Hilton v. McNitt
Hilton v. McNitt
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment allowing and establishing a creditor’s claim for $7,500 filed by Ruth M. Hilton against the estate of her deceased husband, Hal H. Hilton, based on a property settlement agreement entered into between them and on an award made in an interlocutory decree of divorce. The executor of the husband’s estate, Rollin L. McNitt and the claimant both appeal. Mrs. Hilton’s appeal is only on the denial of interest on her claim.
The major point involved on this appeal is the effect of the 1951 amendment to section 139 of the Civil Code. The portion of that amendment here involved provides, that “Except as otherwise agreed by the parties in writing, the obligation of any party in any decree, judgment, or order for the support and maintenance of the other party shall terminate upon the death of the obligor or upon the remarriage of the other party."
In the case at bar the parties entered into a property settlement agreement on July 25, 1953, pending divorce proceedings to be commenced by Mrs. Hilton. The agreement provides that it is the mutual intention of the parties to effect a final and complete settlement of their respective property rights with reference to their marital status “to each other.” The agreement also provides that “Husband shall pay to wife for her support and maintenance $300 a month, payable on the first of each and every month commencing with the 1st day of August, 1953, and continuing until the first day of July, 1956.” Other provisions in the agreement divide among the parties certain properties owned by them, and paragraph X provides that “Each of the parties in consideration of the agreements of the other herein expressed hereby waives, releases and relinquishes to the other all claims each may now have, or might hereafter otherwise acquire against the other, as husband or wife, or otherwise, arising out of the marital relation.” On the same day, the parties entered into a “stipulation in re alimony, attorney fees, court costs, title and possession of property” in accord with the
Mr. Hilton died about July 25, 1954, and Mrs. Hilton remarried about September 18, 1954. Mrs. Hilton presented a creditor’s claim for 25 monthly installments of $300 (a total of $7,500) beginning on July 1, 1954, under both the property settlement agreement and the interlocutory decree of divorce. The executor approved the claim to the extent of $300 for the support and maintenance due July 1, 1954, prior to Hilton’s death, and rejected the balance of the claim because it was based on support and maintenance of Mrs. Hilton as the former wife of the decedent and that such right terminated with Hilton’s death. Mrs. Hilton filed suit against the executor for the whole claim. The trial court held that the contract was an integrated and inseparable part of a property settlement agreement; that the monthly payments were installments in settlement of the parties’ marital rights rather than payments for support and maintenance. It was concluded that the obligation for the monthly payments did not terminate upon the death of the decedent or on the remarriage of the wife.
The executor contends that an integrated property settlement agreement is subject to section 139 of the Civil Code as amended in 1951 and that provisions in a property settlement agreement or in a decree for support and maintenance terminate on death or remarriage unless there is a provision in the agreement or decree which negates the intention that the payments should so terminate. With this contention we agree.
The husband’s obligation for support of a former wife is an obligation growing out of the marital relationship. This obligation for support would, without reference to any property settlement agreement, or decree of divorce, normally cease upon the husband’s death subject only to the wife’s rights under the community property laws of this state. In
We hold, therefore, that the 1951 amendment to section 139 is applicable whether or not the property settlement agreement is integrated and inseverable. In other words, if
Mrs. Hilton claims that she is entitled to interest on the judgment. Section 730 of the Probate Code provides that a judgment against an executor conclusively establishes the validity of the claim for the amount of the judgment and that the executor must pay the amount ascertained to be due. Judgments ordinarily bear interest at the statutory rate. However, only after an order for payment is the executor obliged to pay any general claim against the estate (Prob. Code, §§ 951, 952). This court said in Estate of Bell, 168 Cal. 253, 258, 259 [141 P. 1179], that “[I] t is settled by our decisions that the allowance of a claim against a solvent estate is not equivalent to an ordinary judgment. It is a judgment only in a qualified sense, and does not attain the force and dignity of an absolute judgment until an order of court is made directing the executor or administrator to pay it. Until then it is simply an acknowledged debt of the estate, bearing interest at the contract rate. It is only after such an order is made that it bears interest at the statutory rate.” And in Estate of Girard, 110 Cal.App.2d 203, 204 [242 P.2d 669], the court stated that “The only question presented to us is whether a non-interest-bearing debt of a decedent bears interest at the statutory rate from the date of the allowance and approval of the creditor’s claim. We have concluded that under the existing statutory law it does not.” It follows, therefore, that plaintiff is entitled to interest at the statutory rate on the amount owed at the time of decedent’s death only after the executor has been ordered to pay her claim.
The judgment is reversed.
Concurring in Part
Concurring and Dissenting. I agree that the 1951 amendment to Civil Code, section 139 applies to support provisions in an integrated agreement incorporated in a divorce decree entered subsequent to the effective date of that amendment. Before that amendment the obligation to support under the provisions of an integrated agreement did not terminate on death or remarriage unless the agreement so provided. (Anderson v. Mart, 47 Cal.2d 274, 280 [303 P.2d
In my opinion, however, the obligation in the present case did not terminate on death or remarriage, for the parties “otherwise provided.” True, they did not specifically mention death or remarriage, or any other contingency, but by providing that the payments should continue until the “first day of July, 1956” they agreed that the payments were not to terminate for any reason before that date. By specifying that date, they necessarily precluded any other.
I would affirm the judgment.
The petition of plaintiff and appellant for a rehearing and application to augment the record were denied October 17, 1957. Gibson, C. J., Traynor, J., and Spence, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- RUTH M. HILTON, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. ROLLIN L. McNITT, as Executor, Etc., Defendant and Appellant
- Cited By
- 45 cases
- Status
- Published