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parOa D-- PAcaAk DIKBON 

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July 19, i948 

Hon. Wm. B. Martin Opinion No. V-639. 

County Attorney 

Hill County Re: 

Hillsboro, Texas 

Esoheat or.money remaining in a County Depository road district aocount arter dissolutions 

or the distriot and reDear Sir: 

lated questions. 

We gather the rollowing~aotual situation 

from your letter: 

In 1919 the Commissioders~ .Court of' Hill 

County created road district No. ll:kaown as-Penelope 

Road District No. 11 in Hill County, end.bonds of the 

distriot .were voted for the purpose. of-oonstruoting, 

maintaining, and operating maoaasmized; graveled and-. 

paved roads and turnpikea and In aid thereof. 

It&September 1919 the:Commissioners' Court 

levied a tax of $1.50 on each $100 valuation.of' taxable property in the districtto pay the .interest.e.nd 

sinking ruIdr0r said bonds. 

. 

:On September 11, lq20 at an election-held 

for the purpose, the qualified votersof-the District 

voted:in ravor..of canceling andrevoking,the authority 

to levy..the taxahd issue.the bonds.* The Commissioners' 

Court‘c‘anvassed the returns. of'sa&d ele&tion,.deolared 

the result; .and 'entered iti? order oenceling the road 

bonds and,:oPdered'them,destroyed, : The.,road district 

was abolijijh&L 

After the tax was levied ana before the .authority to :levy same wasp revoked, .the t'axpayers of then 

distric.t.paia. @6,.327.0o intaxes. to the tax .oollebtor, 

the net sum. from which was-placed in the County Depository. 

At the December term, 1920, of the District 

court of Hill county a judgment was entered in favor 
Hon. Wm B. Martin - Page 2 (V-639) 

of the taxpayers against the Depository; the Commissioners’ Court and Treasurer of Hill County, bordering the 

rerund t.o.,,the taxpayers of their ratable portion or the 

money available in.the funds or said district derived 

from said tax levy, based upon tax receipts presented 

by them to said Commissioners* Court. 

The sum of $313.07 of said tax money now remains in the County Depository to the oreait of vPenelope Trust Fund,* whioh, in ract, belonged to the individual taxpayers under the district court judgment. 

We are assuming from your letters and the petition riled by Mr. Calvert, a copy of which you enclosed, that no claim has been made for any part of said 

$313.07 by anyone at any .time, and at this time the name 

or address of no person or the heirs or representatives 

or any person who is entitled to any part thereor is 

known or ascertainablei 

Article 3272, V. C. S. reads: 

“If any person die seized of any real 

estate .or possessed 0r &ny~peawonal estate, 

without any devise thereor, and having no 

heirs, or where the .owner of any reals or 

personal estate shall be absent for the 

term of seven years, ana is not known to ex- 

.ist, leaving- no heirs, or, devisee of his 

estate, such estate shall esoheat to and 

vest in .the State. Where no will is reaoraed or probated in the oountywhere such prop- 

.erty is situated within seven years after the 

death of the owner it’ shall be prima facie 

evidence that there was no will, and where no 

lawful olaim is asserted to, or lawful acts or 

ownership exercised in such property for the 

Feriod of seven years, and this has been 

proved to the satisfaction of the court, it 

shall be prima faoiemenoe of the death 

of the owner without heirs. Any one paying 

taxes to the State on suoh property, either 

personally or through ‘an agent, shall .be held 

to be exercising lawful acts of ownershipin 

such property within the. meaning .of this ti-. 

tle, ena shall not be conclUded by any jUa#3; 

ment, unless he be made a party by personal 
Ron. Wm. B. Martin - Page 3 (V-63,9 1 

service OS oitation, to such esqheat,proq%edings, if a resident OS this State, and his 

addrgss can be secured by reasonable dillgenhe, but, if he be a non-resident oS the 

State or oen not be Sound, the personal service of citation shall be made,upon any agent 

of such claimant, IS such agent, by the use 

of reasonable diligence, can be Sound; such 

diligence to include an investigation OS the 

reo.ords of the office ana. inquiry oi the tax 

ool~lector and tax assessor of the oounty in 

which the property sought to be esoheated is 

situated. Acts 1885, p. 35;G.L. vo1..9, 

p.:655; tits 1907, p. 111." '(Emphasis-aaded 

throughout )'. 

Article 3273 reads: 

qvhen the district or county attorney shall 

be informea, or have reason to believe, that 

any.estate, real or personal, is in the condition specified in the preceding artiol'e, he 

shall rile a sworn .petition which shall s.etrorth 

a,description of the estate, ,the.name.oS the person last lawSully -seized .or possessed. 0r same,. 

the .&me.oS the tenants or p.ersqqs, in actual 

.~ossessicm. if snr. and the.nemes 0r the nersons cla& the-estate,-if any such areknown 

to olaimor whose claim maybe disoovered bithe 

exeroise of reasonable diligence, and the facts 

or circumstances in consequence of whioh suoh 

estate is claimed to have-esoheated and the dill-' 

genoe exercised to discover the claimants orxe, 

praying th t such property be escheated and for 

a writ of iossession therefor'in behalf of the 

State," 

c In Robinson v. State,.117 g..W. 2d.809 (Error 

refusgd) the Court said in part; 

."This is a prooeeding by.$heState:or Texas 

against the Unknown Heirs of William.RradSord, 

de.oeased, to escheat the estate of said aeogased: 

Tennie V. Robinson and others intervened.. This 

is the third appeal in the case; . . 9 Upon the 

last trial which was without the aid of a jury, 

the'court Sound that Williem Braafora, deceased, 

aiea *"having no heirs* *** no heirs who can be 

ascertained by the exercise of reasonable diligence.' Upon this and other Sinaings made, 

P9!3 
200 Hon. Wm. B. Martin - P%g% 4 (V-639) 

.judment was rendered esoheating the estate, 

~~'whieh Tennie V. Robinson and others ap- 

. 

"It is first asserted the Sinding stated 

is not a finding that williem Bradford died 

having no heirs. Wherefore, the judgment in 

the State's Savor was unauthorized. This 

proposition is ruled against appellants by the 

;$.nn~ reported in Tex. Civ. &pp., 109 S. W. 

no he& 

,.It was there held the phrase 'having 

-'means no lmown heirs, and no heirs 

who oan ie ascertained by the exercise of reathe same or similar oircumstances. We adhere 

-t $lanappellantc' first 

pZoposit~0n.v 

We.are of the opinion that in the oiroumstenoes 

stated in.yourrequest that 27 years have passed since 

the District Court of Hill County rendered judgment in Savor of the persons entitled to tax refund and during that 

timeno.one has claimed any part oSthe $313.07; and that 

neither such'persons nor the heirs or representatives of. 

any of them can now be ascertained by the exercise of 

reasonable diligenoe, renders said sum of $313.07 subject 

to esoheat proceeding by the State. 

SUMMARY 

Where taxes were levied and collected to 

pay interest and create a sinhing fund to pay 

bonds of a road aistrict, which district was 

abolished and.no bonds were issued; a judgment 

was rendered by the district court ordering 

the oSSioials and depository to refundsuch tax 

money prorata to the persons who paid it and 

the sumof $313.07 thereof has 'not been claimea for a period or.27 years and those ~CUI~ en- 

,titled to receive .it cannot. be ascertained by 
Wm. B. Martin - .Page 5 (V-639) ZWI 

reasonable diligknoe, said sum 0r $313.07 is 

now subjeat to -cheat prooeedings by the 

State. 

Yours very truly, 

A!lTORNEY GENERAL OF TE?IAS 

By sp#y3G~ d ,..d 

w. T. w1111ams 

'Kr#:wb Assistent 

APPROVED: