Nelson v. Wood

137 S.W.2d 929, 199 Ark. 1019, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 86
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedFebruary 19, 1940
Docket4-5788
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 137 S.W.2d 929 (Nelson v. Wood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nelson v. Wood, 137 S.W.2d 929, 199 Ark. 1019, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 86 (Ark. 1940).

Opinion

Holt, J.

Appellants bring this appeal from a decree of the Union chancery court, first division, in which their claim to a certain interest in land was denied and their complaint dismissed for want of equity.

The property involved is a two-thirds interest in a tract of land containing 208 acres.

The plaintiffs below were Hulette F. Nelson, the widow of J. Hansel Nelson, deceased, and three children, James Word Nelson, Mary Lillian Nelson and J. Hansel Nelson, Jr., by his mother and next friend, Hulette F. Nelson.

It is conceded by the parties that the interests, if any, of Mrs. Hnlette F. Nelson and the oldest heir, James Word Nelson, who was twenty-six years of age at the time this suit was filed, are barred by the statute of limitations (§§ 8918 and 8924 of Pope’s Digest) and, therefore, they pass out of this suit. The interests, if any, of Mary Lillian Nelson and J. Hansel Nelson, Jr., minors, remain for determination here.

Appellee, J. J. Wood, was the only defendant below.

Appellants alleged claim to the property as heirs at law of their father, J. Hansel Nelson, deceased.

Appellee, Wood, in his answer claimed the property by reason of a deed from Elmer Nelson, administrator of the estate of J. Hansel Nelson, deceased, dated January 3, 1928. He denied all the allegations of plaintiffs’ complaint and among others set up the following defenses:

“The plaintiff, J. Word Nelson, inherited approximately $3,000 from his mother who died about 1912 or ’13 and following the death of his mother, J. Hansel Nelson, Sr., was by the probate court of Union county, Arkansas, appointed guardian for said plaintiff, who was a minor at said time, and said inheritance was paid over in cash to said guardian. Said funds so received by said guardian for said ward were 'by said guardian invested for his ward in the purchase of the lands described in the complaint from..............................Muse and the deed was made to said guardian. Said guardian at all times recognized said lands as belonging to and the property of his ward, J. Word Nelson, and that he held the title thereto in trust for his said ward, and defendant alleges that in the purchase of said lands by said guardian a trust was created in said property for the benefit of the said J. Word Nelson, and that he was in fact the owner thereof and that J. Hansel Nelson, Sr., nor either of the plaintiffs, Hulette F. Nelson, Mary Lillian Nelson, or J. Hansel Nelson, have at any time owned any interest therein.”

“Said lands were sold . . . for the support, maintenance and education of the plaintiff, J. Word Nelson,” . . . and that the purchase price thereof, $2,-700, was paid to or for the account of the plaintiff, James Word Nelson, and that he is estopped to attack the administrator’s sale.

The material facts as reflected by this record are to the following effect:

J. Hansel Nelson, deceased, father of appellants, was married three times and one child was born to each of these marriages. The first wife, Stella Word Nelson, died in 1911 leaving one child, James Word Nelson. Appellants are children by subsequent marriages. J. Hansel Nelson was appointed guardian of his son, James Word Nelson, in 1911, after the death of his wife, Stella Word Nelson.

Stella Word Nelson was an heir of C. T. Word, whose estate had been administered in Lee county, Arkansas, by E. B. Word as administrator. Stella-Word’s share of this estate had not 'been paid to her at her death. In 1913, E. B. Word as administrator paid to J. Hansel Nelson for the benefit of, and as guardian of, James Word Nelson from Stella Word’s share of the estate, a sum of money variously estimated up to $3,800, but the exact sum is in dispute. This sum, according to E. B. Word, was paid to J. Hansel Nelson, guardian, after Nelson had satisfied Word that he, Nelson, had -been duly appointed guardian of James Word Nelson in Union county, Arkansas. The record reflects that there was deposited in the personal account of J. Hansel Nelson on February 25, 1913, the sum of $2,500 at Junction City, Arkansas.

There is evidence on the part of .appellants that E. B. Word, who was also guardian of .Stella Word in 1911, had paid over to Stella Word Nelson $1,737.39 prior to her death in full settlement of her claims under the various estates, and she had receipted E. B. Word therefor.

E: B. Word testified that Stella Word Nelson had left her inheritance with Word & Boone, a mercantile establishment of Marianna, Arkansas, to be drawn as needed. The exact amount due Stella Word Nelson at her death is not certain.

The record reflects that J. Hansel Nelson received at least $3,000 from E. B. Word as belonging to James Word Nelson, the sole heir of Stella Word Nelson. This is shown by a number of reports made by J. Hansel Nelson, guardian of James Word Nelson, at intervals from 1914 to 1925 in which Nelson listed as the sole and only assets of said minor, the sum of $3,000 in money. This $3,000 with which J. Hansel Nelson, guardian, charged himself in his reports as belonging to James Word Nelson could not be found by Elmer Nelson, administrator of the estate of J. Hansel Nelson, deceased.

It is further in evidence that J. Hansel Nelson, after Stella Word Nelson died, consulted with E. B. Word relative to investing the money of his ward, James Word Nelson, which came to his ward by inheritance from Stella Word Nelson, his mother. J. Hansel Nelson expressed the intention to put this money into, land and E. B. Word advised him that title would have to be taken in James Word Nelson or J. Hansel Nelson would have to qualify in the Union probate court as James Word Nelson’s guardian. J. Hansel Nelson did qualify and was appointed guardian of James Word Nelson February 15, 1913, and Word paid this money over to him. On January 16, 1913, M. P. Muse, et al., grantors, conveyed by deed the property in question to J. Hansel Nelson, which deed was recorded April 2, 1913. J. Hansel Nelson retained the record title to these lands until the time of his death.

Mrs. P. E. Murphy testified that J. Hansel Nelson told her that his minor son, James Word Nelson, had money that “came from the boy’s mother’s estate.” Another witness, S. L. Muse, one of the grantors in the deed to J. Hansel Nelson, testified that he received money “from the estate of his first wife — from Word’s mother.” Another witness, J. A. Nelson, testified that my brother, J. Hansel Nelson, told me she (Stella Word Nelson) did inherit some money from her father or mother.

And quoting from the abstract of the testimony as set out in appellants’ brief: “On February 15, 1911, E. B. Word, guardian of Stella Word Nelson, took a receipt from her for $729.89 in full settlement of his guardianship, and on July 31, 1911, took a receipt from her for $1,007.89 as her distributive share of the estate of her sister (Lena Word) who had died. These sums E. B. Word did not pay to her, but she left them a total of $1,737.29 in the assets of the firm of Word & Boone, subject to her withdrawal.

“Mrs. Murphy further testified that J.

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Bluebook (online)
137 S.W.2d 929, 199 Ark. 1019, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nelson-v-wood-ark-1940.