Forbus v. Gibbs
| Decision Date | 21 November 1949 |
| Docket Number | 4-9000 |
| Citation | 224 S.W.2d 790,216 Ark. 138 |
| Parties | Forbus v. Gibbs |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied December 19, 1949.
Appeal from Jefferson Chancery Court; Harry T. Wooldridge Chancellor.
Modified and Affirmed.
Brockman & Brockman, for appellant.
Jay W. Dickey, for appellee.
Appellant, Charles H. Forbus, is a veteran of the First World War and resided with his wife, Clara Belle, in the City of Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1926. On December 17, 1926, appellant was adjudged incompetent by the Pulaski Probate Court and Mrs. Forbus was appointed guardian of his person and estate, which consisted of compensation paid by the Veterans Administration in amounts varying from $ 50.63 to $ 73.12 monthly.
In 1932, appellant and his wife moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and the guardianship was transferred to the Jefferson Probate Court. On February 1, 1932, the property involved in this suit was purchased from R. C. Cutrell, brother of Clara Belle Forbus. The property is described as, "Lots 5 and 6, Block 16 of Cockrill's Addition, South of the Railroad, to the City of Pine Bluff, Arkansas." The deed was executed to Clara Belle Forbus as guardian of appellant and recites a consideration of $ 2,000 payable in 100 promissory notes in the sum of $ 20 each. The notes were signed by the guardian and the sale was approved by the Jefferson Probate Court on June 28, 1932.
Abe Barre held a lien on the property in the sum of $ 1,000 and the first 50 notes were payable to the order of R. C. Cutrell at the Simmons National Bank in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to discharge this lien. The second series of 50 notes was dated January 1, 1937, and payable to the order of R. C. Cutrell at the National Bank of Commerce in Pine Bluff. A vendor's lien was retained in the deed to secure the purchase money notes, taxes and insurance. Clara Belle Forbus filed annual accountings showing receipts and disbursements of guardianship funds prior to her death intestate on May 18, 1945.
Appellee, Thelma Gibbs, is the daughter and sole heir of Clara Belle Forbus and stepdaughter of appellant. On August 22, 1945, the Pulaski Probate Court ordered the sanity of appellant restored pursuant to a petition filed by him in his own right and by appellee as his next friend. Appellee, as personal representative of her mother, also filed a final report and accounting in the guardianship proceedings in the Jefferson Probate Court on September 7, 1945. The report was duly confirmed and the guardian's bondsmen discharged.
The last of the notes given in payment of the purchase price of the property was paid in July, 1941. However, the lots forfeited for nonpayment of assessments due Paving District No. 77 of Pine Bluff and two separate deeds were executed by the district to Clara Belle Forbus, individually. The first deed was executed on October 10, 1940, and recites payment by the grantee of $ 76.50 in delinquent taxes on lot 6. The second deed was executed September 18, 1944, in payment of delinquent taxes on lot 5 in the sum of $ 257.95.
Appellant instituted this suit against appellee on December 9, 1947, alleging that funds of his estate were used in payment of the consideration recited in the deeds from the paving district; that said deeds should be construed as redemption deeds and reformed so as to show that the redemptions were in fact made by Clara Belle Forbus, as guardian, rather than individually.
In her answer appellee alleged that Clara Belle Forbus, during her lifetime, paid the greater portion of the purchase price from her own funds derived from the operation of said property as a boarding and rooming house; that Clara Belle Forbus also used her own funds in redeeming the property from the paving district; that the property should be impressed with a lien for repayment of the amounts paid for said deeds from the paving district and that appellee's proper interest in the property by reason of her mother's payments on the purchase price should be confirmed.
Appellant filed a pleading containing a general denial of the allegations of the answer and further alleged that appellee's action was barred by the three-year statute of limitations. A demurrer and a motion to require appellee to make her answer more definite and certain were apparently never acted upon by the chancellor.
After a trial the court, among other things, found: "That Clara Belle Forbus operated a rooming and boarding house and operated a laundry, and that funds belonging to her in the sum of $ 859.45 were used to pay taxes, installments on the purchase price, and for improvements made to said property, and that the plaintiff should pay to the defendant, as administratrix, the sum of $ 859.45, and upon said payment being made to the defendant, all right, title, claim, interest and equity of the said Thelma Gibbs, individually and as administratrix, in and to the above described property, should be divested out of her and vested absolutely in the plaintiff, Charles H. Forbus, and title quieted and confirmed in him." Judgment was accordingly rendered in favor of appellee as administratrix in said sum of $ 859.45 and the property ordered sold in satisfaction thereof. Both parties have appealed.
On the direct appeal appellant earnestly contends that the court erred in finding that appellee was entitled to judgment in any sum, while appellee contends that she is entitled...
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