Wells v. Wells' Exors.
Wells v. Wells' Exors.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
On March. 30, 1888, H. N. Wells, the father of appellant and C. T. Wells, departed this- life testate. For some unexplained reason that part of hi® estate devised to appellant, W. B. Wells, was placed in the hands of C. T. Wells as trustee. He made appellant, his daughter, Mrs. Cobb, and C. T. Wells his executors. Appellant and Mrs. Cobb failed to qualify, however, and it seems that C. T. Wells alone qualified and .settled the estate, aind it appears 'that he did so satisfactorily to all parties in interest. Upon a settlement of the estate in 1888, it appears that appellant’s part, after deducting what he bought at the sale and some other small amounts, was $1,080.92, and at the close of that settlement it was stated in writing that this amount was invested in real estate for W. B. Wells. There is nothing in the will, however, requiring it to be so invested, and, in fact, it was not. T. C. Wells and appellant came to an agreement whereby this fund was -to be invested in land, but when they went to survey the land a disagreement arose and they abandoned the idea of investing it in land and made .an agreement that T. C. Wells was to pay the money to W. B. Wells along from time to time, as he might need it to support himself and family. It appears that W. B. Wells had a family consisting of his wife and eight or nine children, and that he was hardly
Depositions were taken by the parties. Appellant and his witnesses tend to show that no money or other thing had been paid to him by T. C. Wells since the settlement of 1888. Appellee’s witnesses tend to show that he had been paid in money, checks and merchandise, a large amount between these dates and several witnesses testified that the trustee, T. C. Wells, from 1900 to 1902, from time to time, refused to pay anything more to W. B. Wells, stating to him that he had already more than accounted to him for all that ever came to his hands. They proved by one witness that upon a certain occasion before the last named date, W. B. Wells returned from town, the place where T. C. Wells lived, and his wife asked him if he had received any money or corn and he answered no and said to his wife, “How can you expect me to get anything when there is nothing due me?” There were other statements in the testimony indicating that he had gone to town to get help from his brother, T. C. Wells. It is true all these statements were denied, but it was shown and admitted that T. C. Wells had failed and refused to pay him any money or to furnish him any means from that time to his death. It was also shown by the testimony, and admitted by appellant, that his farm was poor; that he was hardly able to support himself and family from it and that he needed assistance during all that time.
The case was submitted, and the judge of the court, not being satisfied with the record as presented, went to the county clerk’s office and turned the records of settlements leaf by leaf, and found a settlement made
For these reasons the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.