Succession of Le Blanc

76 So. 223, 142 La. 27, 1917 La. LEXIS 1616
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 11, 1917
DocketNo. 22372
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 76 So. 223 (Succession of Le Blanc) 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 Le Blanc, 76 So. 223, 142 La. 27, 1917 La. LEXIS 1616 (La. 1917).

Opinion

O’NIELL, J.

Adonis Le Blanc took out three policies of insurance, for $2,000 each, known as 20-annual-payment' policies, on his life during his marriage with Rose Thibault Le Blanc. Two of the policies, in the Equi[29]*29table Life Assurance Society, were made payable “to his wife, Hose Le Blanc, if living, if not then to the assured’s executors, administrators or assigns, subject to tbe right of tbe assured to change tbe beneficiary.” Tbe third policy, in tbe Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, was made payable “to bis wife, Hose Le Blanc, or, if tbe insured (should) survive tbe aforesaid beneficiary, to tbe administrators, .executors, or assigns of the insured.”

Tbe beneficiary named in tbe policies, Bose Thibault Le Blanc, died on tbe 16th of December, 1914, leaving eight children, issue of her marriage with Adonis Le Blanc. On tbe 30th of December, 1915, tbe surviving husband, availing himself of the privilege of changing tbe beneficiary named in tbe two policies in the Equitable Life Assurance Society, bad them made payable to bis estate. No change was made as to tbe beneficiary named in tbe policy in tbe Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia; but, like the two policies in the Equitable Life Assurance Society, it became, by the death of Mrs. Bose Thibault Le Blanc, payable to tbe estate, tbe administrators or executors of tbe assured.

Adonis Le Blanc continued to pay tbe premiums on tbe three policies after the death of bis wife and kept tbe insurance in force to the date of bis death; that is, tbe 14th of January, 1916. Two of his children, J. Earl Le Blanc and Mrs. Oneida Le Blanc Melancon, bad reached tbe age of majority. Mr. and Mrs. Melancon were appointed administrators of the succession of her father, and the Crowley Bank & Trust Company was appointed tutor of the six minor children.

Tbe Fidelity Mutual policy, with the accumulations, at tbe date of tbe death of tbe insured, amounted to $3,038, on which tbe insured had obtained a loan from tbe company amounting to $811.27 at tbe time of bis death. Tbe net proceeds or avails of the life insurance collected by the administrators, therefore, amounted to $6,226.73.

Other property belonging to tbe community theretofore existing between tbe assured and his wife consisted of real estate valued at $1,375, and personal property valued at $496.-50. It appears that the community owed tbe separate estate of the assured $226.12 for premiums paid on tbe insurance policies after tbe death of Mrs. Le Blanc, and $90.-58 for certain pavement certificates paid by him for the improvement of tbe community property after her death. The separate estate of Adonis LeBlanc also owns 82 shares of the capital stock of the Stauffer-Godchaux Company, valued at $4,100, on which there is a vendor’s lien in favor of Frank A. Godcbaux, Albert Stauffer and O. A. Broussard for $6,625. Tbe administrators also have in their possession $482.89 cash belonging to the separate estate of Adonis Le Blanc. It appears, therefore, that tbe assets of tbe separate estate of Adonis Le Blanc, exclusive of any interest in the life insurance, and excluding also tbe debts due by tbe community to tbe separate estate and the capital stock in tbe Stauffer-Godchaux Company, affected by tbe vendor’s lien, amount to $1,418.64; that is, about $200 more than the law charges, costs of tbe administration, expenses of last illness, and funeral expenses. Tbe other debts due by Adonis Le Blanc, at tbe time of bis death, besides the debt of $6,625 secured by the vendor’s lien on tbe capital stock in tbe Stauffer-Godchaux Company, amounted to only $267.35.

Tbe administrators filed an account or a statement showing tbe proposed method of distribution of tbe assets of tbe estate, and prayed for judgment approving the account and ordering that a settlement be made accordingly. They treated the $6,226.73 collected from tbe insurance companies as an asset of tbe community, less the premiums paid by Adonis Le Blanc after tbe death of his wife, amounting to $226.12, which amount [31]*31was charged to the community and credited to the separate estate oí Adonis Le Blanc.

J. Earl Le Blanc and the tutor of the minor children oí Adonis Le Blanc filed an opposition to the account and manner of settlement of the succession proposed by the administrators, on the ground that the entire proceeds or avails of the life insurance are, by the Act No. 189 of 1914, exempt from liability for any debtsof the succession of Adonis Le Blanc, and should be paid to his heirs at law.

Erante A. Godchaux, Albert Stauffer, and O. A. Broussard, as creditors of the succession, opposed the account and the proposed manner of settlement of the succession, claiming that the entire proceeds or avails of the life insurance should be treated as an asset of the separate estate of Adonis Le Blanc, not an asset of the community, and should be applied to the payment of his debts. In the alternative — that is, in the event the court should hold that the proceeds or avails of the life insurance should be treated as an asset of the community and not of the separate estate of Adonis Le Blanc — these three creditors claimed that the estate of the deceased wife of Le Blanc should bear a proportionate share of the law charges and costs of the administration of his estate.

In answer to the opposition filed by J. Earl Le Blanc and the tutor of the minor ■children of Adonis Le Blanc, the creditors, Godchaux, Stauffer and Broussard, contend that the Act No. 189 of 1914, purporting to exempt the proceeds or avails of life insurance from liability for any debt, is unconstitutional, in that the text is broader than the title of the statute; and that the statute cannot, in this case, have the retroactive effect of impairing the obligations of contracts. In the alternative, they contend that, if the statute should be held constitutional, the exemption was personal to and in favor of the insured and did not survive in favor of his heirs at law.

Other oppositions were made to the account of the administrators and proposed manner of settlement of the estate, which, however,. .are not involved in the present appeal.

Judgment was rendered dismissing the opposition of J. Earl Le Blanc and of the tutor of the minor children of Adonis Le Blanc, at their cost, rejecting the demand of Godchaux, Stauffer and Broussard to have the proceeds or avails of the life' insurance treated as an asset of the separate estate of Adonis Le Blánc, but allowing their alternative demand that the estate of the deceased wife of Adonis Le Blanc should be charged with a proportionate share of the costs of the administration of this estate. J. Earl Le Blanc and the tutor of the minor children of Adonis Le Blanc, on the one hand, and the creditors, Godchaux, Stauffer and Broussard, on the other hand, have appealed from the judgment.

Opinion.

[1] It is argued on behalf of the creditors, Godchaux, Stauffer and Broussard, that, inasmuch as the proceeds or avails of the life insurance would, if the wife of the insured had survived him, belong to her separately and individually, therefore the life insurance payable to the estate of the assured should belong to his separate estate, not to the community. But the learned counsel who advance that argument overlook the fact that the proceeds or avails of life insurance in favor of a beneficiary named in the policy, other than the insured, belong to the beneficiary named in the policy, and do not form part of the estate of the insured at his death.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

National Equity Life Insurance v. Eicher
633 So. 2d 1351 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1994)
Succession of Sweeney
607 So. 2d 996 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
Bergman v. Commissioner
66 T.C. 887 (U.S. Tax Court, 1976)
TL James & Co., Inc. v. Montgomery
332 So. 2d 834 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1976)
Succession of Mendoza
288 So. 2d 673 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1973)
In Re Lamb
272 F. Supp. 393 (E.D. Louisiana, 1967)
Succession of Videau
197 So. 2d 655 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1967)
Thigpen v. Thigpen
91 So. 2d 12 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1956)
Messersmith v. Messersmith
86 So. 2d 169 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1956)
Succession of Onorato
51 So. 2d 804 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1951)
Easterling v. Succession of Lamkin
31 So. 2d 220 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1947)
Succession of Farrell
7 So. 2d 605 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1942)
Hogan v. Hall
118 F.2d 247 (Fifth Circuit, 1941)
In re the Estate of Distefano
167 Misc. 678 (New York Surrogate's Court, 1938)
In Re White's Estate
73 P.2d 316 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1937)
Berry v. Franklin State Bank & Trust Co.
173 So. 126 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1937)
Succession of Jones
169 So. 440 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1936)
Succession of Esteves
162 So. 194 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1935)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 So. 223, 142 La. 27, 1917 La. LEXIS 1616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-le-blanc-la-1917.