Seay v. Hall

• Decision Date: 03 October 1984
• Docket Number: No. C-2562,C-2562
• Citation: 28 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 9,677 S.W.2d 19
• Parties: Willie Rhoneta SEAY, Petitioner, v. William K. HALL et al., Respondents.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

Page 19

677 S.W.2d 19

Willie Rhoneta SEAY, Petitioner, v. William K. HALL et al., Respondents.

No. C-2562.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Oct. 3, 1984.

Carter, Jones, Magee, Rudberg and Mayes, Morton A. Rudberg and Charles M. Wilson, III, Dallas, for petitioner.

Thompson & Knight, Timothy R. McCormick and David M. Kendall, Vial, Hamilton, Koch, Tubb, Knox & Stradley, William N. Hamilton, Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, Russell W. Schell, Robert M. Greenberg, Dallas, for respondents.

KILGARLIN, Justice.

The issue in this case is whether statutory probate courts have jurisdiction over survival and wrongful death actions. Because of her husband's death from injuries received when a boiler safety valve released scalding water and steam onto him, Willia Rhoneta Seay sued the various respondents ¹ in this case. Suit was initially brought in a Dallas County district court under the provisions of Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4671 (wrongful death action) and Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5525 (survival action). Five days after filing suit in that court, Mrs. Seay brought the same causes of action against the same defendants in the probate court of Dallas County. ² The various defendants filed motions to dismiss in the probate court, claiming that court lacked jurisdiction over the two causes. Dismissal for want of jurisdiction was ordered. However, the court of appeals held that the probate court did have jurisdiction of the survival action, and reversed that part of the cause. It affirmed the probate court judgment that it had no jurisdiction over the wrongful death cause. 663 S.W.2d 468. We affirm that part of the appellate court's judgment that the probate court had no jurisdiction over the wrongful death action, and reverse that part of the judgment holding that the probate court did have jurisdiction over the survival cause of action. We affirm the dismissal order of the probate court.

The basis of Mrs. Seay's argument that the probate court has jurisdiction over both causes of action is found in Tex.Prob.Code Ann. §§ 3, 5, and 5A.

Section 5(d) provides that "[a]ll courts exercising original probate jurisdiction shall have the power to hear all matters incident to an estate." Section 5A(b) provides that "[i]n situations where the jurisdiction of a statutory probate court is concurrent with that of a district court, any cause of action appertaining to estates or incident to an estate shall be brought in a statutory probate court rather than in the district court." Further, section 5A(b) defines "appertaining to estates and incident to an estate" as including:

[T]he probate of wills, the issuance of letters testamentary and of administration, and the determination of heirship, and also include, but are not limited to, all claims by or against an estate, all actions for trial of title to land and for the enforcement of liens thereon, all actions for trial of the right of property, all actions to construe wills, the interpretation and administration of testamentary trusts and the applying of constructive trusts, and generally all matters relating to the settlement, partition, and distribution of estates of wards and deceased persons.

Section 3(c) provides that " 'claims' include liabilities of a decedent which survive, including taxes, whether arising in contract or in tort or otherwise, funeral expenses, the expense of a tombstone, expenses of administration, estate inheritance taxes, liabilities against the estate of a minor or incompetent, and debts due such estates."

The pivotal issue is whether the statutory terms "appertaining to estates and incident to an estate," "all matters relating to the settlement ... of estates," and "claims" are broad enough to confer upon probate courts jurisdiction over survival or wrongful death actions. This is necessary because the probate code does not expressly name wrongful death or survival causes of action as being claims by an estate or claims appertaining to or incident to an estate. If the statutory language is sufficiently broad, then section 5A(b) makes plain that the statutory probate court will have dominant jurisdiction over the two causes of action.

Understanding the history of the current statutes is necessary in determining if the probate courts have jurisdiction. In 1973, Texas adopted an amendment to article V, section 8, of the Texas Constitution. That amendment empowered the legislature "to increase, diminish or eliminate the jurisdiction of either the district court or the county court in probate matters." It also provided for appeal of probate matters to the court of appeals. Part of the legislature's motivation in submitting the amendment for voter approval was the feeling of many members that probate judges possessed special expertise and were more qualified than district judges in handling estate matters. Hearings on H.B. 1398 Before the House Judiciary Comm., 63 Leg., 1973 (on tape). Moreover, considerable criticism of the "costly and time-consuming requirements of dual trials of the same matters in the county and district courts" led to the provision for direct appeal to the court of appeals instead of another trial in district court. 17 M. Woodward & E. Smith, Probate and Decedents' Estates § 119 (Texas Practice 1971). Anticipating voter approval of the constitutional amendment, the legislature also enacted an amendment to section 5 of the probate code. This amendment provided that in counties having statutory probate courts, "all applications, petitions and motions regarding probate, administrations, guardianships, and mental illness matters" should be filed and heard in such courts. The 1973 Probate Code § 5 amendment further provided:

All courts exercising original probate jurisdiction shall have the power to hear all matters incident to an estate, including but not limited to, all claims by or against an estate, all actions for trial of title to land incident to an estate and for the enforcement of liens thereon incident to an estate and of all actions for trial of the right of property incident to an estate.

In 1975, Senate Bill 534, 64th Leg., was enacted, which added actions to construe wills to the probate court's section 5 jurisdiction. Although section 5 was again amended in 1977, that amendment was limited to the right of a surety called upon to perform in place of an administrator or guardian to sue an estate's personal representative.

Realizing that there was uncertainty among the bench and bar as to what were matters incident to probate, the Speaker of the Texas House, in 1977, charged the House Judiciary Committee to return to the 66th Legislature recommendations for changes in the probate code. That committee did report and made as its third recommendation that there be "clarification of the phrases 'appertaining to estates' and 'incident to an estate' in Probate Code Sections 4 and 5(d)." Interim Report, Tex. House Judiciary Comm.: Proposed Revision of the Texas Probate Code 13, 66th Leg. (1978). The committee report observed "the question of jurisdiction 'incident to probate' is still an unsettled one in the Texas legal community." Id. at 15. In making its recommendation the committee relied almost exclusively on two law review comments, written by the same authors, B. Schwartzel & D. Wilshusen. Comment, Texas Probate Jurisdiction--There's a Will, Where's the Way, 53 Texas L.Rev. 323 (1975) and Comment, Texas Probate Jurisdiction: New Patches for the Texas Probate Code, 54 Texas L.Rev. 372 (1976). These authors advocated that probate jurisdiction be limited to actions in which the principal issue concerns validation of the testator's will and the assimilation, management, and distribution of his property in accordance with his will. They further stated that issues not falling within this definition of probate jurisdiction should be determined independent of probate jurisdiction. 53 Texas L.Rev. at 336. This language was set out verbatim in the committee report. In their second law review comment, Schwartzel and Wilshusen stated that while the statutory list of probate court powers was increased, the general scope of probate jurisdiction had not changed. They also observed that matters incident to an estate had been held to be those in which the "controlling issue" was the settlement, partition, or distribution of an estate. 54 Texas L.Rev. at 383. This observation, likewise, was incorporated in the judiciary committee interim report. Indeed, the "controlling issue" definition has long been approved by this court. See Zamora v. Gonzalez, 128 S.W.2d 166, 168 (Tex.Civ.App.--San Antonio 1939, writ ref'd).

Following the committee report, the legislature, in 1979, adopted H.B. 329, which struck part of the language of Texas Probate Code section 5(d) and created a new section 5A. In addition to the old section 5(d) provisions of (1) claims by or against an estate; (2) actions for trial of title to land incident to an estate; (3) enforcement of liens thereon incident to an estate; (4) all actions for trial of the right of property incident to an estate; and (5) actions to construe wills, new section 5A added to the probate court's original jurisdiction the following: (1) probate of wills, (2) issuance of letters testamentary and of administration, (3) determination of heirship, (4) the interpretation and administration of testamentary trusts and applying of constructive trusts, and (5) generally, all matters relating to the settlement, partition, and distribution of estates of wards and deceased persons. The bill as it passed the House contained no authorization for constitutional county courts and statutory county courts at law to probate wills, issue letters testamentary and administration, determine heirship, or have jurisdiction of all matters relating to the settlement, partition, and distribution of estates of wards and deceased persons. The Senate, however, added in committee an amendment, which ultimately became law, bestowing...