Case Name: Tutorship of the Minor Kate L. Jones, Minor Heir of L. C. Jones
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1889-06
Citations: 41 La. Ann. 620
Docket Number: No. 1,213
Parties: Tutorship of the Minor Kate L. Jones, Minor Heir of L. C. Jones.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Annual Reports
Volume: 41
Pages: 620–623

Head Matter:
No. 1,213.
Tutorship of the Minor Kate L. Jones, Minor Heir of L. C. Jones.
In a contest involving tho correctness of an account of tutorship the test of appellate jurisdiction is m the amount of the fund to be distributed, ancl not in the amount of the matter in dispute. '
I'ruits banging by the root on the separate estate of the husband, at tlie dissolution of tlie marriage by his death, fall in the community, and are to bo equally divided between his wife and his heirs. C. C. 2407.
The shares accruing to the children are subject to the imperfect usufruct in favor of tho mother, who must account for the same at the expiration of the usufruct.
APPEAL from tlie Third District Court, Parish of Lincoln. MeOlendon, Special J.
F. W. Price for Opponent, and Appellant:
1. The fruits hanging by the roots on the lands belonging separately to either the husband or the wife at the time of the dissolution of the marriage, are equally divided between tlie husband and the wife or their heirs. It is the same with respect to the young of cattle yet in gestation, etc. Civil Code, Art. 2407; 9 Ann. 347 and 398; 12 Ann. 549; 16 Ann. 107,170.
2. All kinds of fruits, natural, cultivated or civil, produced during the existence of the usufruct, by the things subject to it, belong to the usufructuary. C. C. Art. 544.
3. The father is, during the marriage, administrator of the estate of his minor children. lie is accountable both for the property and revenues of the estates, the use of which he ie not entitled to by law, and for the property only of the estate, tho usufruct of which ths law gives him, etc., C. C. Arts. 221, 223, 540; 12 H. 172.
4. In all cases, when the predeceased husband or wife shall have left issue of the marriage with the survivor, and shall not have disposed by last will and testament of his or her share in the community property, the survivor shall hold a usufruct during his or her natural life, so much of the share of the deceased in such community property as may be inherited by such issue. This usufruct shall cease, however, whonever the survivor shall enter into a second marriage. C. C. Art. 916.
5. The usufructuary is the party who eujoys the right of the use of property, tho ownership of which is vested in another.
6. -This usufruct is an onerous charge or burden upon the property of another, and must be construed stricti juris. There is no law that gives to the surviving si>ouse the usufruct of the separate property belonging to tho estate of the deceased spouse, lieired by the issue of tho marriage, hence the separate property must be accounted for, together with tho revenues.
JBJ. M. Graham, contra.
1. The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction, only when the matter in dispute, or the fund to be distributed, exceeds two thousand dollars. See Constitution of 1879, Art. 81, and amendment thereto.
2. Usufruct is the right of enjoying a thing, the property of which is vested in another. C. C. 533.
3. An imperfect usufruct is of things which would be useless to the usufructary, if not permitted to use or consume them; such as money, crops, etc. C. C. 534.
4. Crops hanging by the roots, at the time when the usufruct is opened, belong to the.usufructuary. C. C. 546.
5. The surviving spouse is entitled to the usufruct, both of the community and the separate property. Revised Statutes, Sec. 1711; C. C. 223 to 225 inclusive.

Opinion:
Motion to Dismiss.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Poché, J.
This litigation involves a discussion of the relative rights of the surviving wife and child of L. C. Jones in his succession.
Tlie provisional account of tutorship of the minor was opposed by the undertutor who urged numerous objections thereto, with a view to an increase of the account accruing to the minor.
By means of a supplemental account the tutrix corrected tlie greater part of the errors charged by the undertutor, and this appeal is taken from the judgment homologating the account as thus amended. It brings up but two points for discussion: the .contested right of the surviving widow to the proceeds of a crop hanging by the roots, on lands belonging to the community, and to the separate estate of tlie husband, at the time of his death, and her right to a credit for expenses incurred in the maintenance and education of the minor.
The motion to dismiss is grounded on the contention that after the filing of the supplemental account by the tutrix, making corrections which were accepted by the opponent by special written agreement of his counsel, the only matters remaining in contest or dispute for judicial investigation, did not reach an amount equal to the lower limit of our jurisdiction. But a reference to the pleadings shows that in this case the test of jurisdiction is not in the matter in dispute, but must be regulated by the amount of the fund to be distributed.
The account presented by the trutrix contains a statement of the proceeds of the sale of community and of separate property, of other succession and community assets, and of the debts paid by her, and it is, therefore, properly an account of administration of the succession and of the community, which she administered in her capacity of natural tutrix. Now as the amount of the fund which she thereby proposes to distribute exceeds the sum of two thousand dollars, this court is vested with jurisdiction' irrespective of tlie pecuniary amount of the matter really in dispute, after tlie amendment of tlie account of tlie tutrix. The motion to dismiss is therefore overruled.