Succession of Land

• Decision Date: 16 June 1947
• Docket Number: 37917.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: Succession of LAND.

31 So.2d 607

212 La. 97

Succession of LAND.

No. 37917.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

June 16, 1947

Appeal from First Judicial District Court, Parish of Caddo; John R. Pleasant, Judge.

John R. Land, Jr., in pro. per. for plaintiff-appellant.

Prowell & Viosca and Walter B. Hamlin, all of New Orleans, for Mrs. Elizabeth Land Triplett, appellee.

HAMITER Justice.

The instant appeal, regarding which a motion to dismiss was heretofore denied (209 La. 135, 24 So.2d 289), is from a judgment rendered April 4, 1945, rejecting an application of John R Land, Jr., to be appointed administrator of the succession of his late father and rescinding an order previously issued for the taking of an inventory.

Justice John R. Land, Sr., whose legal domicile was in Shreveport, died intestate in the City of New Orleans on April 18, 1941. Several months later, specifically on August 13, 1941, his widow, Mrs. Willie Armistead Land, and his two children, John R. Land, Jr., and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Land Triplett, were through an ex parte proceeding in the First District Court of Caddo Parish, recognized as the widow in community and sole heirs, respectively, of decedent, and as such they were sent and put into possession of all of the property left by him, particularly that described in the judgment. This judgment was rendered in accordance with the prayer of a joint petition in which they had alleged:

'That the decedent died intestate; that his estate is entirely free from debt, with the exception of the expenses of the last illness, and a few small current bills--all of which can be paid out of the cash on deposit to the credit of decedent in the Whitney National Bank of New Orleans, Louisiana; that hence there is no necessity for any administration of decedent's estate, and that petitioners desire to accept his succession purely, simply and unconditionally.'

The petition contained no suggestion or request relative to the taking of an inventory; but annexed to, and made a part of, it was a lengthy, detailed, descriptive list of the succession property, beside each item of which was shown a value.

The mentioned judgment was supplemented on September 13, 1941, pursuant to a formal request of the widow and two children, so as to specifically describe the contents of a safety deposit box of decedent, about which no knowledge was had when the original petition was filed.

There were no further proceedings in the succession until March 5, 1945 when John R. Land, Jr., presented a petition to the court praying to be appointed administrator and asking for the taking of an inventory of decedent's estate. As the basis therefor he alleged: 'That through inadvertence, oversight, mistake or concealment certain assets of the estate of the decedent have been excluded from the list of properties or inventories filed in these proceedings * * *'. No mention is made therein of the existence of debts of the succession.

On the presentation of that petition an order was signed reading:

'Let the application of petitioner, John R. Land, Jr., for letters of administration of the succession of decedent, John R. Land be published according to law; and let the inventory herein prayed for be taken by C. L. Stiffell, a Notary Public, in and for the Parish of Orleans, State of...