Ligon v. Hawkes

• Citation: 75 S.W. 1072,110 Tenn. 514
• Parties: LIGON v. HAWKES et al.
• Decision Date: 16 June 1903
• Court: Supreme Court of Tennessee

75 S.W. 1072

110 Tenn. 514

LIGON v. HAWKES et al.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

June 16, 1903

Appeal from Circuit Court, Obion County; R. E. Maiden, Judge.

Suit by E. H. Ligon against Henrietta McMurray Hawkes and another. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal. Reversed.

J. G Smith & Son and Rice A. Pierce & Son, for appellants.

Swiggart & Spradlin and Moore & Wells, for appellee.

SHIELDS J.

Mrs Sallie McMurray died March 5, 1889, in Obion county, leaving a will devising her entire estate, consisting of an undivided one-half interest in a valuable tract of land in that county owned by her and plaintiff, E. H. Ligon, as tenants in common, to her granddaughter, Sallie Henrietta Ligon, and her issue, with remainder in fee to Henrietta McMurray Hawkes, in the event the said Sallie Henrietta Ligon should die without issue before she arrived at the age of 21 years. Sallie Henrietta Ligon was then about four years old, and the only child of E. H. Ligon by the only daughter and child of Mrs McMurray; and Henrietta McMurray Hawkes was then about five years of age. The will of Mrs. McMurray was admitted to probate in April, 1899, and, the executor named therein declining to qualify, R. M. Morris was appointed administrator of her estate with the will annexed at the instance of E. H. Ligon, who became his surety upon his bond as administrator. Some weeks after the probate of the will, E. H. Ligon filed his petition in the county court of Obion county against Sallie Henrietta Ligon and Henrietta McMurray Hawkes, for the purpose of having the land owned by them and himself partitioned. The partition was made, title divested and vested, and writs of possession awarded to place the plaintiff and Sallie Henrietta Ligon in possession of their respective shares. E. H. Ligon was afterwards appointed guardian for his daughter, and managed and controlled her share until March, 1902, when she died unmarried and without issue, leaving her father, E. H. Ligon, her sole heir at law. Thereupon the petition in the case was filed by E. H. Ligon against Henrietta McMurray Hawkes and R. M. Morris, administrator of Mrs. McMurray, in the county court of Obion county, stating the death of Mrs. McMurray, and the probate in common form of her will; that Sallie Henrietta Ligon was her only heir at law and distributee, and inherited all the property of which her grandmother died seised and possessed, and had died without issue, and that petitioner, E. H. Ligon, was her father and only heir at law and distributee, and entitled to all the property which she inherited from her grandmother. It is further charged that Mrs. McMurray, at the time she made the will admitted to probate, was of unsound mind, and without testamentary capacity, and that for this reason said will was void. The prayer of the petition is for process, and that probate of the said will be set aside, and the original certified to the circuit court of Obion county that an issue may there be made and tried to test its validity. The defendants R. M. Morris, in proper person, and Henrietta McMurray Hawkes, by her guardian ad litem, answered, admitting the relationship of the parties, the death of Mrs. McMurray, and the probate of her will, and the death of Sallie Henrietta Ligon, without issue, but denying the right of the plaintiff to have the probate of the will set aside for the purpose of a contest on the ground that he was not interested in the estate of the testatrix. They also charge that the object and purpose of the petitioner, E. H. Ligon, in contesting the will of Mrs. McMurray is to recover for himself, as heir at law of his daughter, the land partitioned to her and the defendant Henrietta McMurray Hawkes in the suit in the county court. The case was decided adversely to the defendants by the county court and the circuit court of Obion county upon an appeal to the latter, and is now before this court upon an appeal in the nature of a writ of error.

We are of opinion that the defense interposed in behalf of the defendants should have been sustained, and the petition dismissed. No one except those directly interested in the estate of a decedent has the right to call in question the validity of his or her will. E. H. Ligon was not related to Mrs. McMurray any other way than as a son-in-law, and this relation was dissolved before her death by the death of the daughter and wife. When Mrs. McMurray died he had no interest in her estate as heir or distributee. At no time could he have inherited anything from her in his own right. He was a stranger in blood and estate. The general rule in Tennessee is that only those will be allowed to contest the validity of a will who are directly interested as heir or distributee in the estate, and they must show their interest when appearing to...