Case Title: Ray v. Dooley

Citation: 208 Ga. 811, 69 S.E.2d 766

Docket Number: 

State: georgia

Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Date: 1952-03-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
208 Ga. 811 (1952) 69 S.E.2d 766 RAY et al. v. DOOLEY et al. 17778. Supreme Court of Georgia. Argued February 12, 1952. Decided March 11, 1952. O. J. Coogler Jr., for plaintiffs. Hudson & LeCraw, J. Walter LeCraw, Hal Lindsay, Travers Hill, and Newell Edenfield, for defendants. HAWKINS, Justice. (a) "An equitable petition brought against a named administrator, praying for the setting aside of a judgment of the court of ordinary appointing the defendant as administrator upon the estate of a named decedent, in which it was alleged that petitioner was the lawful wife of the decedent; that the administrator had been appointed at the instance of another woman who claimed that she was the lawful wife of the decedent, and by her false and fraudulent representations to the ordinary secured the appointment of the named administrator, when in fact she had never been the wife of the named decedent but had made the false representations and thereby practiced fraud upon the court, was not open to attack by general demurrer." Brown v. Parks, 169 Ga. 712 (151 S.E. 340, 71 A.L.R. 271). See also Crawford v. Crawford, 139 Ga. 535 (77 S. E. 826); Jue v. Joe, 207 Ga. 119 (60 S. E. 2d, 442); Ray v. Ray, 208 Ga. 733 (69 S. E. 2d, 261). (b) "Where one owning real estate dies, the title to the real estate passes to the heirs; and it is not the duty of the administrator, as such, to collect rents accruing after the death of the intestate; and if he does *813 so, it is not in his capacity as administrator, and he is not liable to the heirs for the amount of the rents, as administrator, nor is the surety on his bond as administrator liable." Hoyt v. Ware, 156 Ga. 98 (6) (118 S. E. 734). See also Code (Ann. Supp.), § 113-901; Zeagler v. Zeagler, 190 Ga. 220, 223 (9 S. E. 2d, 263). (c) "A previous undissolved marriage of one of the parties to a marriage ceremony renders such party incapable of making a marriage contract. A marriage ceremony involving such a party is void. Such previous undissolved marriage is not a ground for divorce which under the law would bar an action for annulment, but is a sufficient ground to authorize a decree in equity declaring such marriage ceremony void." Gearllach v. Odom, 200 Ga. 350 (37 S. E. 2d, 184). Where, as in this case, the ordinary is made a party to the proceeding to cancel such alleged illegal and void marriage record in his office, a court of equity has jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. Beavers v. Williams, 199 Ga. 113 (33 S. E. 2d, 343); Pritchett v. Ellis, 201 Ga. 809 (41 S. E. 2d, 402); Campbell v. Allen, 208 Ga. 274, 281 (66 S. E. 2d, 226); Guess v. Guess, 202 Ga. 364, 366 (43 S. E. 2d, 326). 3. The trial judge erred in sustaining the general demurrer and dismissing the petition. Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur.