Miller v. Gratz

3 Tenn. App. 498, 1926 Tenn. App. LEXIS 128
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedAugust 7, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 3 Tenn. App. 498 (Miller v. Gratz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Gratz, 3 Tenn. App. 498, 1926 Tenn. App. LEXIS 128 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

PORTRUM, J.

This lawsuit involves the construction of the will of Joseph S. Gratz, who died in Cook county, Illinois, in the year 1903, owing certain real estate located on Broad & Church streets in Knoxville, Tennessee, which was encumbered at the time of his death by a trust deed securing a note of J. S. Gratz for the sum of $2000, which note was made payable to the bene *500 ficiary in the .trust deed, Lee McClnng, the trustee named in the deed being' John W. Green, of Knoxville.

The estate of Joseph S. Gratz was administered in the county court of Waukesha county, State of Wisconsin, where Minnie Obermeyer was appointed administrator of the estate with the will annexed.

Joseph S. Gratz left his wife, Augusta M. Gratz surviving, who was the principal beneficiary under the terms of the will, it being conceded that she took a one-half undivided interest in the real estate located in Tennessee, because she was given an unlimited power of disposition as to a one-half undivided interest. But it is insisted that she took only a life estate in a moiety of the property, the remaining interest in this moiety going, upon her death, to the nearest living relative of her deceased husband, J. S. Gratz. The complainant represents herself to be that nearest living relative, and, since Augusta M. Gratz died in the year 1923, then the complainant is the owner of a one-half undivided interest in the property, and is entitled to possession or a partition of the property.

The defendant, E. A. Gymes, claims to be the owner in fee of the aforesaid property, claiming through a chain of title based upon a deed to him from A. G. Kyle, who in turn acquired the property from a sister of Mrs. Augusta M. Gratz, namely, Bertha Scherf, and that she in turn acquired the property through a deed from her sister, Augusta M. Gratz, and Augusta M. Gratz, widow of Joseph S. Gratz, claimed the fee in the property by reason of a trustee’s deed exeeiited by John W. Green in a foreclosure proceeding under the deed of' trust executed by hex husband, Joseph S. Gratz, to secure the note aforesaid of $2000 to Lee McClung. It being shown that said trust deed provided that in default in the payment of interest before the maturity of the note, then the principal obligation should become immediately due, authorizing the foreclosure of the trust deed, and the said Augusta M. Gratz, life tenant of a one-half undivided interest, as insisted, declined to pay the interest when due, and permitted the acceleration of the maturity of the note, and a foreclosure under the trust deed, when she became the purchaser of the property at the sum of $3500, paying in cash $2128, the principal, interest and attorney’s fees due on the note, and the balance of $1372 being secured by a vendor’s lien in the interest of the trustee. This last balance was receipted as paid by the trustee and released on the record, Mrs. Augusta M. Gratz. presenting an order or decree of the county court of Waukesha county, Wisconsin, adjudging that she is entitled to said fund or judgment for such amount as a part of her allowance as a *501 widow, and also in repayment of certain debts paid by her due from the estate of her husband.

Mrs. Augusta M. Gratz never dissented from the will of her husband. The complainant insists that she acquired no title, or what title she did acquire under the deed from the trustee, John W. Green to her at the foreclosure proceeding, inured to the benefit of the complainant. That is, that it is the duty of a life tenant to pay all interest accruing under an incumbrance resting upon the estate, and when the life tenant violates this duty and procures a foreclosure, or does not prevent a foreclosure, but becomes a purchaser of the property at the foreclosure proceeding, then she holds the estate in the same manner as before the foreclosure, except possibly having the additional right to require the remainderman to reimburse her for the fund expended in the protection of the estate to the extent of the remainderman’s interest protected.

The defendants defend upon the further ground that the complainant has not established that she is in fact the nearest living-relative entitled to take the property under the terms of the will of Joseph S. Gratz, averring that Mr. Gratz left in the Empire of Germany two living children, a son and a daughter. This defense will be disposed of first. ,

The 'Chancellor found as a fact that Jennie Gratz Miller, the complainant, is a sister and the nearest relation of Joseph S. Gratz, deceased, who was living at the date of the death of the wife of Joseph S. Gratz, namely, Augusta M. Gratz. We have the testimony of the complainant, Jennie Gratz Miller, that she is a sister of Joseph S. Gratz, and that she was associated with him during the greater part of their lives and was in a position to know the family history. It appears that the Gratz children were orphaned in Germany prior to the Civil War, and that they were scattered among different relatives. An older brother, L. A. Gratz, first came to America and served as a major in the Civil War on the side of the Union. He later moved to the city of Knoxville and was a distinguished lawyer there until his death. The complainant left Germany when a young girl and came to America about the close of the Civil War. Her brother, Jos. S. Gratz came to America about the year 1872, and after spending a few years in the west also came to Knoxville, where his brother and the complainant were located, and lived there for several years in intimate family relationship with the complainant and his brother. He married in the city of Knoxville, but it appears his family and his wife were not very congenial and after a few years he moved to the city of Chicago. During all of this association the complainant, Mrs. Jennie Gratz Miller, states that she never heard of the existence of any children of her brother, J. S. Gratz. When she learned of the *502 claims of the defendants that a son and daughter were horn to Joseph S. Gratz in Germany, and who resided in Zielenzig about the year 1872, she undertook to locate said children, as we believe for the purpose of substituting them for herself in this lawsuit, as we gather from. the following letter.

“Knoxville, Tenn., May 19/25.
“Mr. Mack Gratz
&
“Miss Jennie Gratz,
“Zielenzig, Germany.
“Dear Sir & Madam:—
“Are you the children of Jos. S. Gratz now deceased, who formerly lived in Chicago, III., U. S. A., and if so, what proof can you furnish regarding same.
“Has a settlement been made with you, which is customary in Foreign Countries, and what legal proceedings took place?
“Please let me have an answer to this letter at once, and after receiving same, I will explain to you in detail the reason I request this information.
“If you are the children of J. S. Gratz you are my brother’s children.
“Thanking you for an early reply, I am
“Yours truly,
“Mrs. Jennie Gratz Miller.”

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

Related

Ogle v. Ogle
880 S.W.2d 668 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1994)
Young v. Young
349 S.W.2d 545 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1961)
Roten v. Hicks
338 S.W.2d 225 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1960)
Bedford v. Megel
301 S.W.2d 537 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1957)
Morrow v. Person
259 S.W.2d 665 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1953)
McGee v. Carter
212 S.W.2d 902 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1948)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 Tenn. App. 498, 1926 Tenn. App. LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-gratz-tennctapp-1926.