Rutherford v. Deaver

• Decision Date: 27 January 1920
• Docket Number: (No. 2202.)
• Citation: 218 S.W. 31
• Parties: RUTHERFORD et al. v. DEAVER.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

218 S.W. 31

RUTHERFORD et al. v. DEAVER.

(No. 2202.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Texarkana.

January 27, 1920.

Rehearing Denied February 5, 1920.

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

Action by Mrs. M. F. (Birdie) Rutherford and others against Mrs. Pete Deaver. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

By his first wife Pete Fulbright, Sr., had two children, a daughter named Birdie, who married one Rutherford, and a son named Henry E., who died, leaving as his sole heirs a daughter and two sons, who with Mrs. Rutherford were plaintiffs in the court below and are appellants here. By his second wife Pete Fulbright, Sr., had one child, a daughter, also named Pete, who married one Deaver. She was the defendant in the court below and is the appellee here. Pete Fulbright, Sr., owned as a part of his separate estate 375 acres of the John Laud survey in Red River county. By a deed dated February 2, 1880, for love and affection he had for his daughter Mrs. Rutherford, and his son, Henry E., he conveyed to them 175 of said 375 acres of land. Pete Fulbright, Sr., died intestate in May, 1881, owning the remainder of said 375 acres and an interest in the community estate between him and his second wife, consisting, it seems, of personal property and two tracts of land. November 29, 1882, the 200 acres of the Laud survey owned by said Pete Fulbright, Sr., when he died, was set apart to his widow and their daughter, Pete, then a minor, for their use as a homestead. At the same time certain personal property was set apart to them. The proceeds of certain other personal property sold by Pete Fulbright, Sr.'s, administrator was used to pay debts of the estate and allowances made by the probate court to said widow and her minor daughter. A partition of the property remaining (except the 200 acres in controversy here) in which Pete Fulbright, Sr., owned an interest was had between his heirs, including Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright, in 1889. In that partition no account was taken of the fact that Pete Fulbright, Sr., during his lifetime had given 175 acres of the Laud survey to Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright. The widow of Pete Fulbright, Sr.'s, second marriage took possession of the 200 acres of the Laud survey at the time it was set apart to her and her minor daughter in 1882, and thereafter until her death in July, 1916, used it as her homestead. Mrs. Rutherford and the children of H. E. Fulbright claimed that the 200 acres was owned as follows: One-third by Mrs. Rutherford, one-third by the children of H. E. Fulbright, deceased, and one-third by Mrs. Pete Deaver; and the object of their suit against Mrs. Deaver was to have it partitioned accordingly. Defending the suit, Mrs. Deaver, claimed that the 175 acres, conveyed to Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright in 1881 was an advancement to them by Pete Fulbright, Sr., out of his estate; that said Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright at once took possession of, and ever afterwards used, the 175 acres free of any charge or claim thereto in favor of any other persons; that the widow of the second marriage owned a life estate of one-third in the 200 acres remaining of the Laud survey, and that the same was, besides, charged with the right of said widow to use it as a homestead while she lived; that said widow did so use same; that the value of the 175 acres advanced to said Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright, as compared with the value of the 200 acres remaining of the 375 acres, charged as it was with the life estate and homestead right in the widow of the second marriage, exceeded the value of the interests owned by Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright in the estate of their father; that said Mrs. Rutherford and H. E. Fulbright therefore were not entitled to any part of said 200 acres; and that she, Mrs. Deaver, was entitled, as against them, to all of said 200 acres. The appeal is from a judgment in Mrs. Deaver's favor in accordance with her contention.

T. T. Thompson, of Clarksville, and Wilkinson & Davidson, of Mt. Vernon, for appellants.

E. S. Chambers, of Clarksville, and Mahaffey, Keeney & Dalby, of Texarkana, for appellee.

WILLSON, C. J. (after stating the facts as above).

That it appeared as a matter of law that the conveyance to H. E. Fulbright and Mrs. Birdie Rutherford of 175 acres of the John Laud survey, evidenced by the deed dated October 7, 1881, was a gift to them by their father Pete Fulbright, Sr., is affirmed by all the parties to the appeal. They disagree, however, as to whether the trial court has a right to say it also appeared as a matter of law that the gift...