Whitehead v. Rhea

• Decision Date: 30 May 1914
• Docket Number: (No. 7982.)
• Citation: 168 S.W. 460
• Parties: WHITEHEAD et al. v. RHEA et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

168 S.W. 460

WHITEHEAD et al. v. RHEA et al.

(No. 7982.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Ft. Worth.

May 30, 1914.

Appeal from District Court, Hood County; W. J. Oxford, Judge.

Action by B. E. Whitehead and others against R. K. Rhea and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

John J. Hiner, of Granbury, for appellants. Estes & Estes and W. L. Dean, all of Granbury, and J. L. Lockett, Jr., of Ft. Worth, for appellees.

SPEER, J.

Mrs. B. E. Whitehead, joined by her husband, R. S. Whitehead, and G. J. Moore instituted this suit against R. K. Rhea and her husband, C. W. Rhea, in the district court of Hood county, for the partition of certain lands and personal property situated in that county, constituting the community estate of A. E. Moore and his wife Nancy Moore, deceased, and said B. E. Whitehead, G. J. Moore, and R. K. Rhea being the children and only heirs of the said A. E. and Nancy Moore, deceased. The real estate sought to be partitioned was of the alleged value of $7,500 and the personal property $5,000.

It was insisted in the petition that R. K. Rhea was entitled to an undivided one half interest in all of said property through a devise by the father of his interest, and it was alleged that B. E. Whitehead, G. J. Moore, and R. K. Rhea were each entitled to an undivided one third interest in the other half as heirs of their mother, Nancy Moore, deceased. The defendants answered specially that said Nancy Moore had been an invalid for about 35 years prior to her death and required constant care and attention of some female person to look after her and care for her; that she was insane for many years prior to her death; that she was about 82 years old when she died, and the said A. E. Moore was about 90 years old when he died; that he too required the care and attention of a nurse to look after him during his latter years, and that the defendant R. K. Rhea was the only person to care for them during this time; and that the other two children had never contributed anything towards the care and comfort of their parents. It was further alleged that about the year 1878, and during the time that said Nancy Moore was an invalid and insane, the said A. E. Moore entered into an oral agreement with the defendant R. K. Rhea, in which he promised, in consideration of her undertaking to remain with and care for and nurse him and her mother, that she should be compensated for her services, and have such property as they might possess at the time of their death as compensation for said services: that in pursuance of this agreement the said R. K. Rhea remained with her parents from the year 1878 up to the time of their death in the year 1911, and cared for and nursed them during said time under said agreement, and further alleged the value of her services during all these years. The answer concluded with a prayer for judgment decreeing to the defendants the title and possession of all the property involved in the suit, and, in the alternative, for a judgment for the compensation claimed, and that the same be decreed a charge against the property sought to be partitioned.

The case was submitted on special issues upon which judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant R. K. Rhea for 40 acres of land sought to be partitioned, and decreeing that 100 acres of the remaining 200 acres be partitioned as prayed for by the plaintiffs, but that it be charged with $7,314.80, with interest from February 18, 1911, in favor of Mrs. R. K. Rhea, less $365.70, rents...