In re Buchanan's Estate

• Decision Date: 10 January 1916
• Docket Number: 12925.
• Citation: 89 Wash. 172,154 P. 129
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: In re BUCHANAN'S ESTATE.

154 P. 129

89 Wash. 172

In re BUCHANAN'S ESTATE.

No. 12925.

Supreme Court of Washington

January 10, 1916

Department 2. Appeal from Superior Court, Pierce County; C. M Easterday, Judge.

Proceeding in the administration of the estate of Sarah A. Buchanan deceased, wherein Earl McCoy seeks to have brought into the estate and administered as part thereof property claimed by James Buchanan as his separate property. From judgment for Earl McCoy, James Buchanan, personally and as administrator appeals. Affirmed.

F. D. Oakley, of Tacoma, for appellant.

Burkey O'Brien & Burkey, of Tacoma, for respondent.

PARKER J.

This is a proceeding in the administration of the estate of Sarah A. Buchanan, deceased, wherein Earl McCoy, a son and heir of deceased, seeks to have brought into the estate and administered as part thereof certain property which he claims was the community property of his deceased mother and her husband, James Buchanan, at the time of her death, which property James Buchanan claims as his separate property, and that it is therefore not subject to administration as part of the estate of the community. The relief prayed for by Earl McCoy is, in substance, that James Buchanan, who is the administrator of the estate of deceased, be required by the court to inventory this property and administer the same as the property of the community which was dissolved by the death of Sarah A. Buchanan. Issues were joined and trial had upon the merits, before the superior court without a jury, resulting in findings and judgment as prayed for by Earl McCoy, from which James Buchanan, both personally and as administrator, has appealed. The principle question, and the only one which we deem it necessary to here notice, is: Was the property the community property of deceased and James Buchanan at the time of her death?

The trial court made findings covering the facts in considerable detail. Contention is made in behalf of appellant that these findings are not in accordance with the evidence in a number of particulars. Because of the nature of the case, we have deemed it wise to look to the evidence as found in full in the statement of facts as certified by the court, rather than to the abstracts thereof prepared by respective counsel, in which they seem to be at variance. We have therefore read all of the evidence as found in the statement of facts, and are convinced therefrom that we should now take the same view of the facts as the trial court did, especially since the court's conclusions rest largely upon the oral testimony of witnesses whose credibility is involved; in other words, we cannot say that the evidence does not preponderate in favor of the court's findings. We shall not analyze the evidence here, but state the facts, in substance, as found by the trial court, and some additional facts which we think the record shows and are worthy of note. The quotations in our statement following are from the findings:

Sarah A. Buchanan was married to James Buchanan on April 15, 1901. She was then a widow, and had five children living, one of whom was Earl McCoy, the petitioner in this proceeding. 'Shortly prior to her marriage to James Buchanan and in January, 1901, the deceased sold a timber claim then owned by her as her sole and separate property, and received therefor the sum of approximately $885 over and above all sums necessary to pay incumbrances upon said property, and prior to her marriage she was the owner of the furniture in the hotel known as the Brunswick Hotel, located on East Twenty-Fifth and D streets, in the city of Tacoma. Said hotel had from 30 to 36 rooms furnished, and the furniture was worth from $500 to $600, and just prior to her marriage the deceased sold the furniture; the exact amount which she received therefor being unknown to the court. Prior to his marriage to deceased James Buchanan had been a laborer working in various sawmills in the state of Washington and British Columbia for a period of about four years, and had saved but little, if any, money. James Buchanan and one Clinton McDaniel in April, 1901, executed articles of incorporation of the Puget Sound Lumber Company, being filed on April 11, 1901. On April 13, 1901, James Buchanan paid into the treasury of the said company $600 in payment for six shares of its capital stock, and deceased and James Buchanan then went to Victoria, British Columbia, and were married on April 15, 1901, and continued to live together as husband and wife until her death. Three hundred dollars additional was paid in by James Buchanan in payment of three additional shares of stock in said company in August, 1901, and in July, 1902. James Buchanan at all times after the mill was put into operation, and until the death of his wife, Sarah A. Buchanan, devoted his entire time and attention to work in connection with the operation of said mill. Of the sum of $900 in money paid for said stock $500 or more of the same was paid with money fournished by the deceased, and not more than $400 of said money was furnished by the said James Buchanan. The money furnished by the deceased and paid in payment for stock on April 13, 1901, was furnished by the deceased in contemplation of an immediate marriage with the said James Buchanan and for the purpose of helping finance the said lumber company as a community enterprise, and the remaining money was paid for the same purpose. The said lumber company was financed to a large extent by borrowed money raised from notes signed by the corporation and by the members thereof, including James Buchanan, and largely by the use of money so borrowed the original mill was practically rebuilt or changed several times, greatly increasing its value and capacity, and one time after it had been destroyed by fire it was entirely rebuilt, partly from money collected from insurance, and partly from money so borrowed. The capital stock of said company was divided into 50 shares of par value of $100 each, and about the year 1909 16 2/3 shares had been issued and stood in the name of James Buchanan, 16 2/3 shares had been issued to and stood in the name of Wade Hampton, and 16 2/3 shares had been issued and stood in the name of E. V. Wintermote, who had purchased the stock formerly owned by Mr. Daniel, and about said time James Buchanan and Mr. Wintermote purchased the stock of Mr. Hampton for $17,000, paying him therefor in cash out of the corporate funds, but said time Mr. Hampton delivered his certificates of stock to the officers of the company, and since said time no transfer has been made of said certificates, and at the time of the death of said deceased, and continuing to the present time, all of the outstanding stock was owned by the community composed of Mr. Buchanan and the deceased, owning one-half thereof, and Mr. Wintermote, owning the remaining one-half. Through the money borrowed on the credit of James Buchanan and the other members of the said lumber company while the deceased and James Buchanan were husband and wife, and through the work, energy, and skill and management of the said mill by the said James Buchanan and his associates during the time that Mr. Buchanan and said deceased were married, the said mill plant and equipment increased many times in value. A dividend of 30 per cent. upon the capital stock was declared in 1905, and the same, amounting to $500, was credited to the account of James Buchanan upon the books of the company in the same account in which the salary account of Mr. Buchanan was credited, and out of this fund the community expenses of the deceased and Mr. Buchanan were paid. Deceased and James Buchanan did not in their lifetime treat said property as the separate property of either of them, but as their community property, and, when compared to the value of said mill plant at the time of the death of deceased, the original investment in said stock was so small, and its part in creating the final result was so uncertain and insignificant, that, taken in connection with the impossibility of ascertaining its proportion in the value of the capital stock or of said mill at the time of her death, and the fact that the salary of the said James Buchanan in conducting said mill and the dividends derived from said stock were intermingled, whatever of separate funds entered into said property was so intermingled with the community property as to have lost its identity and separate character, and all of said

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