Sylvanus v. Pruett

9 P.2d 142, 36 N.M. 112
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 4, 1932
DocketNo. 3621.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 9 P.2d 142 (Sylvanus v. Pruett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sylvanus v. Pruett, 9 P.2d 142, 36 N.M. 112 (N.M. 1932).

Opinion

HUDSPETH, J.

This is a suit brought by the appellee, Sylvanus, in the district court of Luna county, to have certain deeds and conveyances adjudged subordinate to a judgment lien of the appellee and to have the interest of appellant J. A. Pruett, the judgment debtor, in the lands described in the complaint sold to satisfy the judgment lien. The appellant Tigner answered and prayed that the executors of P. H. Pruett’s estate be brought in as defendants. The executors appeared and adopted the answer filed by 'the appellant, Tigner. A reply was filed by the appellee. Fred Sherman, the owner of an interest in an older judgment, intervened and issue was joined by an answer of the appellee, Tigner, and the executors to the petition in intervention and the reply thereto. Decree was entered foreclosing the judgment liens and appointing a special master to sell the real estate involved to satisfy the same.

Appellant J. A. Pruett is the son of P. H. Pruett, who died testate, a resident of El Paso, Tex., on the 25th day of February, 1924. His will, dated August 18,1923, was admitted to probate in the county court of El Paso county, Tex., May 6, 1924. An exemplified transcript of the El Paso county court record admitting the will to probate was filed in the probate court of Luna county, N. Mex., and on the 5th day of March, 1928, ancillary letters testamentary were issued by the probate court of Luna county, N. Mex., to J. A. Pruett, J. B. Pruett, and C. E. Pruett, the executors named in the will. After making provisions for the payment of his debts and bequest to the widow, the will provided:

“3. I direct that my executors herein as soon after my death as conveniently may be done sell of all my lands wheresoever situated for cash or part cash and part notes and the proceeds thereof to be. divided and paid over by them among and to my children in the manner hereinafter stated, and such executors are given full authority to execute warranty deeds conveying fee simple title to any and all of my lands and other property. All of the property standing in my name, both real and personal, is considered by me as belonging to my separate estate for the reason that the same has been paid for out of proceeds of property owned by me before the marriage of myself to my wife, Laura A. Pruett.
“4. Should my executors fail for any cause to sell any of my real estate within two years after this will is probated, then I give all of the land so unsold to my children in the same manner and to the same extent as my other estate is given to them by the provisions of this will hereinafter made.
“5. I direct that my executors, as soon as they can conveniently do so, collect all notes and other moneys owing to me and collect any notes that may be owing for lands which they may have sold partly upon a credit.
“6. The proceeds of all the personal property which I may own at my death (except the household and kitchen furniture and the gifts and legacies hereinbefore given to my wife) and the proceeds of the sale of lands I give, devise and bequeath to my eight children equally, to-wit:
“W. E. Pruett, J. A. Pruett, J. B. Pruett, C. E. Pruett, Viola Ward, Ora J. Prude, Lola Espy, and Jettie L. Smith, subject, however, to the following provisions and conditions, to-wit: * * *
“I have already made certain advancements to certain of my children and taken their due bills therefor, as follows, to-wit: * * *
“To J. A. Pruett, $4488.50, April 21, 1921.
“I contemplate making other advancements to more or less of my children before I die. I direct that each child shall account to my estate for the aforesaid advancements so made by me and for any advancements I may hereafter make, with four per cent per annum interest thereon from the date of each advancement, so that the same with such interest shall be deducted from such child’s share of my estate receiving any advancement. * * * ” ■

Paragraph 9 reads as follows: “I have this day made conveyances of all my property to my three sons, J. A. Pruett, J. B. Pruett and O. E. Pruett, as trustees in fact, and have signed an agreement with them by which I plan to have my estate disposed of during my lifetime substantially as provided in this will provided I live until my estate is turned into cash, except that I expect to retain sufficient funds to provide for the maintenance of myself and my wife so long as we shall live and to provide for her maintenance and the legacy of three thousand ($3000.00) dollars and $100 per month, to be paid to her should she survive me, as above provided. I hope to be able to have my estate so disposed of in my lifetime, and thereby dispense with the costs, expenses and court proceedings that would otherwise be necessary after my death.” The trust agreement and deed,' referred to in section 9, were not probated with the will.

On the 8th of March, 1928, the three executors of P. H. Pruett, deceased, executed an executors’ deed by which they attempted to convey the lands described in the complaint to the appellant Tigner. On the same day, the appellants O. E. Pruett and J. B. Pruett, being joined by their wives, executed a warranty deed attempting to convey these lands to the appellant Tigner. Theretofore, in the year 1927, all the other devisees of P. H. Pruett, deceased, including the judgment debtor, J. A. Pruett, had quitclaimed to the said O. E. Pruett and J. B. Pruett. The court found that J. A. Pruett was insolvent.

The district court of Luna county in January, 1925, rendered judgment for more than $1,500 in favor of the appellee, Sylvanus, and against the defendant J. A. Pruett. Transcripts of the docket of the judgment were duly filed and recorded in the county records of Grant and Luna counties in the month of February, 1925. The testator acquired title to the lands involved in this suit by deed executed by J. A. Pruett and wife February 12, 1923, after a transcript of judgment rendered by the district court of Luna county, N. Mex., against J. A. Pruett had been recorded in the county records of that county, in which judgment the intervener, Fred Sherman, had an interest amounting to $100. Long prior to the recording of this transcript of judgment, the judgment debtor and his wife had executed a mortgage in favor of his father, P. H. Pruett, the testator, and the said testator and the judgment debtor on the day this judgment was rendered, and shortly before the recording of the transcript of judgment, entered into a written contract by which the judgment debtor agreed to convey these lands to his father under certain conditions, and in case of sale before conveyance the father was to be paid his mortgage debt and some $20,000 of unsecured debts, the remainder of the purchase price going to the son. It also states that the father shall be the owner of the lands “to all intents and purposes” from the date of the agreement, and that the debts above mentioned were canceled.

1. Appellants maintain that P. H.

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Bluebook (online)
9 P.2d 142, 36 N.M. 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sylvanus-v-pruett-nm-1932.