Succession of Locarno

19 So. 2d 175, 206 La. 384, 1944 La. LEXIS 758
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 26, 1944
DocketNo. 37489.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 19 So. 2d 175 (Succession of Locarno) 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 Locarno, 19 So. 2d 175, 206 La. 384, 1944 La. LEXIS 758 (La. 1944).

Opinion

ODOM, Justice.

Miss Lolita Locarno died in the City of New Orleans on July 7, 1943, leaving a last will and testament in olographic form dated September 11, 1941, by which she disposed of all of her property. She appointed Mr. Paul Villere executor. An inventory of the property of which she died possessed was made in the probate proceedings, and the property was appraised at $74,981.36. According to the recapitulation made by the appraisers, the property consisted of:

Cash $ 5,605.00
Bonds 43,046.22
Stocks 3,588.25
Contents of residence $2,791.00
Contents of bank box in Hibernia National Bank of New Orleans 1,101.00
Real estate 17,000.00
Securities held by Trust Department of Hibernia National Bank 1,184.03
Bank accounts 665.86.

Among other special bequests made in the will appears the following: “I want my two houses (including the lots in the back of each) 1122 and 1120 Saint Philip to be put up for sale, and out of this sale I give and bequeath Evelyn Penn Puig $1000.00 Jack Yuille, $1000.00 St. Augustin Church $1000.00 Mandeville Arnoult $300.00 in memory of his numerous kindnesses to me and mine. — The rest of the money from the two houses I give and bequeath to the Maison Hospitaliere (I mean the rest of the amount brought from small houses).”

As we have said, Miss Locarno died on July 7, 1943. On March 24, 1943, about three and a half months prior to her death, she sold by notarial act the property bearing Municipal No. 1120 St. Philip Street for a cash consideration of $3300. The property sold was a part of the property mentioned in the above-quoted special bequest.

Miss Locarno had a bank box at the Whitney National Bank, and in that box were found two envelopes, one containing $3000 in currency and the other containing $2605 in currency.

On September 13, 1943, the testamentary executor filed a provisional account by which he proposed to sell, under order of *387 the court, the remaining portions of the two parcels of ground Nos. 1120 and 1122 St. Philip Street (the house described by the Municipal No. 1120 having been sold by Miss. Locarno), and, in the event that the net proceeds of the sale should amount to $3300, he proposed to pay the following cash legacies: to Mrs. Evelyn Penn Puig $1000; to Jack Yuille $1000; to St. Augustin Church $1000, and to Mandeville Arnoult $300. He proposed, in the event the net proceeds should exceed $3300, to deliver whatever balance there was left to the Maison Hospitaliere. In the event that the net proceeds of the sale did not equal $3300, he proposed to deliver said net proceeds ratably to the above-mentioned special legatees. In other words, the executor proposed to carry out the will of the testatrix as nearly as he could by selling the remaining property on St. Philip Street, and, if the proceeds of such sale were sufficient, he would pay Mrs. Puig, Jack Yuille, the St. Augustin Church, and Mandeville Arnoult the amounts bequeathed to them, and, if the proceeds were not sufficient for that purpose, he proposed to deliver the net proceeds to them ratably, and, if the proceeds of the sale exceeded $3300, he proposed to pay the excess to the Maison Hospitaliere, which' was the residuary legatee under this special bequest.

The provisional account of the executor was opposed by Mandeville Arnoult, the St. Augustin Church, and the Maison Hospitaliere, claiming that the $2605 in currency found in one of the envelopes in Miss Locarno’s bank box should be delivered to them, because, as they allege, this currency “is part of the same currency which the decedent received from the sale of said property; that said sum was never commingled with her other funds or deposited by her in her checking account, but was at all times kept by her separate, from her other funds in order that the same should be delivered to the legatees of the proceeds of said property”.

Opponents further aver “that the fact that the decedent before her death effected a sale of a part of the property the proceeds of which she had bequeathed to them as aforesaid, did not have the effect of nullifying said bequest, but was made by her in strict harmony with her entire testamentary purpose, and therefore said net proceeds of the sale of the property 1120 Saint Philip Street as well as the proceeds of the remaining unsold property 1122 St. Philip Street more fully described in said account belong to your opponents and to the other legatees therein named and should be accounted and delivered to them by the executor of decedent’s estate in accordance with the last wishes of the said decedent”.

Opponents prayed for judgment decreeing them to be entitled to the sum of $2605, “being the net proceeds of the sale of the property 1120 Saint Philip Street, as well as being entitled to the net proceeds of the sale of the property 1122 Saint Philip Street”.

There was judgment dismissing the opposition and ordering the provisional account of the testamentary executor approved and homologated and the funds distributed in accordance therewith. From this judgment the opponents appealed.

*389 -The sole question presented is whether there was a tacit revocation of that particular testamentary disposition in the will which provided that the two houses, Nos. 1120 and 1122 St. Philip Street, were “to be put up for sale, and out of this sale I give and bequeath Evelyn Penn Puig $1000.00 Jack Yuille, $1000.00 St. Augustin Church $1000.00 Mandeville Arnoult $300.-00 in memory of his numerous kindnesses to me and mine.- — The rest of the money from the two houses I give and bequeath to the Maison Hospitaliere (I mean the rest of the amount brought from small houses)”. As we have said, Miss Locarno sold the house with Municipal No. 1120 St. Philip Street for the sum of $3300 cash, and in her bank book there were found two envelopes, each containing currency, one containing $3000 and the other $2605. The contention of opponents is that the $2605 in currency found in one of the envelopes is the balance of the proceeds of the sale of this property, the total proceeds being $3500. They say that they have identified this currency as being the balance of the proceeds, and that, since it was kept in an envelope separate and apart from the other assets of her. succession, this currency should be delivered to them because, according to their argument, it is evident that the testatrix intended that the proceeds of the sale be used to pay the special legacies.

But opponents concede that Miss Locarno spent a portion of the proceeds of the sale. The proceeds of the sale amounted to $3300, and there was only $2605 in this envelope, so that it is conceded by opponents that she spent $695 of the proceeds of the sale.

The universal legatees under the will intervened, alleging that they were interested in the opposition filed to the account, and joined the executor, their contention, in which counsel for the executor concurs, being that there was a tacit revocation of this particular disposition in so far as the property sold w;as concerned. This contention was upheld by the trial judge.

Article 1691 of the Revised Civil Code, as amended by Act No.

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19 So. 2d 175, 206 La. 384, 1944 La. LEXIS 758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-locarno-la-1944.