. T. Blankenship, Jr., as Conservator of the Es[876]*876tate of Daisy D. Blankenship, a disabled person, attempted to have it dismissed for want of prosecution and laches. A hearing was held in the District Court before the Honorable David M. Cook on October 20, 1975, during which counsel for objectors agreed that the hearing would be limited to questions of law. Thereafter, briefs were submitted. On May 14, 1976, Judge Cook entered an Order and Judgment wherein the exceptions of the objectors were overruled and denied, and the Order Approving Final Account, Determination of Heirship and Decree of Distribution entered by Judge C. J. Blinn on February 11,1957, was affirmed in all respects. The objectors have appealed from that Order and Judgment.

On January 3, 1977, Daisy D. Blankenship died. On February 10, 1977, G. T. Blankenship, Jr., Executor of the Estate of Daisy D. Blankenship, deceased, was substituted as the appellee in this appeal.

Objectors present as their first proposition of error, the following:

1. Error of the court in allowing and ordering widow’s allowance for more than 90 days.

In the County Court on October 26, 1946, Judge Blinn had ordered the widow’s allowance to be effective “during the administration of [the] estate.” In this connection, the Final Decree contains the following:

In October, 1946, an order was made allowing her as surviving widow of said deceased a widow’s allowance of $750.00 per month. Effective August 1, 1952, this allowance was reduced to $450.00 a month and extended through January, 1954. As of February 11,1957, there was due and unpaid on said allowance the sum of $8,100.00, no part of which, has been paid, and she is hereby authorized to pay said balance out of any available funds on hand.

In Crane v. Howard, 206 Okl. 447, 244 P.2d 559 (1952), the opinion reads:

As above noted, the order for widow’s allowance to Birdie Crane was for a sum certain per month “until said estate is closed.”

The statute authorizing the making of such an allowance provides:

“ * * * the court may in its discretion make such reasonable allowance out of the estate as shall be necessary for the maintenance of the family, according to their circumstances during the progress of the settlement of the estate * * 58 O.S.1951, § 314.

In Salter v. Continental Casualty Co., 194 Okl. 26, 146 P.2d 824, it was held:

“An order for a widow’s allowance is a final order that stands until it expires by its own terms, or if not limited, until vacated upon proper proceedings, unless it is apparent from the administration proceedings that the estate is insolvent at the time the order is made, in which case it is limited to one year by 58 O.S.1941, § 314.”

Here, the estate was solvent, so the one year limitation did not apply. We hold that it was proper for the widow’s allowance to be paid for the duration of the probate.

The objectors present as their second proposition the following:

2. Error of the court in holding that the widow’s allowance, even if properly allowed in Oklahoma was enforcible against lands of the decedent in another state.

Objectors assert as follows:

It is our contention that the law of the State of Texas is applicable to and controls the Texas oil properties included in the trust for decedent’s children created under the Will. These properties in Texas under the Texas law constitute real estate, and the oil runs and the proceeds thereof are a part of the corpus of the trust and are controlled under the law applicable to real estate, and for such purpose are recognized as real estate.
* Sfc ⅜! ifc ⅜ ⅝
There can be no question that under the Law of Texas a family allowance cannot be paid in excess of one (1) year, and no such allowance shall be made to a [877]*877widow when she has adequate separate property for her maintenance.

The asserted law of Texas is not the law of Oklahoma, which governs in this Oklahoma probate. In re Foreman’s Estate, 59 Okl. 1, 157 P. 279 (1916), the opinion reads:

The estate is solvent; . . . The widow’s allowance is a right which, in proper cases, it is mandatory upon the court to recognize, (Citation omitted) and the allowance is to be made even though the widow have property of her own ample to support her, and irrespective of a partial distribution. (Citations omitted) The order making the allowance is final, unless appealed from, and cannot be collaterally attacked upon settlement of an administrator’s account.

And in Crane v. Howard, supra, the court said:

It is well settled that an order for a widow’s allowance is a final order, unless appealed from, and cannot be collaterally attacked upon settlement of an administrator or executor’s account. In re Foreman’s Estate, 59 Okl. 1, 157 P. 279.

Here, the objectors failed to appeal the order for the widow’s allowance, so they cannot attack it by filing exceptions to the Final Account and then appeal an adverse ruling.

The third assignment of error is the following:

3.

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Related

Crane v. Howard
1952 OK 202 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1952)
Salter v. Continental Casualty Co.
1943 OK 374 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1943)
In Re Foreman's Estate
1916 OK 447 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1916)

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1977 OK CIV APP 47, 571 P.2d 874, 1977 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-estate-of-blankenship-oklacivapp-1977.