Simpson v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 25 March 1935
• Docket Number: No. 4-3796.,4-3796.
• Parties: SIMPSON et ux. v. ANDERSON.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

80 S.W.2d 65

SIMPSON et ux. v. ANDERSON.

No. 4-3796.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

March 25, 1935.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; T. G. Parham, Judge.

Proceeding for the allowance of the claim of E. A. Simpson and wife against the estate of L. A. Johnson, deceased, opposed by S. S. Anderson, executor. From a judgment of the circuit court denying the claim on appeal from a judgment of the probate court granting the claim, claimants appeal.

Judgment of the circuit court affirmed.

A. D. Chavis, of Pine Bluff, for appellants.

W. B. Alexander, of Pine Bluff, for appellee.

MEHAFFY, Justice.

L. A. Johnson died the latter part of December, 1931, leaving surviving him his widow and several children by a former wife, also several stepchildren, the children of his second wife. Before his death, Johnson had made a will disposing of his property, giving his entire estate, after the payment of his debts, to his children by his first wife. L. A. Johnson and his second wife lived with the appellants about eighteen months before his death.

Mrs. E. A. Simpson was Johnson's step-daughter, the daughter of his second wife, and she testified that Johnson had practically raised her. After Johnson's death, the appellants filed a claim in the probate court alleging that the estate owed them $475 for taking care of Johnson and his wife. The account was itemized, and it was alleged that no part of it had been paid. It is claimed by the executor, S. S. Anderson, that no claim was ever presented to him to be allowed or disallowed. It appears that the attorney for the appellants wrote two letters to Anderson telling him about the claim, and it was thereafter tried in probate court, where a judgment was rendered in favor of appellants for $180. The court found that the appellants were entitled to $10 a month for eighteen months. An appeal was taken to the circuit court, where the case was tried before the circuit judge sitting as a jury, and the finding was in favor of the estate. It is to reverse this judgment of the circuit court that this appeal is prosecuted.

The evidence on the part of the appellants tended to show that they cared for and supported Johnson and his wife for about twenty months; that Johnson had money in the bank when the bank closed, and was to pay them when he got his dividends; that Johnson had $900 or more tied up in the bank; that appellants charged Johnson and his wife $12.50 a month for caring for them; that Mrs. Johnson was paralyzed and could not walk and Mr. Johnson was old and feeble; that the Johnsons died at appellants' home; that Johnson got a check for $92 dividend from the bank, and had on him when he died $52; that Johnson contributed nothing to the support of himself and wife while they were at the home of appellants; appellants remembered Johnson drawing money from the bank. There was other testimony tending to show that the appellants cared for Johnson and his wife for several months; in fact, there is no dispute about the Johnsons living with the appellants.

S. S. Anderson, the executor of the estate of L. A. Johnson, testified in substance that no claim was ever presented to...