Crosby v. United States, Civ. A. No. 718.

• Decision Date: 20 May 1957
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 718.
• Parties: Frank A. CROSBY and P. E. Berry, individually and as Administrators of the Estate of Lewis G. Crosby, also known as L. G. Crosby, Deceased, Plaintiffs, v. The UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Florida

151 F. Supp. 497

Frank A. CROSBY and P. E. Berry, individually and as Administrators of the Estate of Lewis G. Crosby, also known as L. G. Crosby, Deceased, Plaintiffs, v. The UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 718.

United States District Court N. D. Florida.

May 20, 1957.

Watson & Brown, Pensacola, Fla., for plaintiff.

Charles K. Rice, Asst. Atty. Gen., James P. Garland and Richard M. Roberts, Attys., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Harrold Carswell, U. S. Atty., Tallahassee, Fla., C. W. Eggart, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Pensacola, Fla., for defendant.

DE VANE, Chief Judge.

From the admissions of the plaintiffs and defendant made at the pre-trial conference held prior to the trial of this suit, from the admissions made in the pleadings, and admissions made by the plaintiffs and defendant at the trial of this suit, and from the evidence adduced at the trial of this suit, the Court finds the following facts as having been established in this case:

Lewis G. Crosby, also known as L. G. Crosby (hereafter referred to as Crosby), died intestate on February 27, 1950, a citizen and resident of Escambia County, Florida, leaving surviving him as his sole heirs at law his widow, Jessie B. Crosby, and his children, Miriam Crosby Berry, Frank A. Crosby and Carolyn Crosby Thornton, all of whom were over the age of 21 years at the time of the death of Crosby.

Crosby owned real estate and personal property in Escambia County, Florida, in Baldwin and Montgomery Counties, Alabama, and in Leelanau County, Michigan.

Plaintiffs were appointed by the County Judge's Court of Escambia County, Florida, as administrators of the estate of Crosby; they duly qualified as such administrators in Florida, and were still acting as such at the time of the institution and trial of this suit.

Plaintiffs were also duly appointed by the Probate Court of Baldwin County, Alabama, as administrators of the estate of said Crosby, to administer the assets of said estate in Alabama; they duly qualified as such administrators, and were still acting as such administrators at the time of the institution and trial of this suit.

After plaintiffs were appointed and qualified as administrators in the State of Alabama by the Probate Court of Baldwin County, Alabama, administration proceedings on the estate of Crosby in Alabama were, as authorized by the laws of that State, transferred to the Circuit Court of Baldwin County, Alabama, in Equity, in which court administration proceedings on the estate of Crosby were still pending at the time of the institution and trial of this suit.

The real estate owned by the estate of Crosby in Baldwin County, Alabama, consisted of approximately 20,000 acres of land on which there was growing timber, with little, if any, buildings or other improvements thereon, other than fences; the real estate owned by Crosby in Michigan was unimproved. A portion of the real estate owned by Crosby in Florida had buildings and other improvements thereon, while other portions were unimproved.

The assets of the estate of Crosby in Florida were appraised by appraisers appointed by the County Judge's Court of Escambia County, Florida, to be of the value of $349,968.48. Jessie B. Crosby, the widow of Crosby, elected within the time and as authorized by the laws of the State of Florida, to take a dower interest in the assets of Crosby's estate in Florida, being one-third of the gross estate in fee simple, and in accordance with the provisions of the laws of Florida, a dower interest in Jessie B. Crosby in the assets of said estate in Florida was adjudged to be of the value of $112,997.82, in addition to which she was adjudged to have a life estate in the homestead of Crosby in Escambia County, Florida, which had been appraised at the sum of $11,000.

The assets of the estate of Crosby, both real and personal in Florida, remaining after allowance therefrom of the dower interest of the widow of Crosby, together with all assets of Crosby's estate, both real and personal, in the State of Michigan, and in the State of Alabama, other than the lands of Crosby in Baldwin County, Alabama, were wholly insufficient to pay all costs and expenses of administration of Crosby's estate in said several States, to pay the costs and expenses of the funeral and burial of Crosby, to pay all indebtedness owing by Crosby, and to pay all estate and inheritance taxes due the United States of America and the States of Alabama and Florida, so that it became necessary, and was the duty of the plaintiffs as such administrators, under the laws of Alabama, to sell said lands in Baldwin County, Alabama, which constituted assets of the estate of Crosby, to obtain funds with which to satisfy and discharge all such items of indebtedness and all such estate and inheritance taxes, all of which it was estimated would amount to approximately $500,000.

The Court took judicial notice that at the time of the death of Crosby there was in force and effect the following provisions of the laws of the State of Alabama, as part of its Code of Laws:

Title 16, § 10, as follows:

"Distribution of personal estate. —The personal estate of persons dying intestate as to such estate, after the payment of debts, and charges against the estate, is to be distributed in the same manner as his real estate, and according to the same rules; except that the widow, if there are no children, is entitled to all the personal estate, or, if but one child, she is entitled to one-half; if more than one, and not more than four, children, to a child's part; and if more than four children, to one-fifth."

Title 34, §§ 40 and 41, as follows:

"§ 40. Dower defined; of what lands widow is dowable.—Dower is an estate for the life of the widow in a certain portion of the following real estate of her husband, to which she has not relinquished her right during the marriage:

"(1). Of all lands of which the husband was seized in fee during the marriage. (2). Of all lands of which another was seized in fee to his use. (3). Of all lands to which, at the time of his death, he had a perfect equity, having paid all the purchase money therefor."

"§ 41. Extent of widow's dower interest.—The quantity of the dower interest is as follows:

"(1) When the husband dies leaving no lineal descendants and his estate is not insolvent, his widow is entitled to be endowed of one-half his lands.

"(2). If in such case his estate is insolvent, to one-third part thereof.

"(3). When there are lineal descendants, then to one-third part thereof, whether the estate be solvent or not."

Title 61, §§ 244, 271 and 272, as follows:

"§ 244. Sale in case of intestacy. —In case of intestacy, lands may be sold by the administrator for the payment of debts, when the personal estate is insufficient therefor."

"§ 271. With widow's consent, dower may be sold.—In all cases where, under the provisions of this subdivision, the lands of a decedent can be ordered to be sold by the probate court, the widow may file in the office of the judge of probate her written consent, that her dower interest in the land may be sold, so as to vest in the purchaser the complete title; and thereupon, the court must order such dower interest to be sold with the residue of the lands."

"§ 272. Value of dower interest; how fixed and paid.—When the sale is confirmed, the court, on application of the widow, must make an order that a fair equivalent for the dower interest be paid to her by the personal representative, when the purchase money is collected, the value of such interest to be ascertained by proof, having regard to the age and health of the widow, but in no case to exceed one-third of the purchase money."

Because of the necessity of obtaining funds with which to pay all of the items of indebtedness referred to above, including estate and inheritance taxes, and because of the insufficiency of all assets of the estate of Crosby, both real and personal, other than said lands in Baldwin County, Alabama, with which to make such payments, it became necessary and was the duty of the plaintiffs as such administrators, to sell said lands in Baldwin County, Alabama, to obtain the necessary funds with which to satisfy and discharge all such indebtedness and taxes.

Plaintiffs as administrators of the estate of Crosby, were able to sell said lands in Baldwin County, Alabama, to St. Regis Paper Company for the sum of $1,640,689 cash, with a reservation to the estate of Crosby and his heirs of a 1/8 th...