Opinion ID: 1798469
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: fraud and constructive trust

Text: No issue on fraud and resulting trust was submitted to the jury and none was requested. However, after return of the jury's verdict but before the judgment was signed, contestants amended their pleadings to allege fraud and a resulting trust. We can only assume that the amendment was made to the pleadings to support their argument to the court of appeals that they had proven fraud as a matter of law. By amending their pleadings to allege fraud and by urging it by counterpoint before the court of appeals, the contestants injected the issue into this case and the court of appeals properly addressed it. The court of appeals held that constructive trust did not apply because no fraud by a beneficiary of the will was proven. Any evidence of fraudulent conduct related to Sue Morris, the wife of the testator and executrix of the estate under the will, and not to Floyd Morris, Jr., the sole beneficiary of the will. This reasoning is contrary to the spirit of Pope v. Garrett, 147 Tex. 18, 211 S.W.2d 559 (1948) and is not approved by us. We do find, however, that fraud was not shown as a matter of law. In the court of appeals, contestants based their contention of fraud on the testimony of Marguerite Morris. They contend she was a disinterested witness, that her testimony was uncontroverted, and therefore must be taken as true. Considering Marguerite's testimony as a whole, we do not find her to be a disinterested witness, and find that her testimony was controverted by Sue Morris, who testified that she did not recall Marguerite visiting in her home at the time alleged by Marguerite. The testimony of Marguerite concerning Sue's actions on the evening in question raised a fact issue to be determined by the trier of fact. It did not prove fraud as a matter of law. We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals which rendered judgment that the will be admitted to probate.