Pleasant v. Johnson

367 S.W.2d 173, 1963 Tex. App. LEXIS 2058
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 7, 1963
Docket6609, 6610
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 367 S.W.2d 173 (Pleasant v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pleasant v. Johnson, 367 S.W.2d 173, 1963 Tex. App. LEXIS 2058 (Tex. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

McNEILL, Justice.

This is a suit brought to set aside two instruments made between certain persons claiming to be heirs at law and devisees of the property of the Estate of Myrtle (Mertie) Bridgeman Pleasant. The suit was instituted by William Doxey Pleasant, Thelma Pleasant Smith and Lois Pleasant Simonton, individually and as administrators with will annexed of the Estate of Myrtle (Mertie) Bridgeman Pleasant, deceased, appellants, against Kathleen Abbott Fox and husband, F. N. Fox, W. T. Moore, Jr,, Hattie Moore Nolen, a feme sole, Hebert Moore, Sallie Ann Moore Schofield and husband, Noel Schofield, Carl W. Wall, Dr. William A. Smith, J. Welton Miller and wife, Flora K. Miller, Sidney M. Johnson, Sr. and wife, Grace A. Johnson, Alberdina Ruysenaars, a feme sole, Bruno A. Roll and wife, Clara Belle Roll, D. F. Sanders, Alto V. Watson, individually and as Independent Executor of the Estate of Emily Smith Watson, deceased, John Land and John P. Blair, appellees. Appellants alleged that they were the beneficiaries under the will of Ed J. Pleasant, the surviving husband of Mrs. Myrtle Bridgeman Pleasant; and that the defendants were claiming the title to the property of the said Ed J. Pleasant through two certain deeds or instruments set out below. It was alleged that the instruments sought to be set aside were not compromise settlement agreements but were merely partition deeds, and that since the appellees own no title to any part of the property their joinder in the partition deeds was without effect.

It was further alleged that all of the parties thereto mistakenly believed that the fee simple title to all of said lands and premises were in others than only and solely the said Ed J. Pleasant, or, in the alternative, the said Ed J. Pleasant at the time of the execution of said deeds mistakenly believed that the fee simple title to all of said lands and premises were in others than solely and only himself, for the reason that they, or, in the alternative, he did not know at said time that there existed a last will and testament of his wife, Myrtle Bridgeman Pleasant, devising to said Ed J. Pleasant fee simple title in and to said lands and premises and that he, the said Ed J. Pleasant, was the sole beneficiary under said will.

Appellees filed answers and cross-actions relying upon the instruments sought to be canceled by appellants. Both sides filed motions for summary judgment and after hearing thereon the Court sustained those of appellees and denied appellants’. Because of this, they appeal.

Appellants’ brief tersely and accurately summarizes the events leading to this lawsuit. We quote, therefore, from their brief:

“The winding course of events which has eventually led us here had its inception on January 14, 1922. For it was then that F. W. Bridgeman and1 his then -wife, Mertie Bridgeman, executed a joint will which was to rise again thirty-five years later under the *175 guise of a binding contract. Thereafter, F. W. Bridgeman died on February 13, 1938. The will of January 14,1922, devising his entire estate to his wife, was probated. Mertie Bridgeman later married Ed J. Pleasant, and on December 17, 1949, they each executed separate wills in the offices of O’Fiel & O’Fiel at Beaumont. On August S, 1956 Mertie Bridgeman Pleasant died, and on September 11, 1956, her husband, Ed J. Pleasant, filed his oath as administrator of her estate apparently believing either that his wife’s will of December 17, 1949 had been revoked or simply having forgotten about it.
“But on March 5, 1957, the Bridge-man will of January 14, 1922, was filed for probate by appellee Hebert Moore as the last will and testament of Mertie Bridgeman Pleasant, contending that said will was joint and mutual as a binding contractual agreement between F. W. Bridgeman and his then wife, Mertie Bridgeman, and that by virtue thereof, he and appellee Kathleen Abbott Fox were entitled to share in Mrs. Pleasant’s estate as sole devisees under said will. This, even though said will unequivocally reads that their rights thereunder were contingent upon the simultaneous deaths of the Bridgemans.
“At this point, the relationship of the parties Appellee to Mertie Bridge-man Pleasant should be made clear. Kathleen Abbott Fox is the purported adopted (by estoppel) daughter. Hebert Moore is a brother. Hattie Moore Nolen is a sister. W. T. Moore, Jr. and Sallie Ann Moore Schofield are a nephew and niece respectively. Prior to August 8, 1957, these persons gathered in concern over the property belonging to Mrs. Pleasant at her death, most of which was her separate real property. And on this date — August 8, 1957 — they, their attorneys and Mrs. Pleasant’s husband, Ed J. Pleasant, individually but not as administrator of .his deceased wife’s estate, executed an instrument relative to said real property.
“Thereafter, on September 9, 1957, another such instrument was executed, again by Ed J. Pleasant only in his individual capacity and the above named persons with the exception of Kathleen Abbott Fox and husband, F. N. Fox, Hebert Moore and their attorneys, D. F. Sanders and Alto V. Watson.
“It is around these two instruments which this appeal principally revolves.
“On October 16, 1957 in the probate proceedings commenced by Hebert Moore re the old Bridgeman will, an order of the probate court was entered denying the probate of said will and adjudicating that Mertie Bridgeman Pleasant died intestate. Shortly afterward, on October 21, 1957, Ed J. Pleasant died.
“But this was not the end of the matter for on May 7, 1960 as one Ruth Holloman was cleaning the old Pleasant home on French Road in Beaumont, she discovered a worn envelope containing the will of Mertie Bridge-man Pleasant dated December 17, 1949. This will naming Ed J. Pleasant as sole devisee, was admitted to probate on July 22, 1960 and Appellants William Doxey Pleasant, Thelma Pleasant Smith and Lois Pleasant Simonton qualified as administrators cum testa-mento annexo.
“Thus by this unusual turn of events were the matters here in dispute conceived. It should be added that nowhere is there to be found any evidence of fraud or misdealings, nor has any such contention been raised.”

Additional facts will be set out under various propositions hereinafter discussed.

It is first contended by appellants that the instruments executed dated August 8, 1957 and September 9, 1957, were not com *176 promise settlement agreements, but were mere partition deeds. The pertinent parts of the instrument of August 8, 1957 are:

"THE STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OE JEFFERSON KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:
“That Myrtle Bridgeman Pleasant (sometimes called Mertie Bridgeman Pleasant) resided in Jefferson County, Texas, during her lifetime, and until she died in Jefferson County, Texas, on August 5, 1956;
“and WHEREAS, the said Myrtle Bridgeman Pleasant was first married to F. W. Bridgeman who died testate in Jefferson County, Texas, on February 13, 1938 ;
“and WHEREAS, prior to his death the said F. W.

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

Related

1st Coppell Bank v. Smith
742 S.W.2d 454 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Johnson v. Americana Motel
604 S.W.2d 293 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Forister v. Coleman
418 S.W.2d 550 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1967)
Orr v. Pope
400 S.W.2d 614 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1966)
Nixon v. Johnson
409 P.2d 405 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
367 S.W.2d 173, 1963 Tex. App. LEXIS 2058, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pleasant-v-johnson-texapp-1963.