Wade v. Scott
Wade v. Scott
Opinion of the Court
W. H. Scott, father of appellants, died in Milam county on the 10th of June, 1904, leaving a will, by which he bequeathed! to each of his five children an undivided interest in and to all of his estate. At the-time of his death, he owned no other property except a homestead in Cameron, esti *676 mated to contain 25 acres, more or less, upon ■which he, his wife, Rachel Scott, and Delphya Scott, an unmarried daughter, lived at the time of his death, using it as a homestead. In October next thereafter, the probate court appointed his son, J. W. Scott, administrator of said estate with the will annexed. He qualified as such with Monta J. Moore, A. J. McCord, and W. T. Massen-gale as his sureties, and he thereafter filed an inventory, showing that the above-described property was the only property of said estate. In April, 1906, he made application to and obtained an order from the said probate court to sell said real estate; such application was not accompanied, however, by an exhibit attached, showing a schedule of the debts and the condition of said es; tate. Said administrator, on the same date, reported a sale of one acre of said land to William Stolz, and on the same day the court confirmed such sale, notwithstanding said report had not been filed five days before the date of said order of approval, as required by statute. He subsequently sold to A. S. Epperson 27.5 acres of said land, and .7 of an acre to S. D. Lewis. There was no report of such sales, nor order confirming or ratifying the same, until October and December, 1908; nor was there any order of the court allowing and approving any claims against said estate until October,-1908, at which time the court entered an order approving the following claims, to wit: Claim in favor of I-Iefley & Co. for $82; two claims in favor of Miss Delphya Scott, one in the sum of $580, and the other in the sum of $100; claim in favor of Dr. Thos. A.. Pope for the sum of $18; and the claim of the administrator, J. W. Scott, for $1,400. Deeds were made by said administrator to said purchasers for the respective tracts of land above mentioned, in accordance with the orders of the court above indicated.
On the 18th of June, 1910, Mary Wade and Eliza Castlio, two of the children of said W. H. Scott, deceased, on proper application, obtained from the district court of said county a writ of certiorari against J. W. Scott individually and as administrator and said sureties on his bond, as well as against Mrs. Rachel Scott, Delphya Scott, and said Stolz, Epperson, Lewis, and Bowers, purchasers of said property, and against said Pope and Hefley & Co., to remove the proceedings had in the county court of Milam county in said estaté to said district court, for the purpose of revising the same and having said orders approving said claims and ordering said sales of real estate, as well as all other decrees of said court approving, ratifying, or confirming reports of such sales to said purchasers, annulled and declared void, on the ground that all of the claims against said estate so approved by said probate court were barred by the statute of limitations at the time of such approval, and that the land so sold was homestead, and not subject to sale for the payment of debts.
The case was tried before the court, without a jury, and judgment rendered, setting aside and annulling the order of the county court approving said claims, on the ground that the same were barred, but refusing and declining to set aside any of said orders in relation to said sales of real estate, upon which judgment error is assigned, and from which this appeal is prosecuted.
Believing that the court erred in refusing to set aside all orders and proceedings in the county court had within two years prior to the filing of application for certiorari complained of, its judgment, 'refusing and declining so to do, is now reversed, and the cause remanded, with instructions to the district court to set aside and annul all of the proceedings had in the county court in said estate within two years prior to the filing of said certiorari proceedings in the district court, and to certify said judgment to the county court for observance. But since the court did not err in that part of its judgment annulling and setting aside the claims allowed by said county court, because the same were barred by the statute of limitations at the time they were so approved, this part of its judgment is, in all things, affirmed.
Reversed and remanded, with instructions in part, and in part affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WADE Et Al. v. SCOTT Et Al.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published