Alford v. Halbert

• Decision Date: 18 June 1889
• Citation: 12 S.W. 75
• Parties: ALFORD <I>et al.</I> <I>v.</I> HALBERT <I>et al.</I>
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

12 S.W. 75

ALFORD et al.v.

HALBERT et al.

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 18, 1889.

Commissioners' decision. Appeal from district court, Dallas county.

Jeff Wood, Jr., and Leake & Henry, for appellants. Read, Greer & Greer, for appellees.

COLLARD, J.

This is the second appeal of this case. See Fortson v. Alford, 62 Tex. 576. The former appeal was by Mrs. Fortson, now Mrs. Halbert, the present appellee, from the judgment of the district court of Dallas county, sustaining exceptions to her petition, and resulted in a reversal of the cause for trial on the petition. On the former appeal the orders of the probate court of Anderson county in the guardianship of Earle Cravens, and the orders of the probate court of Dallas county in the administration of the estate of the deceased minor, were reviewed and discussed; and it is claimed by appellee that it was the opinion of the commission of appeals, whose conclusions and opinion were adopted by the supreme court, that the Anderson county court, after the death of the ward, still had control of her estate for the purposes of settlement with the guardian, and that therefore the Dallas county probate court had no jurisdiction over the estate to grant letters of administration, or to order sales of property to pay the debts against the estate. The probate court of Anderson county restated the final account of the guardian, Alford, requiring him to account for land — 24 tracts — which had been conveyed by the minor to W. G. Veal in trust, fixed the aggregate amount of the debts of the estate at $1,569.86, of which $1,061.76 were due the guardian, and the residue to others. It also ordered the guardian to retain in his hands, subject to future orders of the court, and for the payment of the debts, seven tracts of land, which, after payment of the debts, or what was left of its proceeds, was to be delivered to the heir of the minor, Mrs. Fortson. The court, deeming the seven tracts sufficient to pay the debts, ordered the guardian to turn over to the heir all the rest of the estate; and it was further ordered that, "if the said Mary P. Fortson (the heir) should satisfy and pay off said debts and costs, that Alford, the guardian, should deliver to her the lands to be retained by him." Alford appealed from this judgment to the district court of Anderson county, filing his appeal-bond on the 30th of August, 1880. The district court rendered substantially the same judgment as that appealed from, when Alford again appealed to the supreme court, which affirmed the judgment on the 2d day of October, 1882. In September, 1880, the month following that in which the appeal was perfected from the decree of the Anderson county probate court, Alford applied to the probate court of Dallas county for letters of administration upon the estate of his deceased ward, setting up that she resided in Dallas county at the time of her death; that at the time of her death she owned considerable real and personal property, worth about $700; and that there were debts outstanding against her estate, and that deceased was indebted to him. The administration was granted, and an inventory filed of only four tracts of land that were not embraced in the Veal deed, which were sold by order of the court to pay the debts; and application was then made to sell the remaining three tracts ordered to be retained by him by the Anderson county court to secure the payment of debts, when, on the 28th of February, 1882, the heir, Mrs. Fortson, filed a bill of review in the Dallas probate court, asking the court to review and annul all former orders in the administration, upon the ground that the court had no jurisdiction, and that the administration was obtained by fraud. The court, upon hearing, granted the prayer, and declared the administration null and void for want of jurisdiction, and canceled all former proceedings. Alford appealed to the district court of Dallas county, where, upon demurrer of defendants, the court sustained the demurrer, and dismissed the case. From this judgment Mary P. Fortson appealed to the supreme court, which, on the 5th day of December, 1884, reversed and remanded the cause as before stated. The judgment in the district court of Anderson county in the guardianship proceedings was affirmed by the supreme court October 20, 1882. In reversing the cause on appeal of Mrs. Fortson from the judgment of the district court of Dallas county dismissing her bill of review, the opinion of the commission argues as follows: "All the parties at interest were before the court when these proceedings were had in Anderson county. The courts there had jurisdiction of the entire subject-matter of the estate of Earle Cravens, deceased. Appellants asserted right...