Paysse v. Paysse

150 P. 622, 86 Wash. 349, 1915 Wash. LEXIS 1011
Washington Supreme Court·Decided July 22, 1915·No. No. 11986·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Parker, J.

The plaintiffs, Sibbie and Alexis Paysse, seek

to be decreed the owners of an undivided five-sixths’ interest in a number of lots in the city of Seattle, and a tract of land in King county, as against the claims of the defendant, Mattie T. Paysse, their stepmother. A trial was had in the superior court, resulting in a decree which, for our present purpose, may be regarded as awarding to the plaintiffs an undivided five-sixths’ interest in all of the lots and an undivided one-half interest in the land. A somewhat different disposition was made of five of the lots, which we think may be disregarded here. From this disposition of the cause, both the plaintiffs and the defendant have appealed to this court.’

[350]*350The plaintiffs rest their claimed right to the property upon the theory that it is all the community property, or rather the product of the community property, of their deceased mother and father; claiming an undivided one-half interest under the will of their mother devising to them her one-half community interest, and claiming an undivided two-thirds of their father’s one-half community interest, by inheritance from him; making in all the undivided five-sixths’ interest claimed by them.

The defendant claims to be the absolute owner of the land by virtue of a deed of conveyance to her from her deceased husband, the father of the plaintiffs, upon the theory that the land was, at the time of the conveyance, his separate property, or the community property of himself and the defendant; and claims an undivided interest in the lots upon the theory that they were, at the time of her husband’s death, the community property of herself and husband, or were in any event the separate property of her husband, resulting in her interest therein at the time of his death, he dying intestate, being greater than a one-sixth.

Sylvan Paysse came to Seattle about'the year 1889, bringing his family, consisting of his wife, Mary Paysse, and their two small boys, these plaintiffs, who are the only children they ever had. During the years following, up until 1903, Sylvan Paysse and his wife accumulated considerable property. We think it plain from the record that in 1903 all of the property he possessed was the community property of himself and wife, Mary Paysse, who died in September, 1903, leaving a nonintervention will devising her interest in the community property, except a small portion thereof specifically devised, as follows:

“All the rest, residue and remainder of my property, whether real, personal or mixed, and wheresoever situated, I give, devise and bequeath to my said husband, Sylvan Paysse, for life only, however, and while he remains unmarried, and upon his death, or in case of his marriage, it is my will that [351]*351the title to all of said property so willed to him shall immediately vest in my two sons, Alexis Paysse and S. P. P. Paysse, share and share alike, free and clear from any and all claims of my said husband. It being my intention to give to my said husband the use and profit of said property during his lifetime, unless he should remarry.”

Executors were appointed and settlement of the estate provided for in the will as follows:

“I hereby nominate and appoint, as the executors of this my last will and testament my husband, Sylvan Paysse, and my two sons, Alexis Paysse and S. P. P. Paysse, and direct that they execute their trust without the intervention of any court.”

Proceedings were had in the superior court for King county so far as was necessary to prove and establish the will, file an inventory, and give notice to and protect the rights of creditors, in pursuance of Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1444 (P. C. 409 § 283). In October, 1904, at the expiration of the year for the presentation of creditors’ claims, upon a showing of no claims having been presented, an order was entered distributing the property, substantially in the language of the will, with no specific or even general description of the property passing to Sylvan Paysse and his sons under the residuary clause of the will above quoted. While the plaintiffs were named in the will as executors with their father, they deferred wholly to him the taking of such court proceedings as were necessary, and also the entire management of the property of the estate both before and after the court’s order of distribution. At the time of the order of distribution in 1904, the plaintiffs were twenty-four and twenty-eight years old, respectively. It is true they signed the inventory and other court papers with their father, as was necessary from time to time, but they did so by direction of their father, giving no thought or attention to the contents of the papers so signed, except that they were papers pertaining to'the estate, because of confidence in their father and [352]*352out of deference to his judgment as to what was necessary in that behalf. Neither of the plaintiffs were ever present at the preparation of any of these papers, nor at the consultation of counsel touching the affairs of the estate. The total value of the estate, as shown by the inventory and appraisement so filed, was $3,435.

At the time of the death of Mary Paysse, there was personal property belonging to the community estate of the approximate value of $10,000, which was not included in the inventory and appraisement. About half of this omitted property was in the form of certificates evidencing bank deposits, the existence of which was unknown to the plaintiffs until near the time of the commencement of this action, and about one-half was in the form of a grocery business and stock of goods which the plaintiffs claimed some interest in as partners. For some seven or eight years prior to the death of Mary Paysse, the plaintiffs had assisted in the running of this business. Indeed, it had during those years been built up from quite a small business to one of considerable proportions, largely through the individual efforts of the plaintiffs. There was, however, no written evidence of the plaintiffs having any partnership interest therein, though the manner in which it was conducted does in some degree point to a partnership interest therein by the plaintiffs. This, however, is of but little consequence here, except possibly as excusing, with other circumstances, the neglect of the plaintiffs in their omission of it from the inventory, in so far as such omission may be attributed to their neglect. Plainly their neglect did not cause the omissions of the bank deposits from the inventory, since they had no knowledge thereof. In the faff of 1904, about a year after the death of their mother, their father sold the grocery business and stock of goods, receiving therefor some four or five thousand dollars.

In May, 1905, Sylvan Paysse married Alice Cowan; thus putting an end to his life estate and all his interest in the [353]*353one-half of the community property with which his former wife, Mary Paysse, had died seized, and which she had devised to her sons, the plaintiffs, subject to the defeasible life estate devised to her husband, Sylvan Paysse, as above noticed. This marriage was thereafter terminated by a decree of divorce. Thereafter, in 1908, Sylvan Paysse married the defendant, Mattie T. Paysse. On November 15,1912, Sylvan Paysse conveyed by deed to Mattie T. Paysse the tract of land here involved, which he had theretofore acquired, as we have concluded, with funds derived from the community estate of himself and Mary Paysse, and which funds he held in trust for himself and his sons, the plaintiffs.

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