Black v. Unknown Creditors, Executors, Administrators, Heirs at Law, Devisees or Legatees, of Lindstrom

• Decision Date: 23 January 1968
• Docket Number: No. 10459,10459
• Citation: 83 S.D. 119,155 N.W.2d 784
• Parties: Margaret M. BLACK, Plaintiff and Appellant, Gerald Lee Lindstrom and Janet Rae Corcoran, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. The UNKNOWN CREDITORS, EXECUTORS, or ADMINISTRATORS, or HEIRS AT LAW, DEVISEES OR LEGATEES, OF Joel LINDSTROM, Deceased, and All Persons Unknown who may have or claim to have any Estate or interest in, or Lien or encumbrance upon the Real Property herein described, Defendants.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

Page 784

155 N.W.2d 784

83 S.D. 119

Margaret M. BLACK, Plaintiff and Appellant Gerald Lee Lindstrom and Janet Rae Corcoran, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. The UNKNOWN CREDITORS, EXECUTORS, or ADMINISTRATORS, or HEIRS AT LAW, DEVISEES OR LEGATEES, OF Joel LINDSTROM Deceased, and All Persons Unknown who may have or claim to have any Estate or interest in, or Lien or encumbrance upon the Real Property herein described, Defendants.

No. 10459.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Jan. 23, 1968.

Rehearing Denied March 18, 1968.

Bogue & Weeks, Vermillion, for appellant.

Brady, Kabeiseman & Light, Yankton, Dewie J. Gaul, Sioux City, Iowa, for respondents.

MUNDT, Circuit Judge.

This is an action to quiet title to eighty acres of land in Clay County, South Dakota. The action was commenced by the plaintiffs against the unknown creditors, executors, or administrators, or heirs at law, devisees or legatees of Joel Lindstrom, deceased. After the commencement of the action, it developed that there was a controversy as to the proportion each plaintiff was to receive. The trial court decreed each plaintiff was entitled to an undivided one-third interest in and to the 80-acre tract and entered its judgment and decree quieting title in the plaintiffs in such proportion. From this judgment and decree, plaintiff, Margaret M. Black, appeals.

It appears from the stipulated facts, that A. M. Lindstrom died testate on July 25, 1934, a resident of Clay County, South Dakota. In his will, he devised the eighty acres mentioned in the quiet title action, to his son, Joel Lindstrom, by the following language:

'(T)o be his for the remainder of his life only, and then to his heirs with no mortgage or encumbrance.'

The will was admitted to probate and a final decree of distribution entered July 18, 1935. One provision of the decree reads as follows:

'That the north half of the southeast quarter of Section 34, Township 94, Range 52, West of the Fifth P.M. in Clay County, South Dakota, is hereby decreed to pass to Joel Lindstrom, to be held by him and for his benefit during his lifetime, free of all encumbrance, and after his death to his heirs, Share and share alike'. (Emphasis added)

No appeal from this decree was taken. At the time of the entry of the final decree, Joel Lindstrom had two children, Margaret Lindstrom (now Margaret M. Black) and Marvin M. Lindstrom.

Joel Lindstrom died on July 4, 1966. He left surviving him as his only heirs, his daughter, Margaret M. Black, and two grandchildren, Gerald Lee Lindstrom and Janet Rae Corcoran, children of his deceased son, Marvin M. Lindstrom, who died April 1, 1963.

The principal question presented for determination in this appeal is, whether the County Court exceeded its jurisdiction by decreeing a contingent remainder to the heirs of Joel Lindstrom 'share and share alike'. Except for this phrase in the final decree, one-half of the property would have vested in Margaret M. Black, and the other one-half in the two children of Marvin M. Lindstrom, deceased, by right of representation. SDC 56.0104(1).

Appellant contends the trial court, in the quiet title action, sitting as a court of equity and confronted with the unusual circumstances presented, had jurisdiction to determine and decide who were the persons entitled to inherit the contingent remainder upon the death of Joel Lindstrom, and the proportion or part to which each person was entitled; that the County Court had jurisdiction only to probate the A. M. Lindstrom estate, and to distribute the property therein contained in accordance with the directions of the testator's will.

A final decree of distribution is conclusive as to the rights of heirs, legatees or devisees, subject only to be reversed, set aside, or modified on appeal. SDC 1960 Supp. 35.1708.

This court has held that it is necessary in the administration of an estate, for the County Court to determine the estate that passes under the terms of the will, and that if such court construes a will to pass an estate greater than in reality was conveyed by the will, such construction and determination is final and the decree of distribution in the estate assigning the property is conclusive. Kirby v. Western Surety Company, 70 S.D. 483, 19 N.W.2d 12; Higgins et al. v. Higgins et al., 71 S.D. 17, 20 N.W.2d 523.

Although a County Court is one of limited jurisdiction, its adjudications are of equal rank with judgments of courts of general jurisdiction, import the same degree of verity, and are not subject to collateral attack in the absence of fraud. Such a decree may be erroneous but, if it is rendered upon due process and not appeal is taken therefrom, it becomes final and conclusive. In re Qua's Estate, 70 S.D. 470, 18 N.W.2d 791; Bechard et al. v. Union County, 71 S.D. 558, 27 N.W.2d 591.

Appellant, in her brief, cites the case of Reddin v. Frick, 54 S.D. 277, 223 N.W. 50, to support her contention that the County Court had no jurisdiction to enter a final decree in variance with the terms of the will. The Reddin case involved the jurisdiction of a County Court in authorizing a guardian to mortgage real estate belonging to her and her two minor daughters for a prior indebtedness incurred by her. T...