Pfister v. Johnson

13 F. Supp. 662, 1936 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1513
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 15, 1936
DocketNo. 499
StatusPublished

This text of 13 F. Supp. 662 (Pfister v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pfister v. Johnson, 13 F. Supp. 662, 1936 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1513 (N.D. Okla. 1936).

Opinion

FRANKLIN E. KENNAMER, District Judge.

The plaintiff prosecutes this action to cancel conveyances, quiet title, and for an accounting. By the plaintiff’s bill of complaint it is alleged the defendants assert title to the land in controversy through certain probate proceedings had in the county court of Tulsa county, Okl.; that Emma Drew, plaintiff’s mother, died intestate, February 13, 1913; that she left plaintiff as her sole and only heir; that plaintiff on the date of death of Emma Drew was a minor about two years of age; that the 110 acres of land involved was the homestead of Ernma Drew, deceased; that on March 10, 1913, the county court of Tulsa county appointed S. D. Shirk administrator of the estate of Emma Drew, deceased, and on the same date appointed the same S. D. Shirk guardian of the plaintiff; that on April 8, 1915, Shirk as administrator filed his petition in the county court to sell the 110 acres of land to pay debts and expenses of administration. The petition filed by Shirk is attached to the bill of complaint and made a part thereof. The petition filed by the administrator to obtain the order of sale is silent in describing the real estate sought to be sold as to whether any of it constituted the homestead of the deceased. The bill of complaint alleges that a purported waiver of the heirs of said decedent, and consent, to the order of sale executed by S. D. Shirk, as guardian for Tulsa Drew, the minor heir of said deceased, in effect constituted no process or notice to the minor heir, and that the county court was therefore without jurisdiction to decree the sale of the land involved herein. The bill further charges the administrator with fraud in that he concealed from the county court the fact that the land involved was the homestead of Emma Drew, and not subject to administration or sale for the payment of the debts of the deceased.

The defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the bill. The defendants’ counsel by written brief and oral argument contend that the written waiver signed by the legal guardian waiving notice of a hearing on the administrator’s petition to sell the property is sufficient to dispense with the giving of notice as provided by statute, and if it was not sufficient the proceeding to sell the land involved to pay the debts is a proceeding in rem, and that the giving of notice is merely a procedural step in the proceeding, and the failure to give the notice does not render the proceeding void or subject to collateral attack. Further, that the allegations of the bill in reference to the character of the land as a homestead was adjudicated in the administration proceedings, and that the order of sale and decree of confirmation of the sale cannot he collaterally attacked on the ground that the land was the homestead of the deceased, and as to the fraud pleaded in the bill, that the complaint is wholly insufficient to state a cause of action to avoid the probate proceeding, because the only fraud relied upon is intrinsic fraud and not extrinsic.

[664]*664Volume 1, art. 13, c. 8, §§ 1263 to 1297, inclusive, of Oklahoma Statutes 1931, provide the procedure to be followed in the sale of personal and real property of deceased persons. The statutes authorize the administrator to sell real estate of the deceased for the purpose of paying debts. Section 1276 provides for the filing of proper petition to obtain such order of sale, generally setting forth the condition of the estate and “general description of all the real property except the homestead, of which the decedent died seized.” Section 1277 provides for the hearing of such petition. .The court must enter an order directing all parties interested in the estate to appear before the court at the time and place specified, in not less than four or more than ten weeks from the time of making such order, to show cause why an order granting authority to make the sale should not be granted to the executor or administrator. Section 1278 provides for the posting of the order to show cause in three public places in the county, one of which shall be at the courthouse where the hearing is to be held, and a copy personally served on all persons interested in the estate, and any general guardian of a minor so interested who are residents of the county, at least ten days before the hearing set: “provided, that if all persons interested in the estate join in the petition for the sale, or signify in writing their assent thereto, no notice thereof shall be required and the court shall proceed at once to hear the same.”

Section 1442, Okla.Stats.1931, provides: “Whenever an infant or an insane or incompetent person, has a guardian of his estate residing in this State, personal service upon the guardian of any process, notice, or order of the county court concerning the estate of the deceased person, in which the ward is interested, is equivalent to service upon the ward; and it is the duty of the guardian to attend to the interests of the ward in the matter. Such guardian may also appear for his ward, and waive any process, notice, or order to show cause which an adult or a person of sound mind might do.”

Section 1279 provides: “If all persons interested in said estate do not file in court their written consent to such’ sale, the county court, at the time and place appointed in such order or at any other time to which the hearing may be postponed, upon satisfactory proof of service, * * * of the order to show cause, * * * by affidavit or otherwise, must proceed to hear the petition, and hear and examine the allegations and proofs of the petitioners and of all persons interested in the estate who may oppose the application.”

Then the various sections of the statutes provide for entering proper order where sufficient showing is made upon the hearing.

Section 2, art. 12, of the Oklahoma Constitution declares that the homestead of the family shall be and is hereby protected from forced sale for the payment of the debts, except for the purchase money thereof, for taxes, or material used in improvements thereon, and the owner of such homestead, if married, must have the consent of his or her spouse, given in such manner as prescribed by law for the sale of such homestead.

Section 1223, O.S.1931, provides upon the death of either husband or wife, the survivor may continue to occupy the homestead, which shall not in any event be subject to administration proceedings; and upon the death of both husband and wife the children may continue to possess and occupy the homestead until the youngest child becomes of age.

Section 1225, O.S.1931, provides the homestead is not subject to any debt or liability contracted by or existing against the husband or wife or either of them previous to, or at the time of death, except such as are protected by lien in the laws relating to homesteads.

It appears to be settled under the applicable constitutional and statutory provisions the homestead right upon the death of the deceased inured to the benefit of the plaintiff herein, and according to the allegation of the bill was not subject to administration.

See Pioneer Mortgage Co. v. Carter, 84 Okl. 85, 202 P. 513; Bledsoe v. Green, 138 Okl. 15, 18, 280 P. 301, 303; Miller v. Farmers’ State Bank of Temple, 137 Okl. 183, 279 P. 351, 353. Such property is not an asset of the estate.

It seems to be conceded that the county court has no jurisdiction to order the-sale of the homestead for the payment of debts, but it is argued that the court adjudicated that the property ordered sold [665]*665was not a homestead when the decree was entered.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 F. Supp. 662, 1936 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pfister-v-johnson-oknd-1936.