Estate of Giessel, Matter of

• Decision Date: 14 May 1987
• Docket Number: No. 01-86-0717-CV,01-86-0717-CV
• Parties: In the Matter of the ESTATE OF John J. GIESSEL, Deceased. (1st Dist.)
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 27

734 S.W.2d 27

In the Matter of the ESTATE OF John J. GIESSEL, Deceased.

No. 01-86-0717-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Houston (1st Dist.).

May 14, 1987.

Rehearing Denied June 18, 1987.

Thomas H. Watkins, Hilgers & Watkins, P.C., Austin, for appellants.

Quincy A. James, Robert E. Hudson, Houston, for appellee.

Before COHEN, JACK SMITH and DUGGAN, JJ.

OPINION

COHEN, Justice.

Based on the jury's finding that Rosie Kuchera was John J. Giessel's common-law wife, the court rendered judgment declaring her to be Giessel's sole heir. The appellants, Giessel's cousins, challenge the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence proving the marriage.

In considering a legal sufficiency, or no evidence, point, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's finding, considering only the evidence and inferences therefrom that support the finding and rejecting all other evidence and inferences. Renfro Drug Co. v. Lewis, 149 Tex. 507, 235 S.W.2d 609 (1951). In considering a factual sufficiency point, we evaluate all the evidence, and reverse the judgment only if the jury's finding is so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. In re King's Estate, 150 Tex. 662, 244 S.W.2d 660 (1951). When there is conflicting evidence on a fact question, the verdict will generally be upheld. Rego Co. v. Brannon, 682 S.W.2d 677, 680 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1984, writ ref'd n.r.e.).

The record reflects that Giessel's first marriage ended in divorce, and that Kuchera's first marriage ended in 1963 with the death of her husband. After her husband's death, Kuchera lived in a small home on a 150-acre tract of land that she and her husband had owned. Giessel lived nearby with his parents. In 1964, Giessel and Kuchera began living together in her home.

Kuchera testified that on September 18, 1964, she asked Giessel to marry her in a church wedding. He told her that "he got married by a preacher the first time and it didn't work out.... [and] he said we was going to get married under God's eyes and that was good enough." She testified that they lived together in a series of homes on her property until his death on November 3, 1984, at the age of 69, and that they had never spent a night apart.

The record reflects that Giessel was unemployed and penniless when he began living with Kuchera. Around 1970, Giessel placed his parents in a nearby nursing home, where they remained until their deaths in 1976. During this time, Giessel paid what he could for his parents' care. Kuchera testified that between the mid-1960's and the mid-1970's, Giessel only earned between $1.25 and $3.00 per hour, that she helped Giessel pay the nursing home bills, and that after the death of Giessel's parents, she helped Giessel pay their debts.

The record reflects that Kuchera's mother lived with them for about four months and that Kuchera's brother lived with them from about 1980 until Giessel's death.

Between 1974 and 1980, Kuchera executed an oil and gas lease and two pipeline easements. Each instrument described her as "Rosie Kuchera, a widow," and she signed each of them Rosie Kuchera. In 1978, Giessel executed an oil and gas lease on the property he inherited from his parents. The lease described him as "John J. Giessel, a single man."

With the income from the oil leases, Giessel and Kuchera built a new house on Kuchera's property. This house was built on the same spot as the house they had been living in since 1964.

Giessel's death certificate listed him as divorced with no surviving spouse. Several witnesses testified that Reverend Thrasher referred to Kuchera as "Giessel's special friend," during Giessel's funeral eulogy.

The record is unclear regarding who provided the information to the funeral home and to Reverend Thrasher at the time of Giessel's death. Kuchera testified that Lilly May Clark, her niece, made Giessel's funeral arrangements. Donald Strickland, the funeral home director, testified that their records listed Kuchera as the "# 1 Informant." However, he also testified that this was primarily because she was responsible for paying the funeral expenses. All of the funeral home documents signed by Kuchera were also signed by Fritzie Steenken, Giessel's cousin. They also contain Steenken's phone number with the notation "to locate the grave," apparently because the gravesite was owned by Giessel's parents. The documents also reflect "Family will be at.... [C]all Ruth Edwards," and her phone number. (Emphasis in original.)

Strickland testified that he learned on the day of the funeral that Kuchera "lived with Giessel as his wife for 20 years," but that it was too late to retract the obituary notices listing Kuchera as Giessel's friend. He testified that he regretted the mistake.

Wayne Edwards owned land next to Giessel and Kuchera. He testified that he had known Giessel since they were both children, that Edwards' father helped Giessel and Kuchera build a house on Kuchera's land sometime in the mid 1960's, and that he believed that Kuchera and Giessel were married. In 1980 or 1981, Giessel told Edwards, "Rosie is my wife, and everybody knows that, and she is going to be taken care of and you don't have to worry about it." He also testified that Giessel and Kuchera "referred to each other as a couple, as a married couple." He testified that the local community referred to them as John and Rosie, but that others, particularly hunters and contractors, referred to them as Mr. and Mrs. Giessel, and that neither Giessel nor Kuchera ever denied or corrected the label.

Betty Lou Poehl testified that she had known Giessel since 1964 and Kuchera since 1965, and that she knew Kuchera as Rosie Kuchera Giessel. Poehl worked with both Kuchera and Giessel. One morning at work, she asked Giessel if he and Kuchera were married, and he responded that "definitely that they were husband and wife, that he could never have a woman that was more his wife than Rosie." Kuchera was present during the conversation and said that "we did not need a marriage license to be married." Poehl testified that Kuchera and Giessel had a reputation for being married, and that on many occasions she heard Giessel introduce Kuchera as his wife, and heard Kuchera introduce Giessel as her "old man." Poehl confirmed that Kuchera helped Giessel pay off the debts accumulated after Giessel's parents' deaths.

W.D. Anderson testified that he was acquainted with Giessel and Kuchera from 1979 to 1983 as a result of his employment with TIPCO, a company that was drilling oil wells on Kuchera's property. He testified that he believed that Kuchera was Giessel's wife, that on several occasions his employees told him "we saw him and his wife pass a while ago going that way," that they had a reputation for being married, and that he never heard any differently.

Beverly Upchurch, Giessel's second cousin, testified that she considered Kuchera and Giessel to be married because they were always referred to as "Johnny and Rosie, like one sentence ... we just considered them a twosome." Upchurch also testified that the Christmas cards that she received from Giessel were signed by Giessel only, and not by Kuchera.

Glen Goodwin, Upchurch's ex-husband, testified that he visited Giessel and Kuchera on many occasions, and that he considered them married. Sidney Becvar, Billy Joe Shupak, Earvin Moore, Wilbert Seuhs, and Robert Benn testified that they believed that Giessel and Kuchera were married and that they had a reputation for being married.

Samuel Clark testified that during a conversation between Giessel and an oil field worker, both Giessel and the worker referred to Kuchera as Giessel's wife. He also testified that he considered them to be married.

James Nutt testified that he had known Kuchera and Giessel since 1970, when he began leasing Giessel's property for deer hunting. He believed that Giessel and Kuchera were married, and believed that they had a reputation for being married. On cross-examination, he testified that he never heard Giessel introduce Kuchera as "my wife," but that he assumed that they were married because they were living together and because he had not heard differently. Alfred Gaskamp, another hunter, testified similarly to Nutt.

Alvin Perry testified that, while he was in college, he was employed by Giessel to build a fence, and that he thereafter worked sporadically for Giessel from 1982 until Giessel's death. Perry testified that he referred to Kuchera and Giessel as Mr. and Mrs. Giessel, that he introduced them to his girlfriend as Mr. and Mrs. Giessel, and that neither one corrected him. Perry also testified that he considered them to be married and that they had a reputation for being married.

The record reflects that neither Kuchera nor Giessel told any of Giessel's relatives that they were married; that Kuchera's tax returns, driver's license, bank account, social security card, and pay check were in the name of Kuchera; that her tax returns listed her as single; that she and Giessel maintained separate bank accounts; and that they did not have any joint accounts or jointly owned property. Kuchera testified that she never used the name Giessel because she thought that she could not change her name to Giessel without a formal marriage license.

Several witnesses testified that Giessel and Kuchera always did everything together; they worked at the aluminum ladder plant together, they worked Kuchera's land together, they went shopping together, and they socialized together locally. On the other hand, several of Giessel's relatives testified that Giessel never brought or talked about Kuchera on the several occasions that he attended family functions.

Several of Giessel's cousins testified that they regularly received Christmas cards from him, but that they were only signed by Giessel and not by Kuchera. Laverne Knittel, Ouida Rohde, and Johnnie Mueller, Giessel's cousins,...