Court Opinion

ID: 9552426
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:10:29.098112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:26:24.032456
License: Public Domain

RAPER, Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the court’s decision except insofar as it prevents the district court’s entering of judgment in this proceeding for any deficiency it finds Scott owes the estate after distribution of available assets.
Maintaining the fictional line drawn between the district court sitting in law and equity and sitting in probate amounts to a pagan worship of the idol of stare decisis. It is a vestige of archaic times. We no longer require separate actions to be filed on the equity side of the district court. The same judge, the same clerk of court, the same courthouse, and the same courtroom all serve the district court in all its functions.
To require a separate action to be filed in order to satisfy precedent as to a matter already tried or which can be tried in a single proceeding is the ultimate in judicial inefficiency. It makes about as much sense as having two benches in the courtroom, one to sit at when handling law and equity cases and another when handling a probate matter, or requiring different colored robes, black when sitting in law and equity, purple when sitting in probate.
I have examined the source of this rule which goes back to Church v. Quiner, 31 Wyo. 222, 224 P. 1073 (1924) and In re Black’s Estate, 30 Wyo. 55, 216 P. 1059 (1923). In the last cited case, there was adopted the language of In re Strong’s Estate, 119 Cal. 663, 51 P. 1078, an 1898 case, which held that whenever the acts of the court in probate, though a court of general jurisdiction, are without the limits of the special jurisdiction conferred, they are nugatory and have no binding effect even upon those who invoked its authority. The rule is without reason. It would have been simpler to say “the district court has jurisdiction but does not have jurisdiction.” Nowhere in the relied upon cases is the reason for such a conclusion stated, nor do I think it is within the spirit of the Wyoming Constitution, Art. 5, § 10:
“The district court shall have original jurisdiction of all causes both at law and in equity and in all criminal cases, of all matters of probate and insolvency and of such special cases and proceedings as are not otherwise provided for. The district court shall also have original jurisdiction in all cases and of all proceedings in which jurisdiction shall not have been by law vested exclusively in some other court; and said court shall have the pow*1293er of naturalization and to issue papers therefor. They shall have such appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in justices’ and other inferior courts in their respective counties as may be prescribed by law. Said courts and their judges shall have power to issue writs of mandamus, quo warranto, review, certiorari, prohibition, injunction and writs of habeas corpus, on petition by or on behalf of any person in actual custody in their respective districts.”
I need to see something there which prohibits what the district court has done or will do in this estate matter. The statute, § 2-2-101, W.S.1977, a part of the Wyoming Probate Code recently readopted, but which has been on the books for years, including during the entire period of the administration of the estate we now consider, contains no prohibition that I can see:
“The district courts of the state have exclusive original jurisdiction of all matters relating to the probate and contest of wills and testaments, the granting of letters testamentary and of administration, and the settlement and distribution of decedents’ estates. The court granting the letters has exclusive jurisdiction of all matters touching the settlement and distribution of the estates for which letters have been granted.”
“All matters” and “all matters touching the settlement and distribution of the estates for which letters have been granted” seem pretty all-inclusive to me. Under that language, I believe a complete disposition can and should be justified.
When the new Wyoming Probate Code was adopted, one of its purposes was to “[pjromote a speedy and efficient system for liquidating the estate of the decedent and making distribution to his successors.” Section 2-l-102(a)(iii), W.S.1977. That is good policy any time. We can start by throwing out an ancient concept no longer valid.
I would have affirmed in all respects and permitted the district judge to make and enter any judgment in the probate proceeding necessary to do complete justice without the folderol of a separate proceeding.
ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR REHEARING
Appellant having filed a Petition for Rehearing in this matter, and the same having been carefully considered by the Court; and it being noted that as one of the grounds for rehearing, appellant advised that the deposit had been paid by'appellee Grieve at the time she made a jury demand in connection with her objections to the final account and petition for distribution of appellant. Although the record did not so reflect, appellant has furnished a copy of the receipt for payment. Had the record reflected such payment, the result would have been the same. Appellant recognized that there is generally no right to a jury on accounting issues. In Re Kiesel’s Estate, 35 Wyo. 300, 249 P. 81 (1926). However, he argued that such right existed with reference to: (1) the ademption'issue, and (2) any liability on the part of appellant to the estate which arose prior to his appointment as executor. The second argument was made immaterial by our holding relative to the impropriety of determining in the probate proceedings appellant’s liability to the estate which arose prior to his appointment as executor. With reference to the ademption issue, the trial court made its determination that there would not be a jury trial on January 17, 1979. At the time, § 2-6-403, W.S.1977, was in effect. It provided in pertinent part:
“All questions as to advancement made, or alleged to have been made, by the decedent to his heirs, may be heard and determined by the court or judge * *
The section was repealed by the Probate Code which became effective April 1, 1980. Ch. 142, § 4, S.L. of Wyoming 1979. After the case was assigned to another judge, the determination that there would not be a jury trial was reaffirmed on September 10, 1980. The second judge undoubtedly had the foregoing quotation in mind together with the following provision of the Probate Code which became effective April 1, 1980:
“ * * * The procedure herein prescribed shall * * * govern further procedure in proceedings in probate then pending, except to the extent that, in the opinion of the court, its application in particular proceedings or parts thereof would not be feasible or would work injustice, in which event the former procedure shall apply.” Ch. 142, § 6, S.L. of Wyoming 1979.