Succession of Book

426 So. 2d 769, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 7720
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 3, 1983
DocketNo. 82-481
StatusPublished

This text of 426 So. 2d 769 (Succession of Book) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Succession of Book, 426 So. 2d 769, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 7720 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

STOKER, Judge.

This is a suit for declaratory relief for determination of whether property of John A. Book and the heirs of Cora Jones Book sold at a tax sale was redeemed by John A. Book for himself and Cora’s heirs or was a purchase for his sole account. The property in question, described in footnote one, was originally purchased as community property during the marriage of John and Cora Jones Book.1 The latter, the second wife of John A. Book, died leaving seven children of her marriage with John. After Cora’s death, John A. Book failed to pay taxes on the property in question, and J.L. Calhoun purchased the property at a tax sale on June 20, 1931, for delinquent taxes of $38.95. Book had married Emma Fisher on October 31, 1930. The property was purchased from J.L. Calhoun, some fifteen months after the tax sale, by an act which purported to be an ordinary cash sale. The recited consideration was $52.00, and at that time, the period within which a redemption could take place was twelve months after the tax sale.

John A. Book died in 1964 while still married to Emma Fisher Book. Tilton G. Book, a son of John and Emma, has been qualified as administrator of the succession. Tilton brought this suit as administrator for a declaratory judgment seeking a determination as to whether John A. Book’s repurchase of the land was a redemption, which inured to the heirs of Cora Jones Book for their one-half interest, or whether Book repurchased for himself exclusively, or to more accurately state the matter, did Book repurchase for the community which then existed between himself and Emma Fisher Book. Plaintiff alleges that the property is owned one-half by Emma and one-half by the succession of John A. Book.

If the repurchase was a redemption, then the children and heirs of Cora have a claim to one-half of the property and all the chil[771]*771dren and heirs have a claim to the other one-half of the property. John A. Book left three sets of children:

1) Tillman H. Book, a child of Book and his first wife, Ollie Book,

2) The children of Book and Cora Jones Book,2 and

3) The children of Book and Emma Fisher. There is no dispute concerning the fact that Book’s children of all three marriages will share in his half of the property under any determination. However, if a redemption took place, Cora’s heirs have an exclusive claim to her one-half interest. If a sale to John and Emma took place, one-half of the property belongs to Emma.

PARTIES TO THIS LITIGATION

The petition for declaratory judgment before us was brought by the succession administrator, Tilton G. Book; in his representative capacity, he is the sole plaintiff. He named as defendants all children of all marriages including himself. He also named Emma Fisher Book. For purposes of the record the names of the defendants are set forth in a footnote.3

PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND STATUS OF THE CASE

Tillman H. Book and all the children of Cora Jones, except Lovine Book Morace, filed an answer to the petition for declaratory judgment. At trial and on appeal they contend the property falls within the community of John A. Book and Cora Jones, his second wife.

On appeal, the administrator has for the first time filed a peremptory exception of prescription and asked that the case be remanded to the district court for trial of the exception.

The principal issues before us on appeal are:

1) Should this case be remanded to the trial court for trial of the exception of prescription filed after the appeal under LSA-C.C.P. art. 2163?4

2) Was the repurchase of the property from J.L. Calhoun a tax redemption or a conveyance to the community then existing between John and Emma Fisher Book?

3) If the act was a redemption, does the fact that the property was redeemed only in the name of John A. Book estop Cora’s children from claiming (as original co-owners of the property) that the redemption inures to their benefit?

4) Did possession of the property by John A. Book after the redemption give notice to Cora’s children of their father’s alleged intent to possess adversely to them sufficient to support acquisitive prescription against them?

The trial court found that the property reconveyance was a tax sale redemption and the property fell within the former community which existed between John A. Book and Cora Jones. We find the district court resolved the issues before him correctly. In our opinion the exception of prescription may not be urged by the administrator, and the issues of law raised on appeal must be resolved in favor of the defendants. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

THE PEREMPTORY EXCEPTION OF PRESCRIPTION

The administrator asserts that if the peremptory exception of prescription is pleaded for the first time in the appellate [772]*772court the plaintiff may demand that the case be remanded for trial on the exception if the matter is pleaded prior to the submission of the case for a decision and if proof of the ground of the exception appears in the record. LSA-C.C.P. article 2168. Although correct in his statement of the law, the administrator is not entitled to have the case remanded because he is not the proper party to assert the exception.5 In his exception the administrator pleaded two kinds of prescription, one liberative and one acquisitive.

The first basis for the administrator’s plea is that prescription found in Article 1030 of the Civil Code, which is as follows:

“The faculty of accepting or renouncing a succession becomes barred by the lapse of time required for the longest prescription of the rights to immovables.”

This prescriptive period is thirty years as provided in LSA-C.C. article 3548.

It is true that it appears from the record that Cora Jones’ succession has never been opened and that more than fifty years have passed since her death. We pretermit the question of whether Cora’s heirs may have accepted the succession tacitly. The administrator, in this case whether in his individual or representative capacity, has no right to assert the prescription for accepting a succession. It is well settled in the jurisprudence that only an accepting co-heir or the transferee of an accepting co-heir may assert such prescription against an heir. Sun Oil Company v. Tarver, 219 La. 103, 52 So.2d 437 (1951), Lee v. Jones, 224 La. 231, 69 So.2d 26 (1953), Succession of Seals, 142 So.2d 629 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1962), Succession of Blanchard, 243 So.2d 329 (La.App. 4th Cir.1971).

The thirty-year prescription provided by Article 1030 is a liberative prescription. We are not at this point concerned with acquisitive prescription, and the liberative prescription pleaded under Article 1030 concerns the faculty of accepting the succession of Cora Jones Book.

The typical statement of the interpretation of Article 1030 is exemplified in the last of the cases cited above, the Blanchard case.

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Related

Lee v. Jones
69 So. 2d 26 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1953)
Fiorello v. Knecht
334 So. 2d 761 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1976)
Sun Oil Co. v. Tarver
52 So. 2d 437 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1951)
Succession of Seals
142 So. 2d 629 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)
Bridges v. Trevino
64 So. 2d 528 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1953)
Succession of Campbell
243 So. 2d 329 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
426 So. 2d 769, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 7720, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-book-lactapp-1983.