In re Griffin's Estate

• Decision Date: 02 December 1947
• Docket Number: Case Number: 32872
• Parties: In re GRIFFIN'S ESTATE
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1947 OK 363
189 P.2d 933
199 Okla. 676

In re GRIFFIN'S ESTATE

Case Number: 32872

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: December 2, 1947

Syllabus

¶0 1. COURTS - County court has probate jurisdiction to determine source of title in contest between those claiming as heirs of decedent.

In performing its duty to "name the persons and the proportions or parts to which each shall be entitled", in the final decree as provided in 58 O.S. 1941 § 632, it is within the probate jurisdiction of the county court to determine the source of title, where material, in a contest between those claiming as heirs of the decedent.

2. DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION - Surviving spouse inherits whole estate acquired by husband and wife by joint industry during coverture - Heirs of each spouse succeed in equal parts to title of last survivor.

Under the proviso to 84 O.S. 1941 § 213(2), the surviving spouse inherits the whole estate in property acquired by the joint industry of husband and wife during coverture, the title to which is vested in the spouse dying first and without issue, and on the death of the survivor without issue and without having disposed of such property by will or otherwise, such property descends from the survivor to the classes named in said proviso, the heirs of each spouse succeeding in equal parts to the title of the last survivor.

3. COURTS - DESCENT AND DISTRIBUTION - HUSBAND AND WIFE - Jurisdiction of county court to decide contest between heirs regarding title to certain property, acquired by joint industry of two spouses during coverture.

Where, in the settlement of the estate of the spouse dying last, the heirs of the spouse dying first file a contest asserting that title to certain property of the estate was vested in the spouse dying first, and was acquired by the joint industry of the two spouses during coverture, so that such heirs are entitled to inherit half the property under the proviso to 84 O.S. 1941 § 213(2), the county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction has jurisdiction to decide such contest.

4. DEEDS - Finding of trial court that deeds from husband to wife were delivered and were not testamentary in character, not clearly against weight of evidence.

Record examined, and held, that the finding of the court that deeds from husband to wife were delivered and were not testamentary in character was not clearly against the weight of the evidence.

5. CASE OVERRULED.

The decision in Byers v. Brinlee, 157 Okla. 72, 10 P.2d 690, is overruled in so far as it is in conflict with this opinion.

Appeal from District Court, Texas County; F. Hiner Dale, Judge. Proceeding in the matter of the estate of H.B. Griffin, deceased, upon objections of Elizabeth Dohner to the final account and petition for distribution filed by W.A. Griffin, as administrator of decedent's estate. From judgment sustaining objections and directing distribution of estate in accordance therewith, W.A. Griffin, administrator, and others appeal. Judgment affirmed.

Mauntel & Spellman, of Alva, and Lamar & Bailey, of Guymon, for plaintiffs in error.

MacGregor & Hall, of Medicine Lodge, Kans., Rizley, Tryon & Sweet, of Guymon, and Twyford, Smith & Crowe, of Oklahoma City, for defendant in error.

HURST, C.J.

¶1 H.B. Griffin died intestate on July 13, 1944, owning three quarter sections of land in Texas county. Roma Griffin, wife of H.B. Griffin, died intestate on October 15, 1943. Neither had issue. In December, 1932, Griffin executed and acknowledged deeds in favor of his wife covering said lands. The deeds were recorded after the death of the grantor. W.A. Griffin, administrator of the estate of H.B. Griffin, in his final account and petition for distribution, listed the lands as part of the assets of the estate and asked that they be distributed to the six brothers and sisters of H.B. Griffin as his sole heirs at law. Elizabeth Dohner, mother of Roma Griffin, filed objections to the account, alleging that the lands were acquired during coverture by the joint industry of Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, that the lands belonged to Mrs. Griffin at the time of her death, and that Griffin inherited them from Mrs. Griffin, they having no children or adopted children, and that upon the death of Griffin the lands descended one-half to the heirs of Mrs. Griffin and one-half to the heirs of Mr. Griffin, and that she, Elizabeth Dohner, and Oneita Hallenbeck, sister of Mrs. Griffin, were her sole heirs, and as such inherited one-half of the lands.

¶2 The issues thus made were, by the county court and the district court on appeal, found in favor of the contestant, and the lands and $729.17 were ordered distributed one-half to Elizabeth Dohner, sole heir of Roma Griffin, and one-half in equal parts to the six brothers and sisters of H.B. Griffin. From the judgment of the district court, the administrator and six brothers and sisters of Mr. Griffin have appealed.

¶3 For reversal, the appellants argue that the deeds were ineffective (1) because they were testamentary in character, and (2) because they were never delivered with the intention that they pass title. The appellants do not contend that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the finding that the property in dispute was acquired by the joint industry of Mr. and Mrs. Griffin during coverture or that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the finding as to who were the heirs of Mr. and Mrs. Griffin. The parties do not question the jurisdiction of the county court and the district court on appeal to decide whether the deeds were effective to pass title.

¶4 Mrs. Dohner relies upon the proviso to 84 O.S. 1941 § 213 (2), which reads as follows:

"Provided, that in all cases where the property is

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