Pool v. Sneed

• Decision Date: 07 June 1943
• Docket Number: No. 5531.,5531.
• Citation: 173 S.W.2d 768
• Parties: POOL et al. v. SNEED et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 768

173 S.W.2d 768

POOL et al. v. SNEED et al.

No. 5531.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Amarillo.

June 7, 1943.

Appeal from District Court, Milam County; Hon. Graham Gillis, Judge.

Action by Lillian B. Sneed and others against Elizabeth Sneed Pool and others to recover land and royalties derived under oil and gas leases thereon. Named plaintiff died and her executors were substituted as parties plaintiff. From an adverse judgment, defendants appeal.

Affirmed.

Adkins, Pipkin, Madden & Keffer, of Amarillo, Samuels, Foster, Brown & McGee, of Fort Worth, Chrestman, Brundidge, Fountain, Elliott & Bateman, of Dallas, A. J. Lewis and John Watson, both of Cameron and Black, Graves & Stayton, of Austin, for appellants.

Camp & Camp and J. W. Garner, all of Rockdale, Irby Dunklin, of Fort Worth, O. L. Kidd and E. A. Wallace, both of Cameron, Ben P. Monning, of Amarillo, and Julian B. Mastin, of Dallas, for appellees.

FOLLEY, Justice.

This suit involves chiefly the construction of the will of J. T. Sneed, Sr., who died at his home in Georgetown on March 12, 1912, having theretofore, on December 24, 1909, executed his holographic will. He was twice married and left surviving him his second wife, Lillian Beal Sneed, and six children. Four of the children were of the first marriage and the other two were of the second marriage. The children of the first marriage were J. T. Sneed, Jr., J. B. Sneed, Georgie Sneed Thompson, and H. M. Sneed. The children of the second marriage were Lillian Bond Sneed and James Phillip Sneed.

At the time of his death J. T. Sneed, Sr., owned extensive real estate holdings in Moore, Falls, Milam, and other Texas counties. The Moore County property consisted of an undivided one-half interest in a ranch of about 75,424 acres. The other half interest in such ranch was owned by his son, J. T. Sneed, Jr. A very small portion of this ranch then extended over into Potter County but by exchange of properties after the testator's death, as will hereinafter appear, the Potter County land was exchanged for other land situated wholly in Moore County; hence, we refer to such ranch as the Moore County ranch.

In the first section of the will of J. T. Sneed, Sr., he stated that he had already set apart to the four children of his first marriage their one half of the community estate of himself and their deceased mother, who was a sister of his second wife. He thereafter made certain specific devises of lands in Falls County to the two younger children, Lillian Bond Sneed and James Phillip Sneed, and stated that this was made "in order to place them on an equality with my older children." He next set apart a family burial lot and church lot for the use and benefit of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He then made a devise and bequest, the interpretation of which affords the chief controversy in this suit. It was as follows: "Third: After this above distribution as above set fourth I will, and bequeath that all of my property of every kind wherever situated or found shall be equally divided share and share alike, between my wife, Lillian B. Sneed, J. T. Sneed, Jr., J. B. Sneed, George E. Thompson, H. M. Sneed, Lillian Bond Sneed, and James Phillip Sneed, their heirs or assigns, but in case any of the above named persons and heirs should die without issue or assigns, then in that event his or her potion of my estate shall be divided among and between the other surviving and named heirs share and share alike."

The will contained the further provision that he desired his ranch property in Moore County, owned jointly by him and his son, J. T. Sneed, Jr., to remain undivided "until it suits my wife, Lillian B. Sneed, and my son, J. T. Sneed, Jr., not to exceed ten years, and during said period of ten years if my wife and son above mentioned so desire to hold said Ranch property undivided or partitioned, my wife, Lillian B. Sneed, shall have the use and benefit of the net proceeds derived from said property if she so wishes and desires, * * *." The will further provided that should it become necessary to sell property to pay any debts or burial expenses or make division and partition of his estate, "at my decease, my hereinafter named executrix and executors shall have full power and legal right under and by this will to execute good and sufficient deeds or any other form of conveyances that becomes necessary without recourse to the Courts." Under the will, Mrs. Lillian Beal Sneed was appointed executrix, and J. T. Sneed, Jr., J. B. Sneed, and H. M. Sneed were appointed executors.

When the testator died in 1912, the above-named seven devisees survived him. At that time Mrs. Georgie Sneed Thompson (George E. Thompson in the will) resided with her husband, Terry Thompson, in Amarillo; J. T. Sneed, Jr., lived in Amarillo; J. B. Sneed resided in Dallas; H. M. Sneed lived near Calvert; and the widow, Mrs Lillian Beal Sneed, and her two children, Lillian Bond Sneed and James Phillip Sneed, resided in Georgetown at the old family home in Williamson County where the testator resided at the time of his death.

The will of J. T. Sneed, Sr., was duly probated in 1912 in Williamson County. The testimony shows that prior thereto the beneficiaries under the will had been endeavoring to agree upon a partition of their interests so that they might acquire in severalty lands near where they each lived. By prearrangement, they fixed July 2, 1912, the day the will was probated, as the time they would meet and attempt a voluntary partition of the estate. All of the beneficiaries except Mrs. Georgie Thompson met at Georgetown for such purpose on the day appointed. Mrs. Thompson had theretofore authorized her brothers to act for her in the partition. The issue as to the partition agreement was controverted by the appellants, but the jury, upon sufficient testimony, resolved the issue in favor of the appellees. It is thus established that at the meeting of July 2, 1912, an oral partition agreement was made between J. T. Sneed, Jr., H. M. Sneed, and J. B. Sneed, and a tentative agreement was made between Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Lillian Beal Sneed, and Lillian Bond Sneed, which was later confirmed by Mrs. Thompson, to partition the lands in keeping with their joint desires. It was decided that James Phillip Sneed, who was still a minor, would keep his joint undivided interest in the entire estate. The agreement between the brothers and that between the mother and the daughters were identical in principle, resulting in J. T. Sneed, Jr. and Mrs. Thompson acquiring their entire severalty interests in Moore County in the Panhandle of Texas, and the other adult devisees acquiring their shares in Falls and Milam Counties in central Texas. After this oral partition, it appears that the respective parties recognized it as effective from that date; however, it was almost a year before all of the various deeds of conveyance effectuating the partition were exchanged between them. As material here, a 2/14 interest in the Moore County property was acquired by J. T. Sneed, Jr. in the partition, which was in addition to the 1/14 interest he had received under his father's will and the 1/2 interest he owned independently in his own right, the latter interest not being involved in this suit in any particular. The partition thus resulted in his having acquired a 3/14 interest in the land under his father's will. The deed under which he received the 2/14 interest in the land was executed by J. B. Sneed on June 9, 1913, and recited a cash consideration of $50,000. J. B. Sneed had theretofore, under the partition agreement, acquired the 1/14 interest of H. M. Sneed in the Moore County lands under a deed dated January 2, 1913, which recited a cash consideration of $24,500. Mrs. Lillian Beal Sneed, on January 28, 1913, executed her deed for a 1/14 interest in the Moore County lands in favor of Mrs. Georgie Sneed Thompson for a recited cash consideration of $25,000. On June 9, 1913, the same date that the deed was executed by J. B. Sneed to J. T. Sneed, Jr., Lillian Bond Sneed also conveyed her 1/14 interest in the Moore County lands to Mrs. Thompson for the recited cash consideration of $25,000. On July 3, 1912, J. T. Sneed, Jr., conveyed his 1/7 interest in the Falls County lands to Mrs. Lillian Beal Sneed for a recited cash consideration of $11,288. On January 2, 1913, J. T. Sneed, Jr., and Mrs. Thompson by joint deed conveyed their respective 1/7 interests in the Milam County lands to H. M. Sneed for a recited cash consideration of $14,000. On August 5, 1912, Mrs. Thompson conveyed her 1/7 interest in the Falls County lands to Mrs. Lillian Beal Sneed for a recited cash consideration of $10,000. On June 3, 1913, for a recited cash consideration of $25,000, she also conveyed a 2/7 interest in the Falls County lands to Lillian Bond Sneed, which 2/7 interest had theretofore been conveyed to her by her brother, H. M. Sneed, on January 14, 1913, for a recited cash consideration of $25,000, the said H. M. Sneed having theretofore acquired a 1/7 interest in such lands from J. B. Sneed by deed dated January 3, 1913, which was in addition to the 1/7 interest H. M. Sneed took under his father's will. The last mentioned deed also conveyed to H. M. Sneed the 1/7 interest of J. B. Sneed in the Falls County lands and recited a total consideration of $25,000. The record further shows that at the time of the partition J. B. Sneed was involved in personal and financial difficulties, of an undisclosed nature, and that he sold the lands he obtained under the will and in the partition to his brother, H. M. Sneed.

From the inventory and appraisement of the estate of J. T. Sneed, Sr., it appears that J. T. Sneed, Jr., was indebted to the estate in the sum of $30,905.77, that H. M. Sneed owed it $18,281.32, and that J. B. Sneed owed the estate $1,119.06. It further appears that the estate possessed personal property of the appraised value of $57,600, most of...