Succession of Bonnette

176 So. 397, 188 La. 297, 1937 La. LEXIS 1255
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 21, 1937
DocketNo. 34345.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 176 So. 397 (Succession of Bonnette) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Succession of Bonnette, 176 So. 397, 188 La. 297, 1937 La. LEXIS 1255 (La. 1937).

Opinions

FOURNET, Justice.

Mrs. Vivian B. Rust, in her capacity a§ administratrix of the succession of her father, Dr. James V. Bonnette, deceased, filed a final account of her administration and listed herself thereon as a creditor of the succession in the sum of $10,000 — -“being the amount inherited by her from her mother and representing the community interest of her mother with the said Dr. J. V. Bonnette, all of said property having been used by the said Dr. Bonnette without payment or accounting to claimant.”

The cotutors of the minor children of the decedent opposed this claim and pleaded: (1) That the claim as scheduled does not disclose a cause of action; (2) prescrip *301 tion of ten, twenty, and thirty years; (3) estoppel; (4) settlement and payment in full; and (5) that the value of the property acquired during the marriage of claimant’s mother to the decedent did not exceed the debts of the community.

Upon the trial of the opposition, the lower court rendered judgment in favor of the claimant and against the succession for the sum of $160. Claimant appeale4 from this judgment, and the opponents answered the appeal asking that the judgment of the lower court be reversed and annulled and that their pleas of no cause of action, prescription, and estoppel be sustained and appellant’s claim rejected at her cost.

In order to properly understand the issues in this case, it is necessary to give the facts which are substantially as follows.

The decedent, Dr. James V. Bonnette, was married three times, the first time on the 23d day of June, 1894, to Miss Lucille Irene Thrasher, who died on January 21, 1897. One child was born of this union, the claimant, Mrs. Vivian B. Rust, who, at the date of her mother’s death, was an infant about eleven months old. The second time he was married on November 7, 1907, to Mrs. Helen Bonnette, but the record does not show when his second wife died. There was one child born of that union, J. Saunders Bonnette. After the death of the second wife, he married a third time and then to Mrs. Gladys A. Bonnette who survived him. Three children were born of this union, viz., Allen Randolph Bonnette, Lolla Ruth Bonnette, and James V. Bon-nette, Jr., minors, who are the opponents here.

The decedent died on January.-25, 1933, intestate, and, upon the application of his surviving widow, she was appointed and qualified as administratrix of his estate. Prior to the conclusion of her administration, Mrs. Bonnette died on July 15, 1933; whereupon Mrs. Vivian B. Rust, claimant-appellant here, applied on July 19,- 1933, to be appointed as administratrix of the succession and was appointed on May 4, 1934. She filed two provisional accounts after her appointment, and, on April 20, 1935, filed a final account on which she placed herself as a creditor in the sum of $10,000, which she claims is due her by her late father for her mother’s interest in the property acquired during the time of her marriage to the decedent.

It appears that on December 5, 1914, the claimant, who was then a minor emancipated by her marriage to Emmet R. Solomon, instituted suit against her father for an accounting of all the property owned by the community of acquets and. gains which existed between her mother and father and for a settlement of her mother’s interest therein. In that suit she alleged that the community acquired considerable property, consisting of lands, improved and unimproved, livestock, cash, notes, accounts, and other evidence of debt valued by her at the sum of $25,000; that her father never opened her mother’s succession and an inventory was never made of the property; that he did not qualify as her tutor; that he was not entitled to the usufruct of the property after his remarriage on the 7th of November, 1907, but, notwithstanding that fact, he continued to collect rents and enjoy the usufruct of the property belong *303 ing to the community; and that he sold, mortgaged, and otherwise disposed of the community property. She also listed úa detail in that suit the real estate which the record showed was acquired during the community. Her father filed answer in the suit, admitting that his first wife's succession was never opened; that his daughter (claimant) was entitled to an accounting of her mother’s share of the community property, but averred that at the time of the death of her mother the estate consisted of a few head of livestock, and some unimproved property, and was worth less than the sum of $2,000; that the property yielded no revenue; that from time to time he had paid claimant various amounts aggregating $5,000; and that he was entitled to be credited with said amount and have the same charged against his daughter’s interest in the succession of her mother. This suit was-never tried or otherwise disposed of.

Whatever property was acquired by the decedent during his marriage to claimant’s mother, that is, between June 27, 1894, and January 21, 1897, belonged to the community of acquets and gains, and on the death of claimant’s mother her interest therein vested in claimant, being her mother’s sole heir, subject to her father’s usufruct' thereof until his remarriage on November 7, 1907, and from that date claimant was entitled to her share of the fruits and revenues of the property. When she became emancipated by marriage, she was entitled to an accounting from her father for the rents and revenues of the property after his remarriage and for one-half interest of the community property which he converted to his own use and benefit.

On the trial of the case claimant filed and introduced in evidence certain documentary proof showing that the aggregate purchase price of the real estate acquired during the community was $320, and sought to prove by parol testimony that certain improvements were made during the existence of the community — some on property acquired by the decedent prior to his first marriage, and some on property acquired during his first marriage — and also to establish the fact that the community owned a drugstore, livestock, and other movables and to fix the values thereof. Opponents objected to the testimony on the ground that, under the provisions of section 1 of Act No. 11 of 1926, parol evidence is incompetent and inadmissible to prove any debt or liability upon the part of a party deceased, if a suit upon the asserted indebtedness or liability shall have been brought more than twelve months after the death of the deceased The objection was overruled by the district judge, and the testimony was admitted on the ground that the evidence was not to establish a debt due by the succession but to fix the value of certain property rights in the community estate formerly existing between claimant’s mother and father of which her father had full possession and control and had never accounted to her therefor.

The purpose of, the testimony was not tO' establish a claim against the estate of the deceased but rather to establish the value of property received and not accounted for, *305 and consequently Act No. 11 of 1926 does not apply.

But counsel for opponents contend that their pleas of no cause of action, prescription, and estoppel should have been sustained and the claim rejected.

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Bluebook (online)
176 So. 397, 188 La. 297, 1937 La. LEXIS 1255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-bonnette-la-1937.