Grisham v. Grisham

• Decision Date: 11 July 1918
• Docket Number: (No. 958.)
• Citation: 96 S.E. 563,148 Ga. 271
• Parties: GRISHAM. v. GRISHAM.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

148 Ga. 271

96 S.E. 563

GRISHAM.

v.GRISHAM.

(No. 958.)

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 11, 1918.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from Superior Court, Pike County; W. E. H. Searcy, Jr., Judge.

Action by W. J. Grisham against J. L. Grisham, wherein W. F. Grisham was substituted as administrator, on the death of the original plaintiff. A special issue was found in defendant's favor, a new trial was denied, and plaintiff brings error. Writ dismissed.

E. F. Dupree, of Zebulon, and Reagnn & Reagan, of McDonough, for plaintiff in error.

Redding & Lester and E. C. Armistead, all of Barnesvllle, for defendant in error.

GEORGE, J. W. J. Grisham filed a petition for partition, and alleged that he and John L. Grisham, the defendant, each owned a half undivided interest in a described tract of land, that both the plaintiff and the defendant were 21 years of age, and that the plaintiff had given to the defendant notice of his intention to make his application as required by law. By an amendment the plaintiff claimed title to a half interest in the land under a recorded deed dated November 17, 1876, from J. L. Grisham to Mrs. C. N. Nipper, the mother of the plaintiff and the defendant, under which deed the mother took a life estate in the land, with remainder over to the plaintiff and the defendant. By a subsequent amendment the plaintiff alleged that Mrs. C. N. Nipper was the owner of the land, and that she acquired title to the same by virtue of the deed from J. L. Grisham, conveying to her a life estate in the land, with remainder over to the plaintiff and the defendant, and a conveyance from the plaintiff and the defendant to Mrs. Nipper, "dated in 1876, conveying to her all their interest in said land." He further alleged that Mrs. Nipper died testate; that by the terms of her will she bequeathed to J. L. Grisham, the defendant, a special legacy of $500, and provided "that the remainder of her property be divided equally between the plaintiff and the defendant"; that all the debts of Mrs. Nipper had been paid, and that the defendant had received his special legacy; wherefore the plaintiff prayed that the land be partitioned, and that the defendant be required to account for the rents and profits received by him. The plaintiff having died subsequently to the filing of the suit, his administrator was made a party.

When the case came on for a hearing, the defendant filed an affidavit of forgery, in which he alleged that on the deed from J. L. Grisham to Mrs. Nipper there appeared a release of the remainder interest...