Guest v. Guest

• Decision Date: 16 January 1919
• Docket Number: (No. 2062.)
• Citation: 208 S.W. 547
• Parties: GUEST et al. v. GUEST et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

208 S.W. 547

GUEST et al. v. GUEST et al.

(No. 2062.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Texarkana.

January 16, 1919.

Appeal from District Court, Red River County; Ben H. Denton, Judge.

Suit by Anderson Guest and others against Mrs. Lela Guest and others. From judgment for plaintiffs in part, they appeal. Reversed, and cause remanded.

T. T. Thompson, of Clarksville, and Mahaffey, Keeney & Dalby, of Texarkana, for appellants.

E. S. Chambers, Prentice Wilson, and Geo. Morrison, all of Clarksville, and C. S. Todd, of Texarkana, for appellees.

HODGES, J.

The appellants are the children of J. K. Guest and his second wife, Luvandria Guest, both deceased. In November, 1917, appellants instituted this suit in the district court of Red River county for the purpose of recovering the community interest of their mother, and for partition of several tracts of land situated in Red River county. They allege that both their father and mother are dead; that the land sued for was acquired by them during the time they were living together as husband and wife, and was a part of their community estate; that the petitioners are entitled to have set apart to them the interest which they inherited from their mother, and which, they say, is one-half of the land described in their petition. The appellees, who are the third wife and children of J. K. Guest, with whom is joined the administrator of the estate of J. K. Guest, answered, claiming that, while the deeds under which the land in controversy was conveyed were executed and delivered during the existence of the marriage relation between the father and mother of the appellants, the principal part of the purchase price was paid during the time J. K. Guest was living with his third wife, and from the funds of that community; that by reason of that fact the appellants are entitled to recover, if any, as their mother's community interest only that proportion which is represented by the part of the purchase price paid during her lifetime. They also claim that one of the tracts of land was the separate property of J. K. Guest, was occupied by himself and family as such at the time of his death, and is now occupied by the appellees. Other facts are pleaded which are not necessary here to notice.

The evidence shows that J. K. Guest and Luvandria Guest, his second wife, were married on December 26, 1883, and lived together as husband and wife till the death of Mrs. Guest on November 19, 1900. During that time the six tracts of land sued for were on different dates conveyed to J. K. Guest. Each one of the deeds was in the usual form and recited a consideration partly paid in cash, and the balance in notes secured by the vendor's lien. A few months after the death of his second wife J. K. Guest was married to his third wife, Lela Guest, one of the appellees, with whom he continued to live till his death, a short time before the institution of this suit.

In a trial before the court a judgment was rendered in favor of the appellants for all they claimed in some of the land involved, but denied the full relief sought as to others. In this appeal complaint is made of the judgment as it related to the division of three of the tracts described in the appellants' petition — one of 40 acres, another of 81 acres, and a third of 80 acres. In the division of the 40-acre tract the court limited the interest of the appellants to one-half of three-eighths, and in the 81-acre tract to one-half of three-twentieths, and allowed none in the third tract. He held that the 160-acre tract was therefore not subject to partition. The evidence shows that the deed to the 40-acre tract was dated October 15, 1900, a short time before the death of appellants' mother. It recited a cash consideration of $300 and two notes of $250 each, one due October 15, 1901, and the other October 15, 1902. The deed to the 81-acre tract was dated January 9, 1892. It recited a cash consideration of $300 and two notes, one for $700 due November 1, 1892, and another for $1,000, due one year later. The deed to the 160-acre tract was dated October 5, 1886; it recited a cash consideration of $338.50 and one note for $261.50 due December 7, 1887. There was abundant testimony to support a finding by the court that the major portion, if not all, of the deferred payments were made after the marriage of J. K. Guest with his third wife and from the community funds of that marriage. While the court filed no separate findings of fact and conclusions of law, his judgment limiting the appellants' interest to less than one-half of the land described above can be accounted for on no other theory than that he was of the opinion that the community interest of their mother was measured by the proportion of the original purchase price...