Stacy v. Edwards

12 S.W.2d 901, 178 Ark. 911, 1929 Ark. LEXIS 405
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 21, 1929
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 12 S.W.2d 901 (Stacy v. Edwards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stacy v. Edwards, 12 S.W.2d 901, 178 Ark. 911, 1929 Ark. LEXIS 405 (Ark. 1929).

Opinion

Humphreys, J.

There is a direct and cross-appeal in this case from a specific finding and judgment rendered in accordance therewith in the circuit court of Cross County, by the trial court, to the effect that, in a final settlement, appellant, as guardian, was indebted to his ward, the appellee, in the sum of $2,001.23. This sum was the balance struck in the statement of account between them by the trial court, after hearing the testimony adduced at the de novo trial of the cause in said court, on appeal from the probate court of said county. The trial court’s statement of account is as.follows:

“ W. W. 'Stacy should be charged with the following amount:

Paid on Turnbow estate voluntarily........................$11,315.77

Amount collected through chancery court............ 5,264.21

Total ...............................................................................................I.. 16,579.98

Plaintiff is entitled to one-third of this amount 5,526.66

W. W. Stacy should be charged from Dave Turnbow estate........................................................................... 3,307.88'

And with United States warrant.................................... 117.45

Total .................................................................................................. 3,425.34

Plaintiff is entitled to one-fifth this amount............ 685.06

With which the guardian should be charged, and which amount brought forward................................. 35.36

6,247.08

Guardian is entitled to credit of.................$4,783.17

Prom which will be deducted an item of board for said minor................................. 197.50

4,585.67 4,585.67

1,661.41

Six per cent, interest on $1,661.41 for a period of four years, or $99.66 per year..................... 398.64

2,060.05

Credit due guardian for error of $274.10 at first charged against him in item of Dave Turn-bow estate, and this credit is one-fifth of the error, $274.10..................................................................... 58.82

Balance due ward....................................................................$2,001.23

Appellant contends on the direct appeal that the judgment should be modified by deducting therefrom one-sixth of $940, expenses allowed by the chancery court in a partition suit of the lands inherited by appellee and the other five heirs from their father, W. N. Turnbow, deceased; $398.64 interest for four years on $1,661.40; one-fifth of $411.56 erroneously charged against him in the Dave Turnbow estate; the item of $197.50 disallowed appellant for boarding appellee in his home during her minority and until her marriage, after she became of age; and a reasonable sum as compensation for his services as guardian.

In order to better understand the statement of account between them by the court and the contention of appellant for a modification of the judgment and of appellee for a larger judgment, it will be necessary to set forth the salient facts in the case.

In 1916 appellant was appointed administrator of the estate of W. N. Turnbow, who died seized and possessed of a large amount of real estate and the owner of some personal property, leaving six children as his only heirs, three of whom, including appellee, were minors. At the same time appellant was appointed guardian for the three minors. On February 1, 1919, during the minority of the three heirs, he filed his first and only account current until he filed his final settlement on the 4th day of April, 1927. His first account current showed a balance due his wards of $35.36. The first account current was approved by the probate court, and no appeal was ever taken from the. judgment of approval. Appellee attained her majority on the 24th day of October, 1920. Early in the year 1920 one of the adult heirs brought- suit in the chancery court to partition the real estate of which the heir’s father died seized and possessed, and made the other five heirs parties thereto. The minor heirs had a homestead interest in the real estate, which was appraised at $2,500. The lands sold at the partition sale for $25,500, leaving a net balance, after deducting the value of the homestead rights of the three minors, of' $23,000, to be divided between the six heirs equally, after the costs of $940, including an attorney’s fee of $500, should be deducted therefrom. ......................,............Denton, the purchaser at the partition sale, executed interest-bearing notes to the guardian to cover the entire interest of his three wards, for $13,000, when in point of fact he should have executed a note for $14,000 to him. Their homestead interest amounted to $2,500 and their one-half interest in the balance of $23,000 amounted to $11,500. The two items added together make $14,000. The guardian seems to have paid the entire amount, including attorney’s fee, amounting to $940, to the commissioners. This he should not have done, as it was the duty of the adult heirs to pay one-half of the amount. The appellee herein was only liable for one-sixth of the total amount of the costs, according to the partition decree. As we understand the record, the guardian, appellant here, claims that the judgment should be modified by deducting' therefrom one-sixth of the cost item. The trial Court refused to allow him any credit on account of the cost item. The guardian collected from Denton the following amounts on the following dates: January 12, 1921, $400; April 8, 1921, $300; October 15, 1921, $1,000; December 15, 1921, $1,000; January 3, 1922, $1,000; March 28, 1922, $1,000; July 12, 1922, $1,000; October 11, 1922, $2,000; October 16, 1922, $1,000; and on April 26, 1923, $1,000; making in all $11,315.70 received by him voluntarily from Denton, which the trial court charged to him in the statement. Denton stopped paying’, and the guardian was compelled to bring a foreclosure suit to collect the balance due on the niote, amounting, when paid, including interest, to $5,264.21, after paying the costs and attorney’s fee, which amount the trial court charged to him in the settlement. In the statement made by the court appellee was allowed $5,526.66, being her one-third interest therein. The trial court also charged the guardian $3,425.34 which appellee and the other heirs inherited from their brother, Dave Turnbow, who died intestate during the month of February, 1924. Appellant was appointed administrator of Dave Turnbow’s estate, and administered upon it. In the statement made by the court, appellee was allowed $685.06 of said amount, being her one-fifth interest in the Dave Turnbow estate; but later in the statement he was allowed a -credit against appellee of $58.82, being one-fifth of an overcharge of $274.10 made against him on account of the Dave Turnbow estate. In the statement made by the court the guardian was allowed $4,783.17 for amounts he claimed to have paid appellee, after deducting therefrom a charge he made against her to the amount of $197.50 for board.

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Bluebook (online)
12 S.W.2d 901, 178 Ark. 911, 1929 Ark. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stacy-v-edwards-ark-1929.