Winters v. Duncan
Winters v. Duncan
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit instituted by ap-pellee against H. E. Johnson, individually and as independent executor of the estate of Ben Duncan, Sr., deceased, Sannie Winters, a feme sole, Eliza Ferguson and her husband, Aus Ferguson, Betty Ferguson and her husband, W. T. Ferguson, Ben Duncan, Jr., Fred Duncan, Jake Duncan, Jess Duncan, Jim Duncan, George Duncan, and Rebecca Cook and her husband, J. B. Cook, to compel an accounting of the estate of Ben Duncan, deceased, for partition of the same so as to give her one-half thereof, and for possession of the same. Appellee claimed one-half of the property as the common-law wife of Ben Duncan, deceased. The cause was submitted to the jury on the sole issue:
“Did Ben Duncan, now deceased, and Levy Cruz, the plaintiff, consummate a common-law marriage, as hereinbefore defined, in the latter part of 1898 or early part of 1899?”
The jury answered in the affirmative, and on the answer the court rendered judgment for appellee for one-half the property, real and personal, of the estate of Ben Duncan, deceased, aggregating in value probably $200,000.
“That on or about the year 1899 the said Ben Duncan and plaintiff consummated an agreement in pursuance of a promise theretofore made to plaintiff by the said Ben Duncan, an unmarried man at said time, on or about the year 1886, that he and plaintiff, she being then and there an unmarried female about 13 years of age, would marry each with the other, and be man and wife, and in reliance upon which promise plaintiff did live with the said Ben Duncan as his wife until the year 1899, at which time said promise to marry was consummated by the parties agreeing each with the other to at that time be and become man and wife for the term of their natural lives, and pursuant to said agreement the same was consummated by cohabitation and the rearing of a family of children, and said relationship and status continued continuously therefrom until the death of the said Ben Duncan, and all property acquired from the year 1886 until the time of his said death was the result of the joint efforts of plaintiff and the said Ben Duncan in reliance upon, on the part of plaintiff, the execution of said promise of marriage, and thereby said marriage, when actually consummated, reverted to and was as of the date of 1886; * * * that at the time of the death of the said Ben. Duncan he was in possession and control of a large estate, which was the community property of the said Ben Duncan and plaintiff, the same having been accumulated during the period of time that he and plaintiff lived together as man and wife; that immediately upon his said death the defendant Johnson, and before having produced or filed said will for probate, actually seized and took possession of a great portion of the personal estate, one-half of which belonged to plaintiff, excluded plaintiff therefrom, and used plaintiff’s said portion of said estate as his own, claiming the same under pretense of right as independent executor of the estate of Ben Duncan, deceased, and has ever since withheld from plaintiff and used as his own, against plaintiff’s will and without her consent, her entire interest in said estate, both personal and real, and all the defendants refuse to admit plaintiff’s claim to and title in any interest to said property or any portion thereof.”
As against a general demurrer the petition was sufficient to show that Ben Duncan, deceased, and appellee were man and wife, and that the property was acquired during the existence of the marital relation. The assignments are overruled.
“A common-law marriage is constituted where the parties mutually agree and consent together to become husband and wife, and thereafter carry out that agreement and live and cohabit together openly and professedly as husband and wife.”
The definition was sufficient and was equivalent to a statement that the parties *221 held themselves out publicly as man and wife. “Openly and professedly” would he sufficient. As said in Grigsby v. Reib, 105 Tex. 597, 153 S. W. 1124, L. R. A. 1915E, 1, Ann. Cas. 19150, 1011:
“The cohabitation must be professedly as husband and wife, and public, so that by their conduct towards each other they may be known as husband and wife.”
One of the definitions given by Webster of “publicly” is “openly.” The third assignment of error is overruled.
. The court gave a satisfactory definition of a common-law marriage, and properly refused the special definition requested by appellants. The fourth and fifth assignments are overruled.
The evidence was uncontroverted that the contract of marriage was entered into in ,the latter part of 1898 or the early .part of 1899, and the court had the authority to assume that the contract had its inception at that time, if at all. No objection was made to the use of the word “consummated” instead of “contracted,” but appellants assume that the court intended “contract.” The ninth and tenth assignments of error are overruled.
“That any funds on deposit in any bank or banking institution, whether in the name of the husband or wife, shall be presumed to be the separate property of the party in whose name they stand, regardless of who made the deposit, and, unless said bank or banking institution is notified to the contrary, it shall be governed accordingly in honoring cheeks and orders against such accounts.”
That law was passed in 1913, and it is contended by appellants that money deposited by Ben Duncan, deceased, in his name, would, upon the dissolution of the marriage ‘relation by death, not be a part of the community estate. If that contention were sustained, it would be necessary to hold that that part of the act of 1913 repealed article 4623, which embodies a law which has been in existence since 1840, in so far as bank deposits are concerned. That law is as follows :
“All the effects which the husband and wife possess at the time the marriage may be dissolved shall be regarded as common effects or gains, unless the contrary be satisfactorily proved.”
Primarily the object of the law of 1913 was for the protection of married women, and incidentally married men, in preventing one spouse from withdrawing funds deposited by the other in banks. That it was intended to raise a presumption that would protect one spouse from the cheeks or drafts of the other on bank deposits is clearly indicated by the requirement that the bank where the deposit is made shall not honor checks and orders? unless otherwise ordered, of any but the spouse who made the deposit. It creates a presumption as to deposits between the parties while the marriage relation continues to protect bank deposits of either husband or wife from withdrawals by the other. It purports to fix the status of bank deposits before death or divorce, and not after, and does not mention a repeal of *222 any other provision as to presumptions that arise on the dissolution of the marriage relation. The presumption as to the status of property possessed by husband or wife at the time the marriage may be dissolved remains unchanged. That status has been fixed by a law older than the existence of Texas as a state, and has been woven into the warp and woof of property rights by hundreds of judicial decisions. It has been too intimately attached to all property rights in Texas to countenance a repeal of it by a law in which it is not mentioned, and the object of which was clearly not to repeal it. If the law be as contended by appellants,'instead of being a shield and protection to the married woman, in a large majority of cases it would devolve upon her, at the death of her husband or dissolution of marriage by divorce, the burden of showing that the bank deposits of her husband were community funds; for in a large majority of cases bank funds are held in the name of the husband. We are not disposed to assume that the Legislature desired to put any such burden on the married-woman. The act of 1913 not evidencing any intention to repeal any part of article 4623, we hold that it did not repeal any part of that article. Veltman v. Slator (Tex.) 217 S. W. 378. Tire caption of the act which added the provision as to bank deposits, purporting to amend articles 4621, 4622, and 4624, and to repeal article 4625, does not mention article 4623, clearly showing that there was nq intention to amend or repeal that article or any part of it. There is no repealing clause in the body of the act of 1913, although it is stated in the caption that it was intended to repeal article 4625 and all other laws and parts of laws in conflict therewith. The emergency clause shows that it was intended as a protection to married women, which would not be accomplished if the construction placed on it by appellants were to prevail after the death of Ben Duncan, if he was married at the time of his decease, that the $40,050.58 on deposit in the Moore National Bank of Moore, Tex., in his name was not community property.
The judgment is affirmed.
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Reference
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- WINTERS Et Al. v. DUNCAN
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