Colden v. Costello

Respondent is the widow of Charles J. Golden, deceased, and entitled under his will to one-fifth of his estate remaining after the payment of certain specific bequests. In the will the share left to respondent was declared to be inclusive of her interest in the community property. The estate is situated partly in California and partly in Texas. Respondent claims that all of the California estate and a large part of that in Texas is community property. The other beneficiaries deny that respondent’s community interest exceeds her share under the will. The ease is one in which respondent is required to make an election to take under the will or her share of the community property. She has not done this and the estate cannot be closed until she does. The will contains in paragraph nine thereof a comprehensive “disinheriting” provision in case of unsuccessful contest or opposition to the plan of the will by any devisee or legatee.

In this situation respondent filed her complaint for declaratory relief against the executors of the will and the beneficiaries thereunder, alleging the foregoing and certain additional facts. She alleged that she was without information or knowledge as to the extent of the community property on which to base an intelligent election to take or not to take under the will; that she could not obtain such knowledge without the aid of a court of equity; that if compelled to make an election without judicial determination of the character of the property “plaintiff will be then subjected to the danger of irreparable loss and damage to her rights and interests in and to decedent’s said estates . . . that plaintiff’s rights and interest will be prejudiced and placed in jeopardy should she be forced to elect, without first having secured and ascertained by judicial determination and adjudication, the community or separate character of the various items of property in said decedent’s California and Texas estates.” It was then alleged that she desired to file in the courts of appropriate jurisdiction in the States of California and Texas, respectively, application for declaratory relief in the form of exhibits attached to the

The decree from which the appeal is prosecuted specifically awards to respondent the following rights: (1) to have full information as to what part of the estate is community property ; (2) to pursue to final judgment in the appropriate courts of the States of California and Texas or elsewhere complaints for declaratory relief for a determination of the extent of the community property; (3) to prosecute such suits without incurring any penalty, as for a violation of the ninth paragraph of the will; (4) the right to withhold her election until there has been a judicial determination and adjudication establishing the community or separate nature of the property in California and Texas.

The underlying cause of this litig;ation is the disagreement of the parties as to the extent of the community property, which respondent proposes to have settled in separate actions in equity for declaratory relief. Appellants deny that she has this right and assert that all proceedings for the determination of her community interest in the estate should be taken

The judgment appealed from is attacked upon the grounds that the court was without jurisdiction to render it, and that it is erroneous.

Appellants’ assault, which they say ismpon the jurisdiction of the court, appears to deny not jurisdiction to entertain and determine the present action but its power to render the particular judgment which it did render. Questions as to respondent’s right to maintain the present action and those relating to her right to bring the proposed declaratory relief actions must not be confused. The present action is conceded to be one for the construction of a will. The proposed actions are for the determination of community property rights. In determining whether the present case is a proper one for declaratory relief, it is immaterial that the judgment actually rendered may be or is erroneous, as is also the fact that the contemplated declaratory relief actions might constitute an unauthorized encroachment upon the jurisdiction of the probate court.

So far as the question of the authority of the court to entertain the present action is concerned, we think that matter is settled by the facts as found by the court pursuant to the stipulation. By the ninth paragraph of the will it was provided that any beneficiary thereunder who should unsuccessfully prosecute a contest or oppose the plan of the will should receive only one dollar instead of the share which would otherwise go to him. Appellants stipulated that an actual controversy existed between the parties which called for an interpretation of this provision by the court in the nature of a declaration that respondent’s contemplated declaratory relief actions either would or would not constitute a violation of the provisions of paragraph nine.

Appellants do not deny that the controversy to be adjudicated is one which arose out of a dispute as to the proper construction of the will, nor do they assert that the controversy involves either more or less than that. They submitted

In the present case the trial court properly held that it possessed authority to construe the will. However, in so stating, we have in mind that the ease was presented to the court upon the theory that the particular matter in dispute, namely, respondent’s claim that she had a right to bring other actions for declaratory relief, raised a question regarding the construction of a will within the meaning of section 1060 of the Code of Civil Procedure. No contention to the contrary is made here. Because of the manner in which the question was presented to the trial court and is presented here we must assume that one who claims under a will may appeal to the court in an action for declaratory relief to obtain a decree declaring what he may or may not do in asserting rights greater than those he enjoys under the will without violating a provision of the will against contests such as we have in the present ease.

The real controversy is whether proceedings for the determination of a widow’s interest in community property should be taken in or independently of the probate administration. Simply stated, the question is this: Did the court properly extend the right to respondent to prosecute separate declaratory relief actions to final judgment before making her election, or should she have been limited to such steps as are available within the probate administration for the purpose of acquiring all available information with relation to the nature of the estate before making her election ? We think the judgment is erroneous in allowing respondent to prosecute her claims upon the equity side rather than the probate side of the court.

We should say first that it is not contended on the appeal that the prosecution of the separate declaratory relief actions

Respondent’s contention is that she must bring independent actions in equity because the court in probate has no jurisdiction to determine as between her and the other claimants what share of the property is community and what is separate. She assumes that in asserting her community property rights she claims adversely to the estate and to the other beneficiaries under the will, and she says that this being so, the court in probate cannot adjudicate her rights. (Theller v. Such, (1881) 57 Cal. 447 ; Bath v. Valdez, (1886) 70 Cal. 350 [ 11 Pac. 724 ] ; Barnard v. Wilson, (1887) 74 Cal. 512 [ 15 Pac. 307 ] ; Estate of Niccolls, (1912) 164 Cal. 368 [ 129 Pac. 278 ].)

The contention is without merit. (In re Burdick, (1896) 112 Cal. 387 [ 44 Pac. 734 ].) The court in probate has always exercised jurisdiction over the interest of the surviving wife in the community property in the course of administration upon the estate of a deceased husband. No one of the powers of the court in probate is more firmly settled or more universally conceded and acted upon than this one.

Since respondent’s claims may be adjudicated in the probate court, the remaining questions are whether they can be adjudicated elsewhere and, if they can be, whether respondent should be allowed to have them tried in separate suits in equity.

The answer to the second query is so obvious and, in our opinion, so satisfactory as to render it unnecessary for us to answer the first one. Among the allegations of the complaint which we have quoted is one to the effect that respondent’s rights and interests will be prejudiced if she has to make an election “without first having secured and ascertained by judicial determination and adjudication the community or separate character of the various items of property in said decedent’s California and Texas estates.” The truth of this allegation was admitted at the trial. It may very well have formed the basis for that provision of the decree awarding respondent the right to have such “judicial determination and adjudication.” We cannot believe that appel

The Probate Code provides one comprehensive, exclusive method for administration upon the estates of decedents. The proceeding is in rem and the jurisdiction of the court is complete over the property of the estate and over all persons claiming interests therein under the decedent, as to all matters involved in a complete and effective administration. The law does not provide an alternative procedure for determining questions of heirship in connection with rights of succession or the probate of wills, nor one in which the court has jurisdiction over all heirs and other claimants, both known and unknown. In those respects probate law is unique and exclusive. The title of a surviving wife to her interest in the community estate rests upon a decree of distribution. Her right as survivor of the community is one thing; the decree of distribution which determines and identifies the estate which comes to her by virtue of her right is quite another, and is indispensable as a muniment of her title. It would be an inexcusable interference with established probate procedure, and one which would result in delay and confusion, to permit issues strictly within probate jurisdiction to be tried through the medium of independent suits in equity. Declaratory relief is not provided as a substitute for other established and adequate legal procedure. True, there is the power to construe a will in a declaratory relief action, but we have no thought that in making this provision it was the intention of the legislature' to transfer from the probate side of the court to its equity side matters of probate cognizance, but rather that it was the intent to supplement the equitable powers of the court in probate with the broader remedy of declaratory relief. The wisdom of this course was illustrated in the cause of McCaughna v. Bilhorn, supra, where a court in an equity action had assumed jurisdiction of an entire controversy which could

There is no doubt in our minds as to respondent’s right to apply to the probate court for a judicial inquiry preliminary to a determination of the community property issue. She may do so without fear that any application which she may present in aid of the court’s inquiry or any effort that she may make by the production of proof to establish that any part or all of the estate is community property will visit upon her the penalties of the ninth paragraph of the will. This is because the present decree, in terms which are not here questioned on that point, gives her even greater rights; likewise because appellants concede that respondent has a right to a full investigation of the question in the probate court and insist that she make her application within the proceedings in probate if at all.

Respondent may appear in any proceeding under sections 1080-1082 of the Probate Code for a determination of heir-ship by setting up her right to distribution of a part of the estate. The decree could encompass an adjudication of her community property rights, which would be conclusive upon all interested parties, and would be controlling upon distribution of the estate. Also, upon petition for distribution under section 1020 et seq. of the Probate Code the court could adjudicate any claims asserted by respondent and determine what share she would receive according to such decision as she may make under her right of election. The decree would be binding upon all parties. (In re Burdick, supra.) As the question of the community or separate character of the property of the estate is one within the court’s jurisdiction in probate, that court may and will exercise such of its powers in equity as it may need to invoke in aid of the proper discharge of its manifest duties. (In re Burton, (1892) 93 Cal. 459 [ 29 Pac. 36 ] ; Johnson v. Superior Court, (1929) 102 Cal. App. 178 [ 283 Pac. 331 ].)

What we have said has particular reference to the laws of California. It is equally applicable to the Texas estate. It appears that the estate there consists, in part at least, of real property. We naturally assume that the courts of Texas exercise such complete and adequate jurisdiction in the matter of the administration of estates of decedents as is commonly possessed by the courts of the several states. Our attention has been called to nothing to the contrary. The findings and judgment in the present case furnish no reason for delay in the closing of the California administration while respondent prosecutes an equitable action in Texas apart from the probate administration for the determination of her rights as surviving wife to all or a portion of the property located in that state.

If we are correct in our views, then it was error for the court below to grant respondent the right to bring separate declaratory relief actions for the purpose of determining the nature of the property of the estate. Our conclusions call for a modification of the judgment to provide that respondent is not required to make her election whether she will take under the will or her share of the community property until the conclusion of an appropriate proceeding in the administration of the estate of Charles J. Golden, deceased, conducted for the purpose of eliciting all available proof offered by any of the interested parties as to the nature of the property of the estate, whether it be in whole or in part community or separate property, and that applications to the court in such connection, and the'offering of proof to show that all, any or no part of the estate is community property, will not violate or render operative paragraph nine of the will of said decedent. As so modified, the judgment will be affirmed.

Neither party shall recover costs on the appeal.

There has heretofore been submitted for decision a motion by appellants for leave to introduce upon the appeal evidence of proceedings had with reference to the matters in controversy since the entry of the judgment appealed from. The conclusions we have reached in disposing of the appeal render it unnecessary for us to consider the matters to which the proposed evidence would relate, and the application is therefore denied.

Schauer, P. J., concurred.

A petition for a rehearing was denied April 3, 1942, and respondent’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied May 4, 1942. Traynor, J., voted for a hearing.