Case Name: Succession of Arther "Pune" WASHINGTON et al.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1974-10-01
Citations: 308 So. 2d 892
Docket Number: No. 12403
Parties: Succession of Arther “Pune” WASHINGTON et al.
Judges: Before AYRES, BOLIN and PRICE, JJ-
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 308
Pages: 892–898

Head Matter:
Succession of Arther “Pune” WASHINGTON et al.
No. 12403.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
Oct. 1, 1974.
On Rehearing Feb. 25, 1975.
Truett L. West, for appellants.
Wright, Dawkins, James & Hogg by Robert G. James, for appellee, Cornelus Washington Taylor.
Before AYRES, BOLIN and PRICE, JJ-

Opinion:
PRICE, Judge.
Cornelus Washington Taylor brought this action seeking to set aside the judgment of possession rendered on April 20, 1973, in the Successions of Arther and Roxaney Washington, and to have herself recognized as the legitimated child of the decedents and as such the owner of an undivided one-half of all property belonging to their estates.
The affidavits of heirship filed to support the ex parte judgment of possession are alleged to be incorrect in declaring the sole and only child born of the marriage of the decedents to be Ola V. Washington McMurray (also deceased), whose heirs were declared entitled to the ownership of all of their grandparents' estate. These children of Ola V. Washington, who were named as defendants in this action, filed an answer denying plaintiff was the legitimated child of Arther and Roxaney Washington, and alleging plaintiff was born to Roxaney Ervin prior to her marriage to Arther Washington as an illegitimate child of an illicit relationship with one Julius Johnson.
Plaintiff filed a peremptory exception pleading estoppel on the allegation that defendant's mother, Ola V. Washington McMurray, had joined with plaintiff in prior judicial proceedings which recited they were both the children of Arther and Roxaney Washington and had executed affidavits to that effect. This exception was referred to the merits and after trial of this matter the district court rendered judgment recognizing plaintiff as the legitimated child of the decedents and entitled to the ownership of an undivided one-half of the properties involved.
Defendants have appealed, assigning as error the finding of the trial judge that plaintiff had offered sufficient proof she was the child of Arther Washington.
We find the evidence to support the conclusions reached by the trial judge in his written reasons for judgment.
The record shows plaintiff was born in the year 1900 to Roxaney Ervin, who subsequently married Arther Washington in 1903. Prior to its amendment in 1944, La.C.C. art. 198 provides:
"Children born out of marriage, except those who are born from an incestuous or adulterous connection, may be legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have legally acknowledged them for their children, either before their marriage by an act passed before a notary and two witnesses, or by their contract of marriage itself."
After amendment by Act SO of 1944, this article provides:
"Children born out of marriage, except those who are born from an incestuous connection, are legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have formally or informally acknowledged them for their children, either before or after marriage."
The amended act affects all persons who come within the purview of the statute, even though their parents' marriage took place prior to the effective date of the amending Act. Henry v. Jean, 238 La. 314, 115 So.2d 363 (1959).
The plaintiff whose birth was prior to the marriage of her mother to Arther Washington must bear the burden of proving the facts which would entitle her to the status of a legitimated child under the above authorities.
The sole issue on this appeal is whether the proof offered by plaintiff satisfied this burden of proving her filiation. The trial court found it unnecessary to consider the plea of estoppel, and in view of the conclusions reached by us on the merits, further consideration of this exception would be inappropriate.
Plaintiff has introduced certain documents into the record in support of her position. The 1910 census record lists her as being born in 1900 as the child of Arther Washington. An act of sale transferring certain property that had formed part of the community between Arther and Roxa-ney Washington shows Arther joined in its execution with plaintiff and defendant's mother, Ola V. Washington McMurray, as the "sole and only heirs of Roxanner Washington." Had plaintiff not been assumed to be the legitimate child of her mother, it would not have been necessary for her to have joined in this sale. There is also a right-of-way agreement in favor of Southwest Gas Company in which Arther Washington recognized plaintiff as his child. In the Succession of Ellis McClain, sister of Roxaney Washington, an affidavit was executed by defendant's mother, along with plaintiff, in which these parties asserted they were both the legitimate children of Roxaney Washington and entitled to represent their mother in the decedent's estate.
Testimony was adduced which clearly established Arther Washington had reared plaintiff in his home and had always treated her as his child and defendants concede this fact to be true.
Defendants rely solely on the testimony of two elderly persons who testified to stories and rumors that plaintiff was the daughter of one Julius Johnson whom plaintiff's mother had run off with as a teen-age girl.
Proof or disproof of paternity is always difficult. Here plaintiff's mother, reputed father and sister (defendant's mother) are all dead. Other witnesses who knew the parties are few and of advanced ages.
We believe plaintiff has established by competent evidence that she was the child of Arther Washington and that defendants' evidence is insufficient to refute the plaintiff's proof.
For the foregoing reasons we affirm the judgment appealed from annulling the judgment of possession in the Succession of Arther and Roxaney Washington and recognizing plaintiff as a legitimated child of the marriage of decedents and as such entitled to the ownership of an undivided one-half interest in all property belonging to their estates, and particularly to the following described immovable property situated in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana:
West One-half of the Northeast Quarter (W/2 of NE/4) of Section Fifteen (15), Township Nineteen (19) North, Range Two (2) West, containing eighty (80) acres, more or less.
Costs of this appeal are to be paid by appellant.
Before AYRES, BOLIN, PRICE, HALL and DENNIS, JJ.