Wright v. Wright

274 S.W.2d 414, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2789
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 1, 1954
DocketNo. 6374
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 274 S.W.2d 414 (Wright v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright v. Wright, 274 S.W.2d 414, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2789 (Tex. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

PITTS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment rendered after all parties were before the court through, pleadings filed. Ap-pellees, Charles H. Wright, W. R. Hext, Wiley David Wright, Verdi Terrell joined by her husband Virgil R. Terrell, and Marie Brown joined by her husband Marvin Brown, nephews and nieces of David C. Wright, deceased, filed suit on June 21, 1952, against May M. Wright, surviving widow of David C. Wright, deceased, Cecelia Plext, a widow, and Labena Beard and husband Ben Beard, Mrs. Hext and Mrs. Beard being surviving sisters of the deceased, and James Oren Price, a former employee of deceased, to have the last will of David C. Wright, deceased, construed after all interested parties have had an opportunity to be heard on the issues raised by appellees’ petition duly filed. Charles H. Wright and W. R. Hext joined in ap-pellees’ petition, both individually and as coexecutors, together with May M. Wright, as coexecutrix of the will of David C. Wright, deceased, and May M. Wright was also sued individually and as coexecutrix of the said will. Appellees pleaded the full contents of the will of the testator duly executed on May 1, 1950, before his death on April 30, 1952. They likewise pleaded the existence of “a patent ambiguity in some of the clauses of the said will, or in the alternative, a latent ambiguity in some of the clauses of the said will” and further alleged the existence of a justiciable controversy between and among the devisees and legatees made parties to the suit.

Appellant, May M. Wright, answered by joining issues with appellees on all material issues, except as to certain admissions therein made. Defendants Cecelia Plext and Labena Beard, joined by her husband Ben Beard, answered by admitting the allegations as pleaded by appellees and sought to have the will construed as pleaded by them, while the defendant James Oren Price answered denying appellees’ material allegation but alleged no controversy existed between him and any of the other parties and he sought judgment only for whatever he was entitled to have under the terms of the will.

Although the original pleadings of appel-lees and appellant were superseded by amended pleadings, we think it is well to state in substance the principal contents of all of their pleadings in the order they were filed, since all of the said pleadings were introduced in evidence as will be later herein shown. So on November 15, 1952, appellees filed their first amended original petition, setting out the contents of the will, alleging that appellant, May M. Wright, was claiming a greater interest in the estate of David C. Wright, deceased, than she was entitled to have under the terms of the will and, in the alternative, that there existed ambiguity in some of the clauses of the will, thus presenting a justiciable controversy between the parties, and sought to have the will construed in a manner pleaded by them and for an order declaring May M. Wright had elected to take against rather than under the will. Appellant, May M. Wright, again answered in her first amended original answer joining issues with appellees on the material allegations except for those expressly admitted.

Appellees thereafter on April 3, 1953, filed their second amended original petition attaching a copy of the will thereto, charging that May M. Wright was making claims of interest inconsistent with the terms of the will and had elected to take against the will rather than under its terms, that a portion of the land devised under the will was either the separate property of the testator or had been purchased with his separate monies to the extent of $32,500 and sought to have the will so construed and the [416]*416various interests of the parties distributed accordingly. Appellant, May M. Wright, filed a second amended original answer joining issues with appellees and on April 11, 1953, she filed her third amended original answer to appellees’ last mentioned pleadings, joining issues with them, particularly denying that she had asserted or made any declaration of her intention to take against the will or that any of the property mentioned in the will was the separate property of the testator or purchased with his separate funds. She also thereby challenged the good faith of appellees in bringing the suit and in filing the motion for summary judgment, which motion obviously had been previously filed but the exact date of its filing is not reflected by the record. She likewise pleaded her version of the provisions of the will and sought to have the same so established and to have the rightful interests of the respective parties partitioned by judgment of the court. She likewise there sought to have appellees’ motion for summary judgment denied on the grounds that she had a legal defense to the controversial issues raised by appellees’ pleadings and such issues ought to be heard in a trial on the merits.

Appellees’ motion for summary judgment was submitted in two counts, seeking a decree first to establish that appellant, May M. Wright, had elected to take her community interest in the estate of herself and her deceased husband as against the will and not under its terms; then, in the alternative, a second count was urged seeking a decree construing the will of David C. Wright, deceased, as having disposed of all of the property standing in the name of testator, including the community property between himself and his wife, May M. Wright, all of which property, according to the record, consisted of about 8½ sections •of land, certain town lots in the City of Canadian, and certain described personal property, the total value of all of which was estimated to probably exceed $300,000. Attached to the said motion were copies of seven deeds, a homestead designation of David C. Wright and wife, May M. Wright, testator’s will, and a marriage certificate showing David C. Wright and his said wife were married on June 26, 1920, together with an affidavit of one of appellees’ counsel to the effect that the said instruments were true copies of the originals as they appeared of record as indicated on each instrument.

Appellant, May M. Wright, resisted the said motion with a lengthy pleading filed on April 18, 1953, setting forth the material defenses she had alleged in her former pleadings, particularly pleading that all of the property she and her deceased husband owned at the time of his death was community property, except for his diamond ring unmistakably bequeathed to W. R. Hext; that her husband explained to her that one-half of said property was hers according to law and that he had disposed of only his half of the property by his will, which will she alleged reveals that only his one-half of the property was so disposed of by him and that she can support by proof that such were the intentions of her deceased husband. For all of the alleged reasons she further sought to have appellees’ motion for summary judgment denied and the case set down for a trial on the merits when all parties could be heard on the controverted issues raised and all parties have their day in court.

A hearing was held by the trial court on April 29, 1953, when appellant, May M. Wright, introduced all of the pleadings of all parties, most of which are very lengthy, a marriage certificate showing when she and testator were married, deeds to the real estate here involved, a copy of testator’s will and a part of her deposition, beginning with question 19 on page 33 as taken by appellees.

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Related

Hext v. Price
847 S.W.2d 408 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Wright v. Wright
318 S.W.2d 788 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1958)
Wright v. Wright
274 S.W.2d 670 (Texas Supreme Court, 1955)
The Lampton Realty Company v. Hoyt
99 S.W.2d 145 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1936)

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Bluebook (online)
274 S.W.2d 414, 1954 Tex. App. LEXIS 2789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-wright-texapp-1954.