Smith v. McPherson

117 So. 2d 698, 270 Ala. 289, 1960 Ala. LEXIS 301
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 21, 1960
Docket7 Div. 484
StatusPublished

This text of 117 So. 2d 698 (Smith v. McPherson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. McPherson, 117 So. 2d 698, 270 Ala. 289, 1960 Ala. LEXIS 301 (Ala. 1960).

Opinion

MERRILL, Justice.

Appeal from a decree sustaining demurrer to the bill as amended and dismissing the bill.

The amended bill sought to sell certain lands for division amongst the children of J. L. McPherson and wife, Lillie McPherson, both deceased, and incidentally to have a decree of the Probate Court of DeKalb County, setting aside the lands in question as a homestead to Lillie McPherson and a minor daughter, declared null and void, and to set aside a deed to part of the lands from Lillie McPherson to one W. R. Kidd. The minor daughter, after reaching maturity, deeded all of her interest to her mother prior to Lillie McPherson’s deed to Kidd.

The complainant is a daughter of the Mc-Phersons, and the bill alleges that J. L. McPherson died in 1938, owning the lands in question and that it was his homestead; that Lillie McPherson was appointed administratrix of his estate on August 28, 1938, and that the said administration was never closed or a final discharge issued, and that the administration was still pending when Lillie McPherson died on August 7, 1957.

It further alleges that on October 26, 1945, Lillie McPherson filed a petition in the probate court to set aside the homestead under Tit. 7, § 694, Code 1940, averring that no administration had been granted on the estate of J. L. McPherson and that the probate court, on February 4, 1946, rendered a decree setting aside the homestead absolutely to Lillie McPherson and her minor daughter. The bill alleges that the probate court was without jurisdiction because there was a pending administration and that the decree of the probate court was void, and the subsequent deed from Lillie McPherson to Kidd conveyed no title except the share of the daughter who had conveyed her interest to Lillie McPherson.

Exhibits to the bill as amended were the Kidd deed, the petition of Lillie McPherson for letters of administration, the decree granting letters to her, and her later petition to have the homestead set aside which contained the averment, “That no administration has been granted on the estate of the said J. L. McPherson and it has been more than sixty days since his death.”

The trial court sustained the demurrer on the authority of Cassady v. Davis, 245 Ala. 93, 15 So.2d 909. We think the decree is supported by that case and the authorities therein cited.

We have held that a petition for setting apart a homestead under Tit. 7, § 694, Code 1940 (prior to amendment), must aver that no administration has been grant[291]*291ed and that such is a jurisdictional averment. Evans v. Evans, 213 Ala. 265, 104 So. 515; Hynes v. Underwood, 191 Ala. 90, 67 So. 994. Had the petition failed to make the averment, a decree based on the petition would have been void on its face. But since this jurisdictional averment was included in the petition, the decree was not void on its face.

“The instant case is a bill for division and is a collateral attack upon the proceedings in the probate court” setting aside the homestead to the widow and her minor child. Williams v. Overcast, 229 Ala. 119, 155 So. 543. “In this state it is settled that any attempt to impeach and annul a judgment other than by a direct appeal, or by a direct proceeding in the court that rendered the judgment, before the expiration of the term at which it was rendered, is a collateral attack. Friedman v. Shamblin, 117 Ala. 454, 466, 23 So. 821. This, of course, does not deny the well-settled jurisdiction of equity to review judgments founded on fraud, accident, or mistake and to review final judgments and decrees in a few cases as prescribed by statutes.” Johnson v. Johnson, 182 Ala. 376, 62 So. 706, 709; Penton v. Brown-Crummer Inv. Co., 222 Ala. 155, 131 So. 14.

In Cassady v. Davis, 245 Ala. 93, 15 So. 2d 909, 911, we said:

“ * * * There is no allegation in the bill that appellant did not have the notices provided by law. It must therefore be assumed that complainant had notice that her mother had sought to have these lands set aside to her as a homestead exemption, and had notice that it was ascertained that decedent had no homestead exempt at the time of his death. It must also be assumed that appellant had notice that the report of the commissioners had been confirmed, that complainant had notice of the insolvency of her father’s estate and that the homestead had been set aside to her mother.
“Appellant filed no exception to either report and took no steps to resist either report. She had her day in court and is accordingly bound by the decree of the probate court. It plainly states that Mary E. Holley is allowed a homestead in the lands of the estate. The petition contained every allegation necessary to give the probate court jurisdiction. Since the decree, therefore, is not void on its face, it cannot be here collaterally assailed. Jenkins v. Clisby, 145 Ala. 665, 39 So. 735.”

Here, the exhibits to the bill show that complainant was named as an adult heir in both the petition for letters of administration and the petition to set aside the homestead, and we must assume that she received the notices required by the statutes. The petition for homestead contained every allegation necessary to give the probate court jurisdiction. Therefore, complainant, as in the Cassady case “had her day in court and is accordingly bound by the decree of the probate court.”

In the Cassady case, as here, one aspect of the bill was based upon fraud because of an alleged misstatement in the petition to set aside the homestead. There, the court said:

“The second aspect of the bill is based upon fraud, that is, that the widow in her petition alleged in conformity to Section 7919 of the Code of 1923, Section 662, Title 7, Code 1940, that the decedent at the time of his death had no homestead exempt to him from levy and sale under process. The bill alleges, as matter extraneous to the probate proceedings, that the decedent did own a homestead in the town of Samson which he occupied at the time of his death. It is insisted that since decedent did own a homestead at the time of his death, the allegation in effect that he did not so own a homestead is false and constitutes a fraud on the court and on appellant.
[292]*292“As we have pointed out, appellant had notice of the proceedings in the probate court. She had every opportunity in 1929 to protest and defend against the very thing of which she complains in 1941. The bill shows that C. C. Holley resided with his family on the lot in Samson at the time of hi3 death. Construing the bill against the pleader, appellant, then as now, was the only child and was residing on the lot as a member of her father’s family. At any rate, there is nothing to show that she did not know where her father was residing at the time of his death. It is fundamental that complainant, in seeking to impeach the decree of the probate court for fraud, must show due diligence. The bill negatives that diligence which must be alleged in a case of this kind. Benton v. Benton, 214 Ala. 321, 107 So. 827; Evans v. Wilhite, 167 Ala. 587, 52 So. 845.
“Furthermore, the bill, which, in this phase, is a bill in the nature of a bill of review, was not filed until February 15, 1941. The probate decree was entered September 22, 1930. The bill was filed too late. The statute of limitations for a bill of review will by analogy be applied to a bill in the nature of a bill of review.

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Related

Penton v. Brown-Crummer Inv. Co.
131 So. 14 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1930)
Quick v. McDonald
108 So. 529 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1926)
Bedwell v. Dean
132 So. 20 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1930)
Benton v. Benton
107 So. 827 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1926)
Wilkerson v. Wilkerson
161 So. 820 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1935)
Evans v. Evans
104 So. 515 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1925)
Cassady v. Davis
15 So. 2d 909 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1943)
Williams v. Overcast
155 So. 543 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1934)
Friedman & Loveman v. Shamblin
117 Ala. 454 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1897)
Jenkins v. Clisby
39 So. 735 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1905)
Singo v. McGhee
49 So. 290 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1909)
Evans v. Wilhite
52 So. 845 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1910)
Johnson v. Johnson
62 So. 706 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1913)
Hynes v. Underwood
67 So. 994 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1915)

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Bluebook (online)
117 So. 2d 698, 270 Ala. 289, 1960 Ala. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-mcpherson-ala-1960.