Satterwhite v. Commercial Bank, Unincorporated of Mason

402 S.W.2d 789, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2674
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 27, 1966
DocketNo. 11393
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 402 S.W.2d 789 (Satterwhite v. Commercial Bank, Unincorporated of Mason) 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
Satterwhite v. Commercial Bank, Unincorporated of Mason, 402 S.W.2d 789, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2674 (Tex. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

ARCHER, Chief Justice.

This is a suit by appellant Satterwhite for reformation and in the alternative to have cancelled a deed from Jeffie Henrietta Satterwhite to appellee Commercial Bank, at least insofar as the deed affected an undivided one fourth interest in a 921.78 acre ranch, in Bell County, Texas, claimed by appellant and for recovery of title.

Both appellant Satterwhite and appellee Bank filed motions for summary judgment.

Upon a hearing the trial court sustained appellee’s motion and denied appellant all relief, including his motion for summary judgment, and judgment was entered against Bill H. Satterwhite and Maryland Casualty Company, the surety on his cost bond.

The land in litigation was the community property of David S. Satterwhite, deceased, and Jeffie Henrietta Satterwhite, the surviving widow.

David S. Satterwhite by his will left all of his property to his widow and two sons. The will, in essential parts, is as follows:

“SECOND. I desire to state that all of the property that I now own is the community property of myself and my wife, Jeffie Henrietta Satterwhite.
THIRD. I give, devise and bequeath all of my property, both real and personal, that I may die possessed of, of every nature and kind after payment of my just debts, to my beloved wife, Jeffie Henrietta Satterwhite, to have and to hold the same for and during her natural life, to use as she sees proper, with remainder over and after her death to our two children, namely, Bill H. Satterwhite and Clay T. Satterwhite, and such other children as may be born to us, and their legitimate bodily heirs, share and share alike.
FOURTH. And my wife, Jeffie Henrietta Satterwhite, shall use her own judgment and pleasure in making any advances, loans, or help to any of my children, and such advances, loans or help so made, shall be charged up to the one receiving same and shall be deducted in the [791]*791final settlement. I furthermore give my wife full authority to sell, transfer and assign any portion of my estate, real or personal, the purchaser shall he under no duty to see that the proceeds of the sale are disbursed in accordance with this will.
FIFTH. In the event of my wife’s marriage, I desire and so will and direct, that all of my part of the estate on hand at the time of such marriage, be then divided equally among my surviving children or their legitimate bodily heirs.”

Mrs. Satterwhite entered into a contract of sale with The Commercial Bank of “all her right, title and interest in and to” a certain 920 acres of land, more or less, for an agreed price of $26,000.00.

Mrs. Satterwhite executed a deed to ap-pellee bank, which she signed individually only and which, except for formal parts and the description, is as follows:

“THE STATE OF TEXAS COUNTY OF BELL KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:
THAT I, Jeffie Henrietta Satterwhite, individually, and as Executrix of the estate of David S. Satterwhite, deceased, of the County of Bell, State of Texas, for and in consideration of the sum of TWENTY SIX THOUSAND AND NO/100 ($26,000.00) DOLLARS to me in hand paid by The Commercial Bank, Unincorporated of Mason, Texas, a partnership consisting of C. Victor Thornton, Lloyd Thornton and Ed H. Winton, Jr., the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged and for which no lien either express or implied is retained, have GRANTED, SOLD AND CONVEYED and by these presents do GRANT, SELL AND CONVEY unto the said The Commercial Bank, Unincorporated, a partnership consisting of C. Victor Thornton, Lloyd Thornton and Ed H. Winton, Jr., the following described tracts of land, to-wit:
⅝ ⅝ ⅝ íjí íjí ⅜
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, the above described premises, together with all and singular the rights and appurtenances thereto in anywise belonging unto the said The Commercial Bank, Unincorporated, its successors and assigns forever. And I do hereby bind myself, my heirs, executors and administrators to WARRANT AND FOREVER DEFEND, all and singular the said premises unto the said The Commercial Bank, Unincorporated, its successors and assigns, against every person whomsoever lawfully claiming or to claim the same or any part thereof.”

On June 29, 1960, Clay T. Satterwhite and wife, Faye Jaurea Satterwhite, executed a deed of trust conveying to Ray Durst, Trustee, for The Commercial Bank, of “all my right, title and interest” in and to certain tracts of land, describing them.

On April 2, 1962, Clay T. Satterwhite deeded all of his right, title and interest in the subject lands to the Bank for a consideration of $10.00 and other valuable consideration paid. The amount of the total consideration was stated by Satter-white in an affidavit to be about $17,400.00.

The appeal is founded on eleven points, the first eight points are interrelated and all pertain to the error of the trial court in sustaining the Bank’s motion for summary judgment, and we will consider them together.

The Bank filed its motion for summary judgment which was opposed by appellant and on hearing such motion was granted.

A determination of this litigation depends upon a proper construction of the will of David S. Satterwhite, deceased.

As is to be observed from the wording of the will herein set out by the third paragraph, the testator gave all of his property to his wife “to have and to hold the same [792]*792for and during her natural life to use as she sees proper, with remainder over and after her death to our two children *

The fourth paragraph provides that Mrs. Satterwhite should use her own judgment in making any advances, loans or help to the children. “I furthermore give my wife full authority to sell, transfer and assign any portion of my estate, real or personal, the purchaser shall be under no duty to see that the proceeds of the sale are disbursed in accordance with this will.”

The fifth paragraph of the will is as follows:

“In the event of my wife’s marriage, I desire and so will and direct, that all of my part of the estate on hand at the time of such marriage, be then divided equally among my surviving children or their 'legitimate bodily heirs.”

To determine the intention of the testator is the cardinal rule of the construction of any will. In doing so, the testator’s general scheme and dominant purpose control.

Long v. Long, Tex.Civ.App., 252 S.W.2d 235, er. ref., n. r. e.

Our Supreme Court in McMurray v. Stanley, 69 Tex. 227, 6 S.W. 412, stated that:

“In construing the will, all its provisions should be looked to, for the purpose of ascertaining what the real intention of the testatrix was; and, if this can be ascertained from the language of the instrument, then any particular paragraph of the will which, considered alone, would indicate a contrary intent, must yield to the intention manifested by the whole instrument.”

Looney v. First Nat. Bank of Floresville, Tex.Civ.App., 322 S.W.2d 53, er. ref., n. r. e.

The Supreme Court in the case of Edds v. Mitchell, 1945, 143 Tex.

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Related

Commercial Bank, Unincorporated, of Mason v. Satterwhite
413 S.W.2d 905 (Texas Supreme Court, 1967)

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402 S.W.2d 789, 1966 Tex. App. LEXIS 2674, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/satterwhite-v-commercial-bank-unincorporated-of-mason-texapp-1966.