State Ex Rel. Rose v. Fry.

67 S.W.2d 550, 228 Mo. App. 309, 1933 Mo. App. LEXIS 125
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 4, 1933
StatusPublished

This text of 67 S.W.2d 550 (State Ex Rel. Rose v. Fry.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Rose v. Fry., 67 S.W.2d 550, 228 Mo. App. 309, 1933 Mo. App. LEXIS 125 (Mo. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

TRIMBLE, J.

Relator W. T. Rose brought a proceeding in prohibition against G. H. Fry, Probate Judge of Vernon County, Missouri, to prohibit said probate judge from compelling said Rose, as guardian of his four children, to make a final settlement as such guardian in said probate court. Respondent duly appeared and, instead of making a return to the preliminary writ, demurred to the petition therefor, because it did not state a cause of action nor show that relator had any right to a writ of prohibition either provisional or permanent. The demurrer was by the court sustained and *310 relator declining to plead further, the permanent writ was denied and the preliminary writ quashed. From this, the relator has appealed.

The petition alleged that some days prior to the 25th of February, 1931, the four children of W. T. Rose and claiming to be his wards, applied to respondent Fry, as judge of said probate court, for a citation to relator Rose requiring him to appear in said court on February 25, 1931, and file a final settlement as guardian of said wards and to show cause why he should not be punished for failure to file such settlement sooner; that pursuant to said citation, said Rose appeared in the probate court and filed written answer .setting up that in 1906, he, W. T. Rose, deeded to his said children eighty acres of land in Vernon County, Missouri, and had himself appointed as their natural guardian, and qualified as such; that afterwards he filed a petition in said court for the sale of said land for reinvestment; that such sale, and a report thereof, was made and the net proceeds of said sale were $1400; that at the time the oldest of said children was forty-two years of age and the youngest was twenty-nine, and that after each one of said children had arrived at his or her majority, he, relator, had paid each of said children sums of money far in excess of any sum that might have been due from the sale of said land; and that the claims of said wards were all barred by the Statute of Limitations; that thereupon the wards filed a pleading denying generally the allegations of their guardian’s answer, and set up that their said guardian was indebted to them in sums varying from two thousand to three thousand dollars each, arising out of the net proceeds of the sale of the land. Upon the issue thus made before the probate court, the latter, at an admission by said wards that the oldest was forty-three, the next thirty-eight, the next thirty-four and the youngest twenty-nine years of age, found that any claim or claims that any of said minors m'ay have had against said W. T. Rose, have long since been barred by the Statute of Limitations; and discharged said Rose from said citation. An appeal was taken from this judgment of the Probate Court to the Circuit Court of Vernon County, Missouri. It is asserted than then Ross filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings which was overruled. (Said motion, as well as a motion to dismiss the appeal said to have been filed, are alleged to have been overruled by the said Circuit Court of Vernon County, but neither of them has been preserved in the record herein.)

It is further alleged in the petition for the writ of prohibition that thereafter a change of venue was taken to the Circuit Court of Bates County, where, on a hearing, the motion to dismiss appeal was overruled as was the motion for judgment on the pleadings, and that the Circuit Court of Bates County, on February 12, 1932, rendered a judgment which, among other things, recited that—

*311 “On the merits of the appeal it is ordered by the court tbat tbe judgment of the Probate Court of Vernon County, wherein the respondent as guardian was excused from making settlement of his ward’s estate on account of the alleged fact that the Statute of Limitations had run and that he was thereby excused from making, a final settlement, is by the court reversed and the court holds that said guardian is required to make settlement of his guardianship in the Probate Court of Vernon County and this cause is remanded to said court for that purpose. It is further ordered by the court that the clerk of this court return the files in this action to the clerk of the Probate Court of Vernon County together with a copy of the order and judgment of this court.”

Said petition for the writ also alleges—

-“That in obedience to said judgment the files in the case were duly transmitted back to the Probate Court of Vernon County, Missouri; that obeying the order of said Circuit Court of Bates County the .Probate Court of Vernon County again cited relator, W. T. Eose, to appear and file a final settlement in said estate on the fifteenth day of April, 1933, or show cause why he should not be attached.”

That on said last named date all parties appeared in the probate court and after hearing arguments the said probate court rendered a judgment which among other things, recited that—

“The matter of requiring the guardian to make a final settlement in the cause was taken up and considered by the court, and the court being fully advised in the premises doth order the guardian to make and file the final settlement in this" cause on or before May 6, 1933, to which date this cause is continued.”

The petition of relator for the writ further alleged that—

“The appeal taken by said wards from the original judgment on the hearing of the first citation as aforesaid deprived the Probate Court of Vernon County, Missouri, of jurisdiction of the cause; and that jurisdiction thereafter was vested in the circuit court; that the order of the Circuit Court of Bates County reversing and remanding the ease to the Probate Court of Vernon County for another trial was null and void and did not reinvest said probate court with jurisdiction to take any further proceedings in the ease; that by the last ruling and order of said probate court above set forth, "W. T. Eose, the relator herein, is compelled to appear and make a final settlement by May 6, 1933, or suffer the penalties provided by the statute for non-compliance.
“Wherefore, relator prays this court to issue a preliminary writ of prohibition to stop further proceedings in this cause pending the hearing of this application; and that at the final hearing the preliminary writ be made absolute, and for all further relief.”

*312 . Upon the sustaining of the hereinabove mentioned demurrer to tbe petition, the relator, refusing to plead further, stood on his petition. Thereupon the preliminary writ was quashed and the permanent was denied. Relator has appealed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 S.W.2d 550, 228 Mo. App. 309, 1933 Mo. App. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-rose-v-fry-moctapp-1933.